Emperor Caligula: When Rome's Emperor Lost His Mind

Caligula started as Rome's most beloved ruler and ended as its most feared madman. In just four years, he went from promising young emperor to a tyrant who declared himself a living god, had conversations with statues, and committed acts so bizarre that Romans wondered if he was possessed by demons.

He allegedly made his favorite horse Incitatus a senator and planned to make him consul, built the horse a marble stable with an ivory manger, and invited it to dinner parties where it drank wine from golden goblets. He declared war on Neptune and ordered his soldiers to stab the ocean and collect seashells as "spoils of war" from his victory over the sea god. He built a two-mile floating bridge across the Bay of Naples just so he could ride across it wearing Alexander th ...