Did Caligula really make his horse a senator?
Or was he just horsing around...?
Incitatus, favourite horse of Emperor Caligula, allegedly lived in a grand marble house. We are told that Caligula loved him so much that he wanted to make him a consul (lawmaker).
Later writers were keen to demonise Caligula, and he was hardly the most ‘balanced’ of emperors, so it is difficult to know whether he really meant it.
- 5 facts about Caligula
- The 8 bloodiest Roman emperors in history
- Did Emperor Nero really play the fiddle while Rome burned?
The belief may stem from the line “my horse could do a better job than you” or from the view that he loved his horse more than he did the Roman mob.
