Great vices of Roman rulers:
Caligula, Nero and Heliogabal

The life of the rulers was always visible at a glance. Public people never managed to hide from the people neither flaws, nor virtues. Some sovereigns became famous for great accomplishments and virtues, while others for their terrible vices and inhuman crimes.

Caligula

The ancient Roman emperor from the Yuliev-Klavdiev dynasty lived a short life of 29 years, but managed to become famous as one of the most vicious and bloodthirsty rulers. His real name is Guy Caesar, and Caligula is just a nickname that he received as a child, as he liked to wear caligi - the boots of Roman soldiers.

A cruel and depraved person who gained power through intrigue and betrayal. As a boy, he lost his parents and grew up an orphan in a disastrous atmosphere, among relatives who did their best to grow a dissolved monster out of him. History ascribes to him cohabitation with his sisters, a love of terrible torture and cruel fights, numerous homosexual relationships.

Caligula did not know mercy for people and enjoyed the sight of other people’s suffering. This is evidenced by one of his most disgusting acts - when the meat went up in price in the country, he mercilessly gave prisoners in prison alive to be eaten by wild predators brought for show. During his reign, his favorite tortures over people were: burning with a hot iron, burning at a fire, sawing bodies into two parts. A prerequisite was the presence of close relatives of the victim at the execution and her slow, painful death. The whole process gave the lord of the Roman Empire untold pleasure.

Caligula was killed by the tribune of the Praetorian cohort, and his wife and daughter were killed after his death.

Nero

Full name - Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus. The boy grew up a pampered child in an atmosphere of creativity, loved music and versification, and was indifferent to military affairs.

Nero early married a girl to whom he had no attraction - Octavia. Later, he would divorce her allegedly because of her infertility, and would marry his friend’s wife, Poppea. Opposing this dirty connection, Agrippina’s mother tried to seduce her own son and got her own. This unnatural incestuous bond excited the whole of Rome. However, the passion for Poppea was much stronger than she expected.

Not wanting to endure the presence of Octavia and Agrippina next to her, Poppea put forward tough conditions before the ruler, refusing to accept him, as she had done before. From now on, the role of a lover did not suit her. It was she who pushed her son to openly kill her own mother. The one who at one time sacrificed everything to help him stay in power.

Together with his newly-made wife, Nero arranged orgies lasting weeks at the Golden Palace. However, he soon became fed up with it, and he found other interests for himself. Poppea did not know how to patiently endure treason. The jealousy of the pregnant wife led the emperor to kick her in the stomach with a fit of anger, after which she died.

Nero went down in history not only as a vicious voluptuous man, but also as one of the first to begin the inhumane extermination of Christians, in whose eyes he appeared as the Antichrist.

The dissolute rule condemned the emperor to shameful exile, and then to suicide.

Heliogabal

Roman emperor from the dynasty of the North. Full name - Marcus Aurelius Antonin Heliogabal. Nature awarded the young man a beautiful appearance and an ugly soul. At the age of 14, through the efforts of his grandmother, he was proclaimed emperor.

The personal life of the young ruler was filled with debauchery - a huge number of lovers and lovers served as his pride. Not a single corrupt woman at court, he said, could boast of so many amorous adventures. Special people brought him young attractive partners. Those chosen who managed to appease the emperor were awarded high government posts.

Heliogabal used female cosmetics, dressed in luxurious silk clothes and rode in a golden chariot. He had strange and cruel entertainments - he could lock up his drunken friends in the room, and at night suddenly let in tamed predatory animals - lions, leopards and bears. So that some after such a night let out a breath of fear.

One of his worst atrocities was the offering of human sacrifices during ceremonies in honor of his god. Moreover, beautiful boys from noble families were chosen. During the ceremony, the emperor and his friends removed the entrails from the poor victims and carefully examined them.

The way of his life and mockery of the shrines of the Romans every day more and more outraged by the local population. In the end, the patience of the people ran out - his whole family was killed with him. The corpses, mounted on hooks, dragged along all the streets of the city and were thrown into the Tiber River. The name Antonin became forbidden, since Heliogabal spotted him.

So shamefully ended the rulers who lost all shame, endowed with unlimited power, whose wise rule could leave a wonderful mark in history, if terrible human vices did not take hold of their weak mind.

Svetlana Toropova