Was it madness? Or was it the ultimate troll move? By elevating a horse to a position of power, Caligula wasn't just being silly; he was mocking the Senate. He was saying, "You are all so useless, a horse could do your job better." That is the genius of the "loco" emperor—sometimes the madness is just performance art with a body count. If Caligula was the troll, Elagabalus was the avant-garde performance artist. This teenage emperor from Syria brought his weird religion to Rome, and the conservatives lost their minds.
These stories also serve a political purpose. Almost every tale of a "mad emperor" was written by his assassins. After a bad emperor was killed, the Senate would declare a Damnatio memoriae —the erasure of his memory. They would then write histories painting him as a monster or a lunatic to justify the stabbing. la locuras del emperador
Would you build a golden palace? Declare a national pizza day? Or would you, like Caligula, look at your pet and think, "You know what? You deserve a promotion." Was it madness