Great answer!
Printable View
Commodus was definitely a nasty piece of work but as to whether he was worse than any of the others is an open question. He actually ruled for 12 years and was unquestionably of a bloodthirsty and licentious disposition. As to whether he ever indulged in single combat with Russel Crowe is somewhat doubtful, however, he did hunt wild beasts in the arena for the gratification of the mob, but afterwards demanded to be worshiped as Hercules. He was eventually murdered by one of his concubines whom he had determined to put to death, but she poisoned him first. The poison was slow to kill him though, so an athlete, one Narcissus, was ordered to strangle him.
Robert Graves and the BBC would have us believe that Claudius was a nice old buffer, but he could be just as psychotic as the rest. He is reported to have blinded one of his officials by stabbing him in the eye with a stylus.
There has been a theory postulated that all the Roman Aristocracy who drank wine were suffering from lead poisoning. The wine was stored in lead lined vessels and the acids in the wine leached toxic compounds from the linings more effectively than ordinary water did. It should be remembered that Romans used lead (plumbum in Latin) pipes for water, which is where our word plumber comes from.
Anyway, I don't think the Roman emperors should be granted sole propriatory rights over beastliness. The modern age has produced its share of maniacs. Uncle jo Stalin was pretty bad, not to mention Pol Pot. The list is endless.
Good points.
most roman emperors were just like the Pharoahs, having it on with their own families. the pharoahs were prolific incestious people.
it ranged from mother father brother and sister, young or old. Power stinks when it comes down to that.
gross when you think Cleopatra married her youngest brother..yuk!
amasing when you watch programms about them no one mention how vile they were with their sexual deviances.
Yea califony is actualy right here, we can;t judge other cultures based on our own cultural assumptions.
For example our present day culture viewed from the imperial roman standpoint would be effeminate and devoid of any real men, viewed from a 18th century view point we are the vilest of sinners and disgusting deviants.
cultural?since when incest became culture?
I would not call these poeple anyhting but aristocractic.
Incest is insane leading to more insanity.
How these so called pharoahs/people ruled, being born out of incest, is beyond my imagination.
Pharoahs had nothing to do with culture or aristocracy as far as I am concerned.
Their behaviour was sick beyon belief.
Glad they are gone.Did they really think they were going to last after that?
P.S:
Pharoah in arabic means sinner because they committed incest.
Hence the name pharoah in arabic.