Caligula: most notorious of the Roman Emperors, who seduced his own sister, installed a horse in the Roman Senate, turned his palace into a brothel, married a prostitute, tortured and killed hundreds of innocent citizens on a whim, and committed countless other acts of madness, cruelty and deviancy. Award-winning writer Stephen Barber documents in full the atrocities of Caligula, and also the other mad Emperors, notably the deranged Commodus. Also included is a bloody history of Gladiators and the Roman Arena, the depraved circus where Christians, freaks and criminals were butchered by the thousand. DIVINE CARNAGE is a shocking catalogue of incest, transvestism, torture, slaughter and perversity brought to life by Barber’s superb authorial skill, making it an essential and eloquent document of murderous decadence. This special ebook edition also includes the bonus of Suetonius’ “Life Of Nero”, highlighting the outrages of yet another sadistic Emperor, whose greatest pleasure lay in the crucifixion and burning of Christian martyrs.

Of all Roman emperors none, with the possible exception of Nero, surpasses Caligula's reputation for infamy. But was Caligula really the mad despot and depraved monster of popular legend or the victim of hostile ancient historians? In this study of Caligula's life, reign and violent death, Anthony A. Barrett draws on the archaeological and numismatic evidence to supplement the later written record. In Professor Barrett's view, the mystery of Caligula's reign is not why he descended into autocracy, but how any intelligent Roman could have expected a different outcome - to grant total power to an inexperienced and arrogant young man was a recipe for disaster. This book, scholarly and accessible, offers a careful reconstruction of Caligula's life and times, and a shrewd assessment of his historical importance.

Explore all of the murder, madness and mayhem in Ancient Rome during the reign of the mad emperor, Caligula. In this book about Rome’s most infamous emperor, expert author, Stephen Dando-Collins’ chronicles all the palace intrigues and murders that led to Caligula becoming emperor, and details the horrors of his manic reign and the murderous consequences brought about at the hand of his sister Agrippina the Younger, his uncle Claudius and his nephew Nero. Skillfully researched, Dando-Collins puts the jigsaw pieces together to form an accurate picture of Caligula’s life and influences. Dando-Collins’ precise and thorough examination of the emperor’s life puts Caligula’s paranoid reign into perspective, examining the betrayals and deaths he experienced prior to his time in power and the onset of a near-fatal illness believed to have affected his mental-health.

Was the Roman emperor Caligula really the depraved despot of popular legend? In this book -- the first major reassessment of Caligula's life and career in over fifty. years -- Anthony A. Barrett draws on archaeological, numismatic, and literary evidence to evaluate this infamous figure in the context of the system that gave him absolute power.Authoritative ... highly readable. -- Bernard Knox, Atlantic MonthlyAn excellent study of the brief reign of Caligula....Barrett is a highly competent historian and clear writer, and the intrinsic interest of his subject is so great that the tougher kind of reader, as well as the scholar, will study this book with pleasure as well as with instruction. -- Hugh Lloyd-Jones, New York Review of BooksBarrett's Caligula fills a long-standing void in providing a balanced, thoroughly documented, and persuasive assessment of Caligula's life and career. This eminently readable book's value is further enhanced by the illustrations and by an appendix discussing Caligula's statuary and coinage. It will prove a welcome addition to the library of anyone with interests in Roman history and culture. -- Joseph J. Hughes, Classical WorldI do not think that any scholar interested in the Julio-Claudian period or any classics or ancient history library could be without this book. Very well written, it should also be popular with the general public. -- Colin M. Wells

Incest, explicit violence, homosexual rape--all presented in graphic clarity for general movie audiences. The fight for artistic freedom in Hollywood movies reached a boiling point when Bob Guccione combined traditional and adult filmmaking values in 1979's controversial Caligula. Guccione, the publisher of Penthouse, was passionate about taking his First Amendment battles out of the bedroom and into the courtroom. Through his determination and four-year legal battle, the film was distributed worldwide and now celebrates its 40th anniversary while achieving cult status. This is the story of the making of the film, its distribution, and its social and cultural impact.