Caligula
Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (known to history as “Caligula” or “little boots” after the military attire his father paraded him in as an infant) had an upbringing that condemned him to cruelty and depravity. His entire family fell victim to the political intrigues of the imperial palace, dying from poison, starvation or suicide. At the age of eighteen, Caligula was sent to live with his uncle Tiberius on Capri. Constantly fearing death, he showed nothing but neutrality towards his uncle, silently observing his sexual perversions. When Tiberius died on 16 March 37 AD, many had reason to believe Caligula had helped him on his way.
As emperor, all went well for the first few months until Caligula fell seriously ill in October. Few thought he would recover. When he did, all semblance of normality had gone and he revealed his true, evil nature. Suetonius tells us that he habitually committed incest with his sisters, once spit roasting himself between them and his wife during a grand banquet. He was so infatuated with one sister, Drusilla, that in her childhood he deflowered her, and in adulthood, he abducted her from her husband Cassius Longinus and publically paraded her as his wife.
The incest accusations are most likely fabricated. Not only do no contemporary writers mention them but they also fit in well with Caligula’s portrayal as an eastern-style, Hellenistic despot, particularly one of the Ptolemies who married and interbred with their sisters (all of whom were called Cleopatra). We should also bear in mind that accusations of incest were common in political invective aimed against unpopular dynasts; not least for the reason that they undermined the purity of the bloodline that gave the family their legitimacy. But while he may not have been incestuous, it’s likely that, as Suetonius suggests, he did routinely use sex as a way of demonstrating his power.
Following in the footsteps of Augustus, Caligula would insist that aristocratic women accompany their husbands to his banquets. Over dinner he would make them pass by his couch while he examined them like livestock, commenting on their physical attributes and forcing those who looked away to meet his eyes. He would then retire to his chambers before sending for the woman who had pleased him most. Later, when she returned flushed and disheveled, he would evaluate her performance in front of her husband: pointing out both the positive and negative aspects of her sexual performance. On one occasion he even forced a consul’s wife to divorce her husband, sending him the divorce bill personally.
He had homosexual relations, most notably with the patrician Valerius Catullus (who admitted quite publically that the emperor’s sexual demands exhausted him) but also with the pantomime actor Mnester, who Caligula would rush up and kiss during the middle of his performance. Most of all, he made no distinction between sensuality with cruelty. Whenever kissing the neck of a lover he would remark that, with one command, he could have it severed at his pleasure. He would ultimately go to far with his cruelty and taunting, and in 41 AD he got himself assassinated by Cassius Chaerea who the emperor had mocked for his effeminacy and high-pitched voice.