According to legend, the ruler of Rome so loved his horseman nicknamed the inciting that he appointed him to an important state position. We checked how reliable this legend is.

The authors of textbooks on the history of the ancient world for students for students are talking about a very unusual decision of Emperor Caligula. One of these benefits from issued in 2018 under the general editorship Tatyana Kudryavtseva and in 2016 authorship Vladimir Nikishin. The story about the horse-senator entered the selection "Five of the strange quirks of the monarchs"compiled by the magazine "Amateur", and in 2015 it He mentioned On the air of Echo of Moscow, political scientist Stanislav Belkovsky. The appointment of an inciter by a senator was also told to their readers "Arguments and Facts" And the channel "Ancient World" At Yandex.Zen.

The story that the inciting occupied a state position originates in the writings of ancient authors. Suetonius in the "Life of the Twelve Caesars" He wrote About Caligula: “He was so protected by his horse from all concern that every time he sent a soldier on the eve of the jump to bring silence in the neighborhood; He not only made him a stable of marble and a nursery of ivory, not only gave purple bedspreads and pearl necklaces, but even took him a palace with servants and utensils, where he invited the guests on his behalf; They say he was even going to make him a consul. ” In a similar way tells About the relationship of the emperor and his horse Cassius Dion: “One of his horses, whom he called the inciting, Guy (personal name of the ruler. - Approx. Ed.) invited to lunch, during which he offered him gold barley grains and drank for his health from golden cups. He also swore the life and fate of this horse, and in addition, he even promised to appoint him a consul. And he, no doubt, would have done it if he had lived longer. ”

As can be seen from the messages of Roman historians, it was not about a place in the Senate, but about the position of the consul, while taking this state post to the inciting, judging by the evidence that have survived to our days, failed. Nevertheless, many for hundreds of years understood the corresponding desire of the emperor literally. Researcher David Woods He emphasizesThat Suetonius and Cassius Dion, apparently, relied in their work on the same source, so their messages cannot be considered absolutely reliable.

Most of modern historians converge The fact that the desire of Caligula to make an inciting consul was either a joke or sarcasm. According to one version, the emperor thus emphasized the incompetence of existing consuls and senators. Other scientists suggest that Caligula wanted to demonstrate the unlimitedness of his own power. By the way, some of them agree with Cassius Dione and admit that the ruler really planned to appoint his horse to a high position to achieve these goals.

In his article 2014 Woods does The assumption that it was as a joke torn from the context that Caligula's statement fell into the works of Roman historians. The scientist believes that the emperor, like his compatriots, loved to make fun of names, resorting to the game of words. The consul, and then Emperor Claudius, could become a potential victim of such an acuteness - this name is formed from the word with the meaning of the “lame”. It would turn out that the “quick -legged” will be replaced by the “chromium” consul (as the nickname of the inciting is translated). An other possible addressee of the jokes Woods calls the consul of the Servius of the Gelter: his generic name comes from the word Asinus, “donkey”, and the clanman (nickname) - from the word Celer, “fast”. In this case, according to the joke, the “fast donkey” would be replaced by a “fast -headed horse”.