Was Caligula A Psychopath? | Rome's Most Notorious Emperor | Absolute History

Two thousand years ago one of history's most notorious individuals was born. Professor Mary Beard embarks on an investigative journey to explore the life and times of Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus - better known to us as Caligula.
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[@steph1275]

I’m trying to watch these ads but for some reason a documentary keeps interrupting them. It’s really annoying.

[@rosiered3403]

Good one 😄

[@andreatalbot2868]

😂

[@danielclaeys7598]

The ads are KZbin. If you want to skip the ads, you can pay KZbin, I think that it's $9.99 per month. It's your choice, but don't blame the channel owner for the ads.

[@rmartinbuenosaires]

Daniel Claeys Its called non stop Greed and extortion.

[@dimomarkov8937]

Install AdBlock extension. Problem fixed.

[@chrisdooley6468]

Mary is one of my favorite Ancient Rome experts. Totally enjoy watching her series

[@cnacma]

She’s the greatest. I’m in college right now and Mary is the kind of professor I wish I had for all of my classes. Someone excited to make everyone excited to learn.

[@bellamiona3724]

l hope she takes care of her nails

[@starfall2410]

Wow I’m here within minutes.

[@francesbernard2445]

Me too.

[@user-fz9ro8xy3u]

She's great and not afraid to get her hands dirty & she'll say certain words of body parts 😊😊

[@IAmThankfulToday]

“@00:30 The first blow .....didn’t kill him but the next 30 or so did” LOL

[@karimonster]

I'm gonna need every historical documentary that includes Caligula to call him 'bootykins' at least once in the program from here on out.

[@JessicaN555]

I am giggling 😂

[@ishanafondekar6334]

rick rioradan has got you covered bro

[@christinacatalano]

little boots

[@Reub3]

I will comment every docu about him on youtube "bootykins" We must make this the new tradition in honor of him XD

[@avasmith8276]

"What she asked of me at the end of the day, Caligula would have blushed..." - The Smiths

[@AEKAskenburne]

Mary Beard's zeal is infectuous! Many thanks for the entertaining and educating documentary! Thumbs up from me! :-)

[@DarDarBinks1986]

Game of Thrones characters: We'll murder our siblings to gain control of Westeros. Rome: Hold my beer.

[@mangalores-x_x]

More like: Rome: Amateurs!

[@vylbird8014]

While Rome did have beer, they generally favored wine. It was a weaker wine then we would expect today, which they made up for in volume.

[@Cortesevasive]

Ottoman Empire: AMATEURS

[@Null257]

The Romans were flower children compared to the Ottoman Empire.

[@catattack885]

*wine

[@kwhite749]

For those who are annoyed at the ads.. fast forward to 5 seconds prior to the end and let the rest of it play out as normal. When it finishes press the replay button and voila.. enjoy it with no ads.

[@Peaceful-Sheep]

Thanks! Good to know

[@zerosleep657]

usually i skip for next 10 sec 😂

[@opulentmissopal1123]

Cool! Thanks 😀

[@SweetTea-Stephens]

Or buy the premium and never have ads ever

[@nomine4027]

I just use the app and rarely see commercials. If I do, it's a one off at the beginning.

[@_luckicharms]

Prof. Mary Beard is so intelligent! Her knowledge of Roman history is amazing!

[@SosaSal_]

This lady, and the other one with the blonde curly hair make learning history funnn

[@seiyuokamihimura5082]

F is for fire that burns down the whole town! U is for Uranium! N is for no survivors!

[@nomine4027]

@Dani Stark Suzannah Lipscomb and Mary Beard. I'm a fan of Lucy Worsley and Bettany Hughes, too.

[@nomine4027]

@Dani Stark I think you're referring to Dan Jones and Tony Robinson. Both very good! I'm also an American, and in my 30's. I definitely know way more about Europe than America, too. American history can be so dull. I obviously watch way too many docs if I can name so many presenters, lol.

[@Ilikefrogs..]

Ruth Goodman is amazing too, it’s impossible not to love watching someone have as much fun at their job as she does!

[@bev9708]

@Dani Stark Yes Dan Jones is adorable and has also written some very famous books about the Plantagenets which I've read. Tony Robinson has also famous for writing lots of charming children's books.

[@kurtistownresident9743]

Ads? It’s almost like companies and documentarians need money to support themselves. Like even if this is old they still deserve to paid for their hard work and research so we can sit around and watch a documentary instead of studying it ourselves

[@Ilikefrogs..]

I’m honestly questioning if any of the people originally involved in creating these documentaries are actually getting paid.

[@kirarasmom4274]

It's to boring to study by visual learners. Her accent is entertaining. We need intertaining to get interested to learn. Everyone does not learn the same way. That's the problem with modern schools. 🙂

[@magsj6474]

Thank you to Mary and all the many many people behind the scenes. Very satisfying way to spend some time.

[@fairychangeling8337]

I like the little heads. Never thought about how every sculptor knew what they looked like... they'd have to meet them..what if they forgot what they looked like on the way home... Food for thought. Thanks for distracting my mind for a few minutes from endless lockdown boredom.

[@teshahartke5468]

They made sketches for reference

[@hippocritic]

"Two thousand years ago one of history's most notorious individuals was born. Professor Mary Beard embarks on an investigative journey to explore the life and times of Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus - better known to us as Caligula." Mary Beard looks good for 2000 years old...

[@ssa6227]

The way she presents and the why this video is made I have never seen Rome like this despite so many movies and documentaries. Sad to know about emperor who suffered so much in life and his name was so cruelly defamed for all eternity in history with false information.

[@marisamartin3664]

Nations doing business with Rome were literate and had no reason to defame Caligula.

[@fieracarmen4713]

Aveți dreptate!

[@andreatalbot2868]

This was the best doc on Caligula that I’ve watched so far. Thanks for upload

[@andreashore7379]

you got a cute name lol

[@andreatalbot2868]

Andrea Shore You too 👍

[@deloresrichards5991]

I was waiting to hear about the awful things he did that separated his insanity from that of most emperors.

[@edwhatshisname3562]

Same but I'm sure if they had done that the video would've been at least one and a half to two hours.

[@MsMani2UBeauty]

I think we just became best friends with this comment! I thought the same thing!

[@ssa6227]

@Osito Kintsugi I don't think that was what video suggests. They paint a picture of a popular Emperor who was wrongly murdered for power and then his murder was justified by killers thru maligning his name as a decadent tyrant.

[@thebaddest3452]

You saved me watching this documentart

[@badgerden7080]

It's basically like comparing a group of demons to see who is the worst.

[@vylbird8014]

I wish the Romans hadn't abbreviated things so much. I can just about read Latin when it's clear, but start throwing in so many abbreviations and it goes beyond me.

[@lesliecarr312]

Several years ago, I started watching documentaries about one of two of the world's most famous volcanic eruptions, and I didn't immediately begin with that thing in Italy. It was completely on the other side of the world in the Sunda Strait. Funny thing about it, these two eruptions were almost 2,000 years apart, but they happened in the same month and only 3 days apart. August 27, 1883. After watching "Krakatoa, the great volcanic eruption", I remembered good old Vesuvio and when I saw Mary Beard's presentations on Pompeii and Herculaneum, I was absolutely hooked and started watching everything I could find about Ancient Rome. Mary ain't the only one who does fabulous doc's about the Roman Empire, but I love her style, it's so refreshing, even if I've watched the same videos almost a hundred times each. "I have given her documentaries without limit."

[@gregmunro1137]

There’s been so much done on Caligula, it’s the same stuff, but Mary always makes it exciting

[@f3lix246]

These videos makes me like history a lot more and want to learn more about the history. History is just SO interesting

[@LittleJoeTheMoonlightCat]

Adult Swim Even had a Game Called Viva Caligula, where the player is Caligula Conquering Rome, before the assassination happens, the more the player Kills, the angrier the mob gets.

[@onemercilessming1342]

Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, KCVO DL

[@larrackell]

The fearsome ancient leader: Emperor Boots.

[@NataliePierson1]

Interesting. I too had watched and read about the sexual perversion of Caligula, but it's fascinating to think about how that might have just been spin to justify the assassination. History is written by the victors, I suppose. Now my brain hurts. :)

[@1112viggo]

Yeah i am pretty sure Marcus Antonius was not a lecherous incompetent drunk either. Its hard to believe these men could accomplish what they did if all that slandering by the victors was true.

[@1112viggo]

@Will Fryer 2 yes and the ones who decides what scrolls gets stored and guarded in a library and which gets burned if discovered are the military victors.

[@marisamartin3664]

There is more than one official document about Caligula. Many places related to Rome were literate in that time. He was as perverse as they say

[@Baigle1]

​@Will Fryer 2 Nearly all countries spin their news stories out of pride and subversion. If you see one country's news from 5 other countries' networks, you will likely get 4+ widely different stories. Even if a country doesn't spin 20% of the information, they are likely to spin the other 80% in a way that breaks apart contention into a thousand hot topics that are difficult to piece together. You end up having to throw out most news sources and go straight to the source, wherever it came from, if its even provided. This accounts for nearly the entirety of the unstable power heirarchy; acting on accurate actionable intelligence, and being the in-crowd that doesn't get mind-fu***d. Almost tempted to give 80% of journalists an inaccurate DSM mental disorder. TL;DR: Fake news. The people who write it suck.

[@nielubieinceli]

@@marisamartin3664 most Romans emperors were. They were treates like GODS. They could buy anything.

[@annepfannkoch5272]

Love Mary's gold sneakers..

[@EdwardCheek]

One long series of ads with a mere mention of Rome in the middle

[@barbarabueno81]

You can bypass ads by moving the bar all the way to the end and then click on repeat. Ads gone!

[@TheSativastorm]

@@barbarabueno81 or just install ad-blocker :P

[@scottpreston5074]

It's not all that bad. Really, I've seen worse and it pays for the show.

[@NorthernXY]

I'm starting to rethink him making his horse a senator. Horses know more about how the world works than a 3-year-old we're told to listen to about policy development.

[@Vanditha-th8oc]

is it just me or does anyone else find caligula handsome?😂

[@elhombredeoro955]

I don't think they were allowed to make an ugly statue.

[@persephone153]

@@elhombredeoro955 I find it weird how most of their statues look similar with the exception of some imperfections. I'm pretty sure they didn't all look *that* good 😂

[@1112viggo]

@@elhombredeoro955 They had no problem making small wieners though. Or was that the Greeks? its hard to tell their statues apart. But i think its a general thing in statue making cause iv seen statues of handsome naked men with small wieners in many countries in Europe. XD

[@MichelleSK6]

@@1112viggo Large penises was a sign of a barbarian in those days 😅

[@1112viggo]

@@MichelleSK6 Lmao surely you jest? Imagine being treated like an animal because your penis happens to dangle lower than your balls.. Thank Jupiter times have changed!

[@hankrogers8431]

*I ADORE MARY BEARD!*

[@quintonbroster2994]

Why

[@hankrogers8431]

@@quintonbroster2994 Knowledge and personality. Nobody can bring Ancient Romans back to life like Mary.

[@quintonbroster2994]

@@hankrogers8431 sorry Hank I can't stand her and I love anything to do with ancient Rome I think she has a droning voice and a personal agenda just my opinion and I respect yours

[@marzipanmango]

I really like her too; all of my favourite professors over the years have had similar ways of speaking & presenting. It's hard not be engaged and curious when your teacher is so obviously passionate about the subject!

[@Acidfunkish]

@@marzipanmango This, completely. If even your professor isn't excited about a topic. It's hard to bring yourself to find excitement in the subject, either. If the Prof is more passionate, they tend to be more animated and interesting! This lady is very easy to listen to and watch. She very obviously finds the topic intriguing, herself, and she passes it along to the viewer. If she has a bias, she's not showing it, so I'm not sure where the above person got that. She mentions that gossip and rumour are only that. When providing the best evidence, she mentions that it's a best guess, and provides the reasons why. I'm not sure what more you want, without dumbing down the presentation to the extreme.

[@dominikheiderer9161]

I love your upload! 👊🏻

[@archeofutura_4606]

It’s always a good take on Rome when Dr. Beard is involved! Great documentary, despite the annoying ads That being said, I wonder why these renowned classicists don’t seem to pronounce the Latin very well

[@lindenpeters2601]

Oh, so you're saying we shouldn't necessarily believe unsubstantiated claims about political leaders? That it's amazing how well smear campaigns can work?

[@gurgy3]

I heard Caligula was also a Russian spy!

[@dallascat1983]

@@gurgy3 😄

[@Acidfunkish]

Except that ones about your current "leader" are easily substantiated.

[@NnyNZ]

Unsubstantiated is the operative word... Substantiated facts are not fake news

[@vallennes]

Trumps a piece of shit and I'm going to piss on his grave when that happy day comes

[@shreyaagarwal7682]

Thoroughly enjoyed the video about Roman history and Caligula

[@shaundavenport621]

Mary B!The Gandalf of Roman history! 🤣😁👍👍👍

[@billieking8152]

Awesome narration

[@LaurieValdez-zk3dy]

Thank you🎉🎉🎉🎉 you tell a lovely story

[@kynandesouza]

Professor Mary has some really cool shoes

[@Anna-tc6rz]

I love when people complain about free stuff. Dont like ads? Pay the 10$ a month for youtube red or stfu. CREATORS HAVE THE RIGHT TO EARN A LIVING! If you dont wanna pay to view their video, either in time to watch ads or by buying YT red then dont watch. Very simple.

[@lellyt2372]

Mary calling Caligula "bootykins" quite often is hilarious to me and no more than he deserves. He was at least sadistic, if not actually psychotic, so being remembered and identified by a childish nickname that he hated, is a mild castigation by history and his enemies that I appreciate and am fully on board with

[@Renperuu]

Slightly reminded me of King Joffery's story from GOT.

[@moonbeamstry5321]

I don't think it's an accident that the actor they cast as Jeoffry looks so much like him...

[@sam82154]

Joffery was a respectable man compared to caligula, never put his dick inside his sister.

[@petersclafani4370]

Mary b is a great professor

[@Hans-fz6cc]

its a lot of hearsay to me, to run an empire the size of rome needs intelligent leaders, skills in negotiations and trade, not maniacs killing each other for next to nothing, the way roman empirors are portraited they are more symbolic than actual in charge of things

[@sylviakoziarski4912]

What is the name of the music at the end of the video does anyone know? That is a wonderful overture.

[@solarasolarwind4323]

The irony ...Caligula is probably more remembered than any other emperor of Rome. One of the world first trolls of epic proportions ever!

[@mariusmatei2946]

Well, one of the most remembered (Emperors of Rome), certainly; one could draw parallels with the saying "bad news makes the news".

[@tooziefaloozie]

Interesting.. besides the 10 advert breaks 😡

[@pandekuri]

Alice Ribeiro ah you expect an hour long video free of ads? If only there was a way to not view ads. Like maybe a premium account or membership to a channel

[@pandekuri]

Strefanasha achatvalu I wish iOS had an add-on but whenever on a laptop it’s heaven to have ad-block but unfortunately doesn’t help support the channels you enjoy

[@renitalake3580]

KZbin red.

[@gurgy3]

Pande I didn’t mind paying 8$ a monthfor youtube red. Now they want 16$? Give me a break, they don’t even make the content on their platform, they just host it.

[@gurgy3]

@Louise Severn Where do you get entitled? I was making an observation that they are pricing themselves out of the market. Especially when they use subscription fees to host Disney channel clone youtubers instead of the amateur content that established the platform. Is KZbin entitled to my subscription fee no matter the cost?

[@Niiiiith]

I wish I could be a mad emperor. The world is just so harsh to dictators these days ugh.

[@markimel4947]

Lol

[@elio5105]

Mary beard what a qween

[@lifeisstr4nge]

0:30 POSSE - I NEED YOU I NEED YOU I NEED YOU ON THE FLOOOOOOOR!

[@dissodatore]

all of this information about how Tyberius treated Gaius, and all they say is how Gaius learned from Tyberius, and nothing is said about the fact that his uncle abused him, quite likely sexually as well as physically and mentally, and that is why the boy started to go nuts. though, I can only guess that the illness, likely with a very high fever, didn't help.

[@tablet2016]

Way too many ads. Too much interruptions to bother with. Ads befor, after but as many this is just more annoying than anything else.. not worth it

[@nomine4027]

"Bootikins" is so British, lol.

[@CoushattaL]

Love lovvvvve this kind of history!!! Life isn't as interesting as the Roman days.

[@catherineblue5607]

"Emperor Diddums" 😅

[@suelovescats]

Living then ... it sounds like you never knew if you would be poisoned at the royal dinner table !!! Or killed at someone fancy ... 🙀

[@paulmiddleton8593]

Changable head statues ...Im done

[@kyle18934]

It really makes you think how replaceable the people must have felt, when they watched their head replace a person just removed from office.

[@jjrj8568]

The most terrifying aspect of Caligula is that what Suetonius wrote about him actually feels TRUE (and that's sayin' something, considering Suetonius' love for rumors and hyperbole): constant sexual depravities, bizarre-disturbing excentricities, insane-illogical taxes, and numerous acts of random torture, verbal threats, and/or murder.

[@gabrielaaraujo4124]

Very nice. It would be perfect if it had subs

[@Natasha-oj1le]

You get a education on history and science and this will help you educate children on real life event from the past life around the world

[@gabrielbumanglag3303]

I'm intrigued about his lore outside from FGO. I think that explains his servant class as berserker because of his tyranny that is feared by many.

[@yamsnmac]

Swim between his thighs and nibble WHAT 💀🤚🏽

[@skewell55]

RIGHT! Gross and wrong as fuck, damn pedo!!!

[@L0rdOfThePies]

@@skewell55 naw, older men in that age usually had sexual relationships with younger men before the young boys get married, it was normal for the time so you cant exactly pass modern judgement if everyone was at it

[@lander1591]

Well great... now that I know this every time somebody says Caligula I hear bootikins...

[@SassyyjuicyMaria]

In fact there´s a porno film, starring Malcolm Mac Dowell as Caligula and Helen Mirren. It lat three hours... Vulgar, but interesting.

[@GrimsArchive]

Yes, it really got the depravity across!

[@PascalRascal]

This woman makes everything so interesting

[@Fiyera]

Wasn't he the inspiration behind Joffree Lannister?

[@KableMrDan]

This makes me want to take another crack at SPQR! (the book)

[@MagnificentHealingCreations]

No ads using the Brave browser..

[@christinadouglas3975]

I once saw a movie from the library about Caligula and his sexual proclivities, a movie with Malcolm McDowell and Peter O'Toole; since this was a mainstream movie I thought it would be a reasonably sanitized history but instead it turned out to be total hardcore porn.

[@mescko]

The porn scenes were snuck in by Bob Guccione, filmed after the main cast had left. The main cast members were outraged, as I recall.

[@christinadouglas3975]

@@mescko Wow, seriously? I didnt know that.

[@cliffephoto]

Too Many Ads

[@karenhearne7112]

Adblock Plus will fix the ad problem right up

[@sophialoren7855]

Welcome to KZbin

[@daviendautrieve6285]

I gotta say youtubes ads are getting so ridiculous. It showed me an ad every three minutes for the ENTIRETY of this fucking video.

[@greglousick]

What a great presentation by Mary Beard...

[@TheNeonParadox]

Augustus: I'll be the most remembered emperor because I was the first. Did I say emperor? I meant I was the "son" of Julius Caesar, and I hunted down and slaughtered his killers. I made one of Rome's most famous generals so scared he killed himself and ended the Ptolemy dynasty. I returned peace and prosperity to Rome and began public works building roads, aqueducts, and amphitheaters to stimulate the economy. Caligula: Sorry, bro. Penthouse is going to make a movie about me in the 1970s CE, so...

[@marisamartin3664]

I forced people to worship me in exchange

[@karenchapman8715]

Keep your hands off the artifacts. You of all people should know the oils in your hands have a detrimental effect on these treasures.

[@jnathan9321]

Interesting 😁

[@FluWorldOrder]

ROKESPERE was dressed as a Roman Emperor when celebrating "The Day of the Supreme Being" in Paris, his days were numbered after the people witnessed that.

[@elaborat6421]

After all this I just feel sorry for him...I expected different.Victors write the history sadly.I sense real evil was Tiberius.Or people that wrote convenient history after.

[@nadyarossi5102]

Tiberius was a real no-goodnik.

[@joshuastarkloff9602]

I would love to visit famous Roman archeological sites all across the Empire. From the cold rain drenched isles of Briton all the way to the Roman holdings in the ancient near east.

[@dawnbolton6024]

I always say that too much money makes you weird. This is true in history and even today.

[@angelcarter6387]

So after all this information I basically learned that the guy was SEVERELY full of himself

[@Natasha-oj1le]

I used this to educate my kids about history of the world and science and etc that will help them in school

[@melmelhodgepodge3800]

Everyone complaining about the ads, just get an ad blocker...

[@theodorelutjen1290]

Live by the sword, die by the sword.

[@laceyavron]

Caligula has been reborn as, Killary Clinton HAHAHAHAHA!

[@sarahjones79]

What happened to the rest of the video?? 😖

[@lchris5709]

No one does it like Mary.

[@DJSTOEK]

12:25 wtf lol. That's crazy

[@misschocoholic2126]

Even I will hate it when people referred me as the Emperor 'little soldier's boot' than my own name. You want to be respected by your people, not to make fun off :v

[@briezzy365]

The boats look like an Ark. The pipes were, perhaps, to drain water out, maybe, or collect rainwater.

[@sqrd3536]

If that horse ate gold coated oats. I can just imagine the stable cleaners making a killing gathering up the gold dust from the horse manure. I hope someone had the business sense😂.

[@macdeath69]

why does she touch everything ? Visitors are not supposed to touch those antiquities.

[@TheLafandemangas]

i'm pretty sure they wouldn't let her touch it if she wasn't supposed (or allowed) to touch it :)

[@persephone153]

She's a historian so I guess they're allowed plus they know how to handle the items properly.

[@wanladakong6212]

macdeath26 RHIP

[@greenscreekgirl]

They just can’t allow every visitor to touch it. She’s an expert, she knows what she’s doing.

[@TheSativastorm]

lot of peeps here complaining of adverts. Download Adblock plus and enjoy youtube stress-free!!

[@MrYougotcaught]

Geez! The Professional man at 34:38 looks to be a distant relative of or a direct descendant of US President Abraham Lincoln

[@bebejolie8187]

Lady, you're doing great work here. I really enjoy watching this. The only bummer is seeing you touch and brush over these old remnants of the past with your bare hands. But it's great to show them

[@sydneymomma11]

how disrespectful - she's a Professor, and she deserves to be regarded as such. did it not occur to you that she would obviously have permission to touch them? especially on camera?

[@ferox965]

Well, Caligula from 1979 starring Malcolm McDowall and Helen Mirren did have actual porn in it...

[@marcl.1346]

3:20 I don't think she knows how to drive safely...

[@vallennes]

The sexual tension between the historians at 17:00 to 17:25 as they discuss assassinations

[@Mars-kd1ew]

Evil, yeah...but Caligula sure knew how to live nice

[@PhiffieRawr]

These horrifically long adds suck!!!!!!! I love this video though.

[@mariekatherine5238]

Well, Peter McGuiness, a Brooklyn politician of the early 20th century, managed to get his horse on the city payroll. No reason Caligula couldn’t make his horse a consul, or a consort for that matter. What a pervert!

[@windowpane]

6:19 I see King Joffrey's face