Doug Stanhope

But I don't think you need it as an explanation because I think it's actually fairly clear where Caligula is coming from. And we've already hinted at it in this episode, which is that Caligula is a populist, or to put it in Latin, a popularis. And we've talked before, both in this series and in the podcast more generally, about how politics in Rome is about vibes rather than about policy.

But I don't think you need it as an explanation because I think it's actually fairly clear where Caligula is coming from. And we've already hinted at it in this episode, which is that Caligula is a populist, or to put it in Latin, a popularis. And we've talked before, both in this series and in the podcast more generally, about how politics in Rome is about vibes rather than about policy.

But I don't think you need it as an explanation because I think it's actually fairly clear where Caligula is coming from. And we've already hinted at it in this episode, which is that Caligula is a populist, or to put it in Latin, a popularis. And we've talked before, both in this series and in the podcast more generally, about how politics in Rome is about vibes rather than about policy.

It's about whether... you appeal to the kind of traditional elites or whether you appeal over their heads to the masses. And you've got to remember that the autocracy established by Augustus has only been in existence for 60 years. And the concrete hasn't set. People who are ruling as emperors are trying to work out what policy they should adopt, what role should be.

It's about whether... you appeal to the kind of traditional elites or whether you appeal over their heads to the masses. And you've got to remember that the autocracy established by Augustus has only been in existence for 60 years. And the concrete hasn't set. People who are ruling as emperors are trying to work out what policy they should adopt, what role should be.

It's about whether... you appeal to the kind of traditional elites or whether you appeal over their heads to the masses. And you've got to remember that the autocracy established by Augustus has only been in existence for 60 years. And the concrete hasn't set. People who are ruling as emperors are trying to work out what policy they should adopt, what role should be.

I mean, and the people all around him are as well. And Augustus had embodied the popularist tradition and the kind of the more aristocratic traditionalist perspective. Tiberius had been a traditionalist. Caligula... I think partly out of temperament and partly because he correctly recognises the weakness of the Senate, goes all in with the popularist tradition.

I mean, and the people all around him are as well. And Augustus had embodied the popularist tradition and the kind of the more aristocratic traditionalist perspective. Tiberius had been a traditionalist. Caligula... I think partly out of temperament and partly because he correctly recognises the weakness of the Senate, goes all in with the popularist tradition.

I mean, and the people all around him are as well. And Augustus had embodied the popularist tradition and the kind of the more aristocratic traditionalist perspective. Tiberius had been a traditionalist. Caligula... I think partly out of temperament and partly because he correctly recognises the weakness of the Senate, goes all in with the popularist tradition.

So his instinct is to kind of flatter and woo the people, to give them the entertainments that he himself enjoys. And of course, the spectacle of his enjoyment... makes him very, very popular with the people and conversely to kind of turn against the Senate and rather than to appease senators, to crush them. And it's a strategy to which he brings very distinctive qualities.

So his instinct is to kind of flatter and woo the people, to give them the entertainments that he himself enjoys. And of course, the spectacle of his enjoyment... makes him very, very popular with the people and conversely to kind of turn against the Senate and rather than to appease senators, to crush them. And it's a strategy to which he brings very distinctive qualities.

So his instinct is to kind of flatter and woo the people, to give them the entertainments that he himself enjoys. And of course, the spectacle of his enjoyment... makes him very, very popular with the people and conversely to kind of turn against the Senate and rather than to appease senators, to crush them. And it's a strategy to which he brings very distinctive qualities.

And I think that one of them clearly is a certain relish for cruelty and domination. I think that the sources are just too insistent on that for us to kind of, you know, whitewash it. I think he clearly was, you know, In that sense, a completely terrifying man.

And I think that one of them clearly is a certain relish for cruelty and domination. I think that the sources are just too insistent on that for us to kind of, you know, whitewash it. I think he clearly was, you know, In that sense, a completely terrifying man.

And I think that one of them clearly is a certain relish for cruelty and domination. I think that the sources are just too insistent on that for us to kind of, you know, whitewash it. I think he clearly was, you know, In that sense, a completely terrifying man.

A very nasty piece of work. And with a particular focus, I think, on sexual humiliation. Again, even if the stories about him sleeping with senators' wives in dinner parties or setting up a brothel on the Palatine are exaggerated, the fact that these stories are told... clearly are drawing on authentic memories of the trauma that senators were made to go through.

A very nasty piece of work. And with a particular focus, I think, on sexual humiliation. Again, even if the stories about him sleeping with senators' wives in dinner parties or setting up a brothel on the Palatine are exaggerated, the fact that these stories are told... clearly are drawing on authentic memories of the trauma that senators were made to go through.

A very nasty piece of work. And with a particular focus, I think, on sexual humiliation. Again, even if the stories about him sleeping with senators' wives in dinner parties or setting up a brothel on the Palatine are exaggerated, the fact that these stories are told... clearly are drawing on authentic memories of the trauma that senators were made to go through.

And for reasons, again, that we've talked in this series, striking at an aristocratic Roman sense of sexual self-respect is absolutely devastating to their whole sense of status. Caligula correctly identifies that as the way to really kind of break them.

And for reasons, again, that we've talked in this series, striking at an aristocratic Roman sense of sexual self-respect is absolutely devastating to their whole sense of status. Caligula correctly identifies that as the way to really kind of break them.