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It's good to be the king - or the emperor. Pleasure, power, and extreme wealth often come with the job. The exploits of Caligula are legendary, and he even took those activities to the water when he built two luxurious party ships and parked them on Lake Nemi near Rome.
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Caligula was born into the first ruling family of the Roman Empire
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As a young child, he'd often dress in a soldier's uniform, prompting his father's soldiers to call him Caligula
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meaning little soldier's boot. As a leader, the name Caligula is synonymous with ego, hedonism, and murder
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So how did a mosaic from one of his infamous pleasure ships
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wind up being used as a showpiece coffee table for a Park Avenue apartment
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Well, tie your toga and pour one out for Dionysus, because today we are exploring how an ancient relic
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from Caligula's pleasure ship ended up in New York. When his father died at the ripe old age of 33
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probably due to poison, Caligula was passed around from family member to family member
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They all had a strange habit of dropping dead. Were they murdered? Well, that's debatable
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But there is one man who clearly had the means and the motive, Emperor Tiberius
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Tiberius hated the Germanicus family as he saw them as a potential threat to his power
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He is the historical suspect number one for Caligula's father's murder, and also the
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man responsible for sending Caligula's mother and brothers off to die in prison
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With no one left to care for him, Caligula wound up in the care of the emperor himself
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Most everyone assumed Emperor Tiberius would have Caligula immediately killed. But like an early version of Macaulay Culkin, Caligula was a gifted natural actor
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He made Tiberius believe he held no grudge against him, and Tiberius eventually grew to care for the boy
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You shall stay here with me. Rome deserves you. It's like they always say, keep your friends close
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and the person who murdered your family even closer. Cutting Caligula bid his time, winning over the support of the Senate
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So when Tiberius died, either by natural causes or more likely Caligula's own hand
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guess who got the crown? This guy. First heralded as a populist reformer, Caligula was eagerly
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accepted as the new emperor. For the first six months of his rule, Caligula lowered taxes
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raised military wages, and even got rid of his predecessor's McCarthy-esque treason trials
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If imperial subjugates were polled, Caligula's numbers would have been through the roof
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He was the mayor of East Town of Emperors, loved and praised by critics and the public alike
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In fact the people gladly carried out the order for 160 animals to be ritually sacrificed in Caligula name But our story takes a turn when seven months into his reign Caligula falls gravely ill once again probably due to poison
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In those circles, getting poisoned was kind of like catching a cold. It was pretty much inevitable
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Caligula recovered in body, but never in mind. He grew paranoid. He started killing people
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He whacked people for political reasons. He whacked for personal reasons. He whacked people for no reason at all
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It is said that Caligula once ordered an entire section of the audience watching the gladiator
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games to be thrown into the action. It's safe to say that Caligula had a bit of an ego
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Just despite a prophecy that said he'd have a better chance of riding a horse across the
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Bay of Baia than becoming emperor, Caligula had a temporary floating bridge constructed
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so he could spend two days strutting his horse across the Three Mile Bay
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Soon after, Caligula declared himself a living god. And therefore I am a god
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Forcing not only his subjects to address him as such, but also the senators
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Foreshadowing alert, the senators were not amused. Caligula commissioned the construction of two large, luxurious ships
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which he named Prima Nava and Seconda Nava, meaning first ship and second ship
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Those are the best names a living god can do. But Caligula was more than just a mad, murderous emperor and boat-naming goat
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He was also a lover and a friend of horses. In fact, his favorite horse, Incatatus, was fed a steady diet of oats fixed with real gold flakes
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and was even elevated to the status of priest. This made perfect sense if Caligula was looking for absolution for his infamous debauchery
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My name is Caligula, and I am an alcoholic sex addict. Only a horse priest could approve of turning the palace into an active brothel
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and reportedly having incestuous relations with his three sisters, Agrippina the Younger, Drusilla, and Livilla
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The first ship and second ship served no practical purpose whatsoever
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as they were never meant to sail the ocean. Instead, they stayed anchored in the lake of Nemi
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and served as places for Caligula to escape the hustle and bustle of ruling an empire from a brothel
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cut loose and just indulge in some good old sexual depravity The ships had huge spacious baths banquet halls and even a wide variety of vines and fruit trees Needless to say these ships functioned
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as floating Sodoms and Gomorrahs. What transpires within the confines of the walls of Sodom
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stays within the confines of the walls of Sodom. Let's just say, if this boat's a-rockin'
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please come a-knockin', because that's how orgies work. Oh, now even the horse is blushing
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No, Maximus. We're not doing that tonight. Eventually, all the wild parties, blasphemy, and rampages caught up with poor old Caligula
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when in 41 AD, at the age of 28, Caligula fell victim to an assassination conspiracy led by Senator Cassius Caixrea
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In an eerie twist of fate, Caligula's death perfectly mirrored that of his grandfather and namesake Julius Caesar
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Both Caligula and Grandpa Julius were stabbed by conspirators, led by a man named Cassius
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Caligula's pleasure boats were either intentionally sunk or just neglected to rust and rot after his death
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Sort of like your birthday gift exercise bike. The ships lay at the bottom of Lake Nemi for 19 centuries until history buff and modern
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murderous dictator Benito Mussolini ordered the lake drained in 1928. This seemingly impossible task was completed in just three years
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There's something about working under the threat of death that makes you put in the overtime
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Once recovered from the bottom of the lake, the Nemi ships, as they are now called
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were shown to have featured technology thought to have been developed at a much later date
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like piston pumps for hot water and a folding stock anchor. Because when Caligula commissions
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a nonsensical floating fortress of pleasure, it better be decked out with all the bells and whistles
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The discoveries were taken to the Museo delle Nave Romane, where they remained on display until May of 1944, when American artillery shells kinda sorta dropped on the museum
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Historians disagree about whether it was the artillery shells that destroyed the museum
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or if the Nazis set it on fire before fleeing. But everyone agrees on one thing
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Nazis suck. Some museum artifacts survived the fire, only to be looted and smuggled out of the country
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For decades, the remains of Caligula's ships were lost to the world. But there was one force determined to bring these artifacts home
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They didn't care that the case went cold. They were the Art Squad. Yeah, the Art Squad. A special
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unit of the Italian military police protecting their cultural heritage. And hopefully a new CBS
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series right after NCIS When a New York couple purchased a striking mosaic from an aristocratic family in the 1960s they believed everything was on the up and up It was an innocent purchase claimed Mr Fiorati
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the owner of said mosaic until confiscated by the art squad in 2017. Turns out the mosaic the
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couple had been using as a coffee table for over 40 years was actually a piece of flooring from
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one of the Nemi ships. For anyone who's not his priest horse
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it's hard to deny that Caligula was a pretty terrible person. And what kind of movie does a terrible person deserve
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1979's erotic historical drama was no ordinary bad movie. For one, it features Helen Mirren and Mr. Lawrence of Arabia
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himself, Peter O'Toole. The film was produced by Penthouse Magazine. Yeah, that Penthouse
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who insisted that background actors engage in unsimulated sex scenes. The film holds the title of one of the only films Roger Ebert ever walked out on
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And the only time Variety magazine has referred to a film as a moral holocaust
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Then again, New Times critic Gregory Weinkauf gave the film a solid three out of five
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So, you know, art is subjective. When promoting the film, Helen Mirren said it was, quote
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an irresistible mix of art and genitals, which makes Helen Mirren a top reviewer on Rotten Tomatoes
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There is much debate about whether or not Caligula was actually mentally ill
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Some have speculated that he suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy, hyperthyroidism, or Wilson's disease, an inherited disorder which can cause mental instability
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Others hypothesize that he was just a huge jerk. Caligula didn't have an easy life
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The trauma of witnessing his father's murder, his mother and brother's banishment, and the smearing of his family's name clearly left a mark
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And while Caligula seemed to have a vested interest in being a benevolent ruler early in his tenure
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he soon became hated and feared for his capricious cruelty, conspicuous vanity projects, licentious libido, and, you know, declaring himself a living god
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When has declaring yourself a god ever worked out? Just keep it to yourself
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When someone asks you if you're a god, you say yes! Oh, and that mosaic flooring
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It's back in an Italian museum. So if you ever want to see an orgy floor turned coffee table turned museum piece
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stop by the Museum of Roman Ships in Nemi, Italy. And while you're there, check out Caligula's recently unearthed secret garden
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Just be careful. It's known to be haunted by the ghost of the mad emperor himself