Who Were The Most UNHINGED Roman Emperors?

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In classical culture, the connection between absolute power and madness had already been presented by Plato in the Republic: "*a man becomes tyrannical in the precise sense of the term when either his nature or his way of life or both of them together make him drunk, filled with erotic desire, and mad*".

The tyrant, since he does not act for the good of the community but exclusively for his personal gain, must necessarily be driven by intoxication, whether physical or emotional. This assumption would be used instrumentally by Cicero, who employed the rhetorical image of the mad tyrant in his speeches against Verres, speaking of "Insania," while Catiline was, according to him, driven by "Furor," another state of psychological alteration. A supposed alienation of Catiline would also emerge in Sallust's work.

Even before being portrayed as greedy, cruel, and ambitious, these characters were depicted as mentally unstable, making their motivations irreconcilable and non-negotiable.

In light of the anthropological framework regarding the Classical world's perception of tyranny and the instrumental use of accusations of madness, it becomes evident that accusations of insanity related to emperors fell into one or more of the following categories:

Fabricated accusations aimed at demonizing the autocratic power of the imperial figure and implicitly condoning the physical elimination of certain emperors, framed as a necessary gesture to protect the state and citizens from the unpredictable and harmful actions of a madman
A perception of despotism as a product of mental illness, which by transitive property makes the despot mentally ill
An actual clinical state of psychological instability

Some imperial figures, such as Nero, Commodus, and Elagabalus, have certainly suffered from posthumous propaganda aimed at discrediting their actions and casting the shadow of madness on their memory. Trying to navigate through the sources becomes even more difficult for modern scholars, influenced by contemporary interpretive lenses.

Upon detached evaluation, Nero appears to be a despot who enjoyed practicing music, Elagabalus a character culturally foreign to Rome and tied to Eastern traditions and cults, and Commodus an inept ruler, absorbed by an excessive passion for gladiatorial games and incapable of governing.

While general violence, cruelty, and tyranny certainly unite these characters (as they do a fair portion of many powerful figures in Ancient times), other distinctive traits include engaging in practices perceived in Rome as improper for a person of rank, such as gladiatorial games, music, theater, Eastern cults, and fashion trends.

Their otherness with respect to Roman morality is itself a pathway to madness, and the fact that they all positioned themselves in an overbearing and non-compliant manner toward the Senate is certainly a characteristic that must have contributed to their marked demonization in the sources.

The possibility of exercising absolute power in a historical context infinitely cruder than our own has certainly produced many characters who, by contemporary standards, can only be seen as violent, ruthless, amoral, and despotic. The conspiracies that cyclically occurred to overthrow various emperors contributed to a general climate that to our eyes can only seem paranoid.

Many emperors, accused of madness by pro-senatorial historiography (a judgment reinforced by modern historiography, especially that of the twentieth century), perhaps were simply particularly authoritarian and centralizing. From a contemporary perspective, they were violent and amoral in many cases, but in most instances, clinically diagnosed mental illness is very difficult to recognize with certainty.

#romanemperors #nero #caligula