12-14-2013, 10:47 AM
There are plenty of strange and unlikely stories about Roman emperors. Just for fun, I wonder if anyone can name all the emperors featured in the following anecdotes? Most, but not all, are from later centuries...
1. His death was foretold by the appearance of a multitude of owls on the walls of Rome.
2. He once cut the head off an ostrich and brandished it at members of the senate.
3. He ordered his troops to kill all the dogs in a city. The citizens were pleased.
4. He claimed to prefer growing cabbages to taking control of the empire.
5. During his reign, a man in Italy ate a box, a broom, seventy watermelons, a casket of sardines and a feathered fowl, and was still hungry.
6. He refused to rise and greet a bishop, until his chair miraculously caught fire and compelled him to do so.
7. He claimed that only women bathed in heated water, but enjoyed floating fruit in his swimming pool.
8. He once punished a pair of fornicating soldiers by sewing them up inside oxen with their heads sticking out, so they could 'converse'.
9. He was a poultry enthusiast, and named his favourite bird after the city of Rome.
10. He attended the games with a small-headed boy, to whom he would talk very seriously about matters of state.
1. His death was foretold by the appearance of a multitude of owls on the walls of Rome.
2. He once cut the head off an ostrich and brandished it at members of the senate.
3. He ordered his troops to kill all the dogs in a city. The citizens were pleased.
4. He claimed to prefer growing cabbages to taking control of the empire.
5. During his reign, a man in Italy ate a box, a broom, seventy watermelons, a casket of sardines and a feathered fowl, and was still hungry.
6. He refused to rise and greet a bishop, until his chair miraculously caught fire and compelled him to do so.
7. He claimed that only women bathed in heated water, but enjoyed floating fruit in his swimming pool.
8. He once punished a pair of fornicating soldiers by sewing them up inside oxen with their heads sticking out, so they could 'converse'.
9. He was a poultry enthusiast, and named his favourite bird after the city of Rome.
10. He attended the games with a small-headed boy, to whom he would talk very seriously about matters of state.
Nathan Ross
