Why do some people just refuse to believe that Caligula, Nero, and Elagabalus were terrible?
Whenever I say that Caligula was awful, Nero was awful, or Elagabalus was awful, there are always people who jump in to argue that they were smeared, misunderstood, that they never did the things recorded in historical texts, and that they were loved by the common people while only the nobles hated them.
But surely it’s a fact that Caligula, who rose to power on the prestige of his parents, was assassinated in less than four years and even his own sisters couldn’t tolerate him continuing as emperor. And surely it’s also a fact that after the Great Fire of Rome, Nero poured vast resources into building a lavish palace for himself. After all, the remains of the Domus Aurea have been discovered.
People often praise the first five years of Nero’s reign as being good, but it shouldn’t be forgotten that during that period the state was largely managed by his mother Agrippina and his tutor Seneca. Based on depictions on pieces, he did appear to have grown increasingly overweight, giving an impression of a lack of restraint. Moreover, like Constantius II, Nero eliminated many relatives, which led to the end of his family line.