Our Fake History

Caligula began his reign repairing relations with the Senate damaged by Tiberius and following the model set by Augustus, but something changed and he ended up at war with the Senate.

Ancient sources call Caligula's four year reign one of cruelty, sexual excess and bloodlust, but those same ancient writers rank among the most untrustworthy sources from the Roman period.

Caligula's reign is remembered for bizarre stories, from declaring war on the ocean to building a floating bridge across the sea, yet the only eyewitness account calls him arrogant, not insane.

The Great Fire of 64 AD spawned its own truther conspiracy asking whether Emperor Nero started the blaze and fiddled as Rome burned, a legend later fed by so-called pseudo-Neros.

Hadrian has been celebrated as one of Rome's five good emperors, but his reputation is complicated by the mysterious death of his teenage lover, Antinous.

Historian Emma Southon's book Not Built In a Day argues Rome's economy was underpinned by the labour of millions forced into slavery, people who literally built Rome yet were rarely recorded by ancient historians.