The Emperor Who Declared War on the Ocean
The bizarre true story of Roman Emperor Caligula ordering twenty thousand soldiers to attack the sea.
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The bizarre true story of Roman Emperor Caligula ordering twenty thousand soldiers to attack the sea.
Full transcript of The Emperor Who Declared War on the Ocean
An army of twenty thousand Roman soldiers stood at the edge of the sea, swords drawn, waiting for the order to charge. But their enemy wasn't an invading empire. It was the water. The year was forty AD, and Emperor Caligula had officially declared war on Neptune, the god of the sea. His troops, battle-hardened and terrified, thought their emperor had lost his mind. Yet, disobedience meant instant death. So, under the blazing sun, the command was shouted. Stab the waves. Thousands of metal blades plunged repeatedly into the crashing surf. They slashed at the foam, screaming battle cries at the empty horizon. Then, Caligula ordered his men to gather their spoils of war. They bent down, filling their helmets not with gold, but with seashells. Caligula marched these shells back to Rome, parading them as plunder from a conquered ocean. History calls him a madman. But was it madness, or a brutal show of absolute power to prove he could command even the gods?