Incitatus

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Incitatus was the name of Roman emperor Caligula's favored horse. Some have indicated that the horse was attended to by eighteen servants, and was fed oats mixed with gold flake; according to Suetonius, Incitatus had a stable of marble, with an ivory manger, purple blankets and a collar of precious stones. Suetonius wrote also that Caligula planned to make Incitatus a Consul. Caligula even procured him a wife, a mare named Penelope. It has also been said Caligula claimed his horse to be a 'combination of all the gods' and to be worshipped as such.

The horse would also "invite" dignitaries to dine with him, and had a house with full complement of servants to entertain such guests.

Historical revisionists like Anthony A. Barret in "Caligula: The Corruption of Power" (Yale, 1990), question the negative portrait of Caligula. They ascribe Caligula's treatment of Incitatus as a way of ridiculing and angering the Senate, rather than a proof of his insanity. They suggest that later historians like Suetonius and Dio Cassius, who wrote centuries later, were motivated by the politics of their times and that their histories distorted by the desire to include more colourful, but perhaps less reliable sources.

See also: List of historical horses

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