Gaius Paulinus Maximus Posted September 16, 2006 Report Share Posted September 16, 2006 (edited) This a bit of an odd one but....... I've recently been reading The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius and there's a small paragraph in the section of the book about Caesar which talks of a horse that Caesar himself reared and was supposedly an extraordinary animal. 61. This charger of his, an exrtaordinary animal with feet that looked almost human - each of its hooves were cloven in five parts, resembling human toes - had been foaled on his private estate. When the soothsayers pronounced that its master would one day rule the world, Caesar carefully reared, and was the first to ride, the beast; nor would it allow anyone else to do so. Eventually he raised a statue to it before the Temple of Mother Venus. Does anyone have anymore info on this horse (if it existed at all?), a name, a picture of the statue, anything along those lines. Was it in the same league as Alexanders' horse, Bucephalus?? Edited September 16, 2006 by Gaius Paulinus Maximus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldrail Posted September 16, 2006 Report Share Posted September 16, 2006 Notice that the horse is merely mentioned, not emphasised. Had the horse been as significant as alexanders steed then a name would have been provided and the beast mentioned throught his career. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.Clodius Posted September 16, 2006 Report Share Posted September 16, 2006 Just another reason to discount Seutonius' 'eyewitness' accounts. Great storyteller though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaius Paulinus Maximus Posted September 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 16, 2006 (edited) They're pretty much the kind of answers i expected, i just found it a bit strange that the horse was mentioned but not even named, and i was sure that if Caesar had have had such an 'amazing' horse i would have at least heard mention of it before. And yes PC you are right, Suetonius is a great storyteller! Edited September 16, 2006 by Gaius Paulinus Maximus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julius Ratus Posted October 4, 2006 Report Share Posted October 4, 2006 I think that everyone is getting confused. The horse was not reared by Gaius Julius Caesar, but by Gaius Caesar, a.k.a. Caligula, and it was not his pet, but his son. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.Clodius Posted October 4, 2006 Report Share Posted October 4, 2006 I think that everyone is getting confused. The horse was not reared by Gaius Julius Caesar, but by Gaius Caesar, a.k.a. Caligula, and it was not his pet, but his son. No we're not, how can someone get Caesar's cloven hoofed horse confused with the one and only Senator Incitatus? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M. Porcius Cato Posted October 4, 2006 Report Share Posted October 4, 2006 Just another reason to discount Seutonius' 'eyewitness' accounts. Great storyteller though. Except Suetonius didn't claim to be an eyewitness to the horse. We don't know where he got his information, do we? Yet another reason why it's important to check your sources--it's unchecked sources that really should be discounted (it's the source of urban legends). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.Clodius Posted October 4, 2006 Report Share Posted October 4, 2006 Just another reason to discount Seutonius' 'eyewitness' accounts. Great storyteller though. Except Suetonius didn't claim to be an eyewitness to the horse. We don't know where he got his information, do we? Yet another reason why it's important to check your sources--it's unchecked sources that really should be discounted (it's the source of urban legends). Right. And that's why I had 'eyewitness' in quotes. Quite often he is taken literally as are the other "primary" sources. Surely, he had access to material that is unavailable to us and therefore his/their insight is invaluable but, they all had an agenda which in my book equates to a couple of levels above hogwash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M. Porcius Cato Posted October 4, 2006 Report Share Posted October 4, 2006 "A couple of levels above hogwash" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldrail Posted October 7, 2006 Report Share Posted October 7, 2006 Just another reason to discount Seutonius' 'eyewitness' accounts. Great storyteller though. Except Suetonius didn't claim to be an eyewitness to the horse. We don't know where he got his information, do we? Yet another reason why it's important to check your sources--it's unchecked sources that really should be discounted (it's the source of urban legends). Right. And that's why I had 'eyewitness' in quotes. Quite often he is taken literally as are the other "primary" sources. Surely, he had access to material that is unavailable to us and therefore his/their insight is invaluable but, they all had an agenda which in my book equates to a couple of levels above hogwash. Trouble is we often read too much into what Suetonius wrote. The charger is mentioned as an interesting aside that illustrates Caesars unusual and superior character/aura/destiny. The romans were a superstitious lot and such a tale was an important factor in developing his story. For us, with more rational hindsight, it appears a couple of levels above hogwash. It probably was. He had a horse and let no-one else ride it. Witnesses tell that to others who ask why, and they are told hogwash to explain it. I mean, they wouldn't want to appear stupid would they? Mind you, there does seem to be an element of envy and emulation in Caesar when Alexander enters into the tale.Was he consiously or unconciously attempting to be Julius Caesar the Great? In a way, he succeeded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M. Porcius Cato Posted October 7, 2006 Report Share Posted October 7, 2006 Suetonius said that Caesar rode a horse with human-like feet. What absurdity could we read into that that wasn't already there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldrail Posted October 8, 2006 Report Share Posted October 8, 2006 Why anything you like. Did it have human-like hooves or were they simply mis-shaped and gave a slight impression of toes? Did the witnesses tell porkies to sound clever down at the tavern? Did Suetonius believe that tale or did he make it all up? We don't know. But omens were very important to romans and even if it wasn't true he needed an omen to suggest that Caesar was destined for an unusual life (perhaps 'riding on the backs of others'?) Naughty boy Suetonius. But I forgive you because it made a good read. Which was why he wrote it in the first place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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