this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2024
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Rough Roman Memes

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A place to meme about the glorious ROMAN EMPIRE (and Roman Republic, and Roman Kingdom)! Byzantines tolerated! The HRE is not.

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[–] PugJesus 33 points 4 months ago (18 children)

Explanation: The Roman Emperor Caligula, sometimes said to be mad, once threatened (or joked, depending on who you ask) to make his horse consul, one of the two leaders of the Senate. Caligula was a tyrant, a dick, impulsive, and petty, but one can argue he wasn't mad. Just... well, a tyrant, a dick, impulsive, and petty. And with a cruel sense of humor.

The Roman Emperor Elagabalus had a much more discernable form of madness - youth mixed with ultimate power. Elagabalus was a teenager when they (as their gender identity is a matter of perpetual debate) were oh-so-wisely granted absolute autocratic power over a continents-spanning Empire by the political machinations of their grandmother. Two of their more notable offenses were proclaiming themselves to be the Syrian sun god, and having young women hitched to their chariot like horses to pull them around Rome, whipping them all the while.

While you can say teenagers fulfilling all their most wild teenage fantasies with no one to stop them isn't 'real' madness, it seems closer to it than flexing on Senators and daring them to defy you as a petty show of power!

[–] peopleproblems 10 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (7 children)

Two of their more notable offenses were proclaiming themselves to be the Syrian sun god, and having young women hitched to their chariot like horses to pull them around Rome, whipping them all the while.

Neat. Now I just gotta find a chariot and young women into this sort of thing

Edit: because I'm obviously the Syrian Sun God

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Oh I was thinking more of being one of the women.. heh...

...I thought that's what everyone else would want too

[–] peopleproblems 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Ok, now find another, and I'll get working on the chariot.

And if you got any friends I got some ideas of even more fun we could have.

I have lived under a rock my whole life so I kind of just expected this sort of thing only exists in like porn or stories

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

I can tell you from personal experience that a lot of people's fantasies are being done in real life. Usually you find them in specific subcultures or bdsm spaces like bdsm clubs and such. But they do exist, and I've definitively been part of what a lot of people consider to be fantasies

..it probably helps that I'm gay and trans though, queer culture tends to be a lot more open and welcoming about this kinda stuff

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