{"id":1237,"date":"2009-08-05T11:27:23","date_gmt":"2009-08-05T15:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thegreathorse.com\/blog\/?p=1237"},"modified":"2016-10-23T13:05:03","modified_gmt":"2016-10-23T17:05:03","slug":"the-great-horse-incitatus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/2009\/08\/the-great-horse-incitatus\/","title":{"rendered":"The Great Horse “Incitatus”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"chariot-racing-coin\"A new review by Mara Dabrishus<\/a> of the blog Whitebrook Farm mentions Incitatus<\/em>, a famed Roman chariot-racing stallion favored by the third Emperor Caligula (24-41 AD) to the point of obsession.<\/p>\n

The book <\/strong><\/em> <\/em><\/strong>passage mentioning Incitatus <\/em>comes during a visit to the strange library of Mrs. Bridgestone, an eccentric woman who has made a collection of evidence about the “Legend of the Great Horse.”<\/p>\n

Meagan was stopped before a crumbling box mounted on a low pedestal. The object was corroded and gray from age.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t look it, I know, but that is said <\/em>to be the remains of the manger of the Roman Emperor Caligula\u2019s favorite race horse, Incitatus<\/em>. Caligula had a stable of marble and gold built for the stallion, complete with furnishings and servants. Though horses are strict vegetarians, Incitatus was fed mice dipped in butter and marinated squid.\u201d Mrs. Bridgestone added more quietly, \u201cOf course, the man was considered dangerously insane.\u201d [pg 48, Eclipsed by Shadow<\/a> (pbk)]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Incitatus <\/em>was said to have never lost a race, and was showered with gifts and honors by the Supreme Leader of Rome. The stallion was given a stable of marble and a manger of ivory, and is said to have been been fed an extreme diet of delicacies (though he reputedly ate only from his bowl of barley mixed with gold flakes.) Dignitaries were “invited” to dine with Incitatus, whose palatial home was furnished with fine art.<\/p>\n

Troops were stationed in the neighborhood of Incitatus<\/em>‘ marble stables before a race to ensure the stallion’s rest, and the Emperor was said to have conducted a long household debate as to whether to marry the horse to secure his dynasty.\u00a0 In a final insult to the Senate, Caligula planned to make Incitatus <\/em>a consul of Rome.<\/p>\n

After Caligula’s timely death from assassination, Incitatus <\/em>was reportedly down-graded to a stall in a regular stable without complaint (and probably much relief). Unfortunately Caligula’s corruption was an omen. Rome was able to rid itself of the megalomaniac leader, but never could return to the citizen government of the Republic and escape the insanity of absolute rule.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new review by Mara Dabrishus of the blog Whitebrook Farm mentions Incitatus, a famed Roman chariot-racing stallion favored by the third Emperor Caligula (24-41 AD) to the point of obsession. The book passage mentioning Incitatus comes during a visit to the strange library of Mrs. Bridgestone, an eccentric woman who has made a collection … Continue reading “The Great Horse “Incitatus””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[140,147,137],"tags":[82,70,54,91,32],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1237"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1237"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14742,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1237\/revisions\/14742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}