Incitatus?

A few people have asked what the "Incitatus" thing is all about. It's just my flickr login. No big deal.

Why did I choose the name Incitatus? He was the favoured horse of Caligula, the Roman Emporer with the dodgy brain and the even dodgier Penthouse movie. I just reckon it's cool that this horse was spoilt so much. OK, not cool that people were starving in Ancient Rome and the slaves probably got abused and all the associated bad things. But cool about the concept.

I wonder whether Incitatus appreciated all the attention? I wonder what happened to him when Caligula got the chop? You know when the bad fellah gets it in the end of the movie and there's generally a big Nuremberg-like purge of all his cronies, do you reckon they recognised that Incitatus was just a horse and couldn't really be guilty of anything, or do you reckon that the stable boy who had to clean up his droppings everyday used the opportunity of doing away with him?

Actually I wonder whether it is true at all that Incitatus existed. It may be just one of Suetonius's made-up stories.

Link to Wikipedia article.

In fact the Wikipedia article doesn't mention anything about Penelope, Incitatus's mare and mate. Supposedly, Caligula threw a wedding for Incitatus.

I'm opening this up for discussion. To enter the poll, please go to my main website and make your choice.