Ancient Roman political leaders could be violent and cruel. Some had odd tastes and were out of touch. Others had wildly eccentric habits that might seem amusing today.

But eccentric behaviour combined with almost unlimited power, made some Roman leaders dangerous and unpredictable.

One oddball was the orator and politician Hortensius (114–50 BCE) of the late Roman republic.

He loved the plane trees on his estate so much he watered them with wine. Receiving news that one of them was dying, Hortensius hastily adjourned a legal case to be by its side.

Marcus Licinius Crassus, a contemporary of Hortensius, was a powerful Roman general and politician who kept pet eels in an expensive fishpond.

He adorned his favourite eel with jewellery. When the eel died, Crassus held a funeral and mourned it for three days.

Ancient accounts of eccentric behaviour weren’t just for entertainment. Crassus’ intense devotion to his favourite eel satirised his aristocratic vanity.

Crassus later died in Mesopotamia (southern Turkey) in a disastrous battle against the Parthians (rulers of ancient Iran) in 53 BCE. The Parthian generals lured Crassus into a hot and waterless plain where they destroyed his army. Due to Crassus’ impetuosity, 20,000 men died along with him and his son.

The orator and statesman, Cicero, lampooned the piscanarii (fishpond lovers), of whom Hortensius was also one, for their obscure indulgences. They should have focused more on affairs of state, he believed.

The eccentricities of Roman leaders continued under the emperors, after the era of the republic ended. Now,........

© The Conversation