Give a man (or woman) too much power and they are likely to abuse it. Just ask Spiderman's Uncle Ben.
Who could forget the nugget of wisdom he shared with Peter Parker before he died: "With great power comes great responsibility."
Across culture and centuries, many rulers have been totally bonkers. Yet, because of their nobility, there was little anyone could do about it.
If you could treat people however you wanted, hey, maybe you would torture or taunt others, or even make your beloved cat a state senator!
Any theories about those born of noble blood or divine right being superior to others will be completely debunked with this list. Once you take a gander at the bizarre idiosyncrasies and the sheer mania of these rulers, you'll see: People are crazy everywhere. Back in the day, people were building ice castles out of spite and eating each other.
The President isn't looking so bad right about now, huh?
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1. Caligula
Caligula appointed his horse Incitatus as royal consul and a priest.
2. Sultan Ibrahim I
Ibrahim drowned 280 of his concubines when he discovered one had bedded another man.
3. General Santa Anna
After the Pastry War, Santa Anna had a huge state funeral to commemorate his amputated leg.
4. Pharaoh Pepi II
Pepi II would cover his servants in honey so that they'd deflect insects away from him.
Think these rulers were crazy? Click to the next page to find out what one infamous ruler kept in a jar…
5. Peter the Great
Boy, does he live up to his name. Peter the Great dismembered his wife's lover's head and made her keep it in a jar.
6. Vlad the Impaler
Vlad would sop up his enemies' blood with bread and eat it. (That's how all those vampire rumors got started.)
7. Roman Emperor Commodus
Commodus would force the physically disabled and little people to fight to the dead in the Colosseum.
8. Ivan The Terrible
Ivan gained control of Russia by feeding the head of the government to a pack of dogs. He also tortured small animals. (Basically he was Joffrey from Game of Thrones.)
Click to the next page to find out which crazy ruler literally ate some of his servants.
9. Byzantine Emperor Justin II
Justin went mad by the end of his stint as ruler. The emperor demanded to be pushed around on a wheelchair so that he could bite his servants. He even literally ate a few of them.
10. Erik XIV of Sweden
Erik was a…complicated man. He was so paranoid that he would have people executed simply for laughing in his presence. At one point he believed he was his own brother.
11. Ferdinand I of Austria
Ferdinand suffered from epilepsy and other conditions due to inbreeding in his family (his parents were double cousins who then got married). While Ferdinand was perceived as feeble-minded due to his constant seizures and inability to speak, he had a rich inner life that was well-articulated in his written diary.
The only words Ferdinand ever spoke were when he could not have dumplings because the apricots were out of season. He said, "I am the Emperor and I want dumplings!"
Though he was probably a smart guy, his disabilities made it impossible for him to rule at the time.
12. Farouk of Egypt
The penultimate king of Egypt was pretty strange. First of all his full title was: "His Majesty Farouk I, by the grace of God, King of Egypt and Sudan, Sovereign of Nubia, of Kordofan, and of Darfur".
He was a kleptomaniac who stole a watch from Winston Churchill. He ate 600 oysters a week. He dictated that no other cars in Egypt, besides his Bentley, could be painted red. And, most famously, he went to a zoo and shot all of the lions after having a nightmare.
One ruler famously tried to breed an army of tall men. Click to the next page to find out who!
13. Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia
Freidrich wanted to build an army of tall men. He would encourage (ahem…force) tall men and women to have children.
14. Empress Anna of Russia
While most presumed Anna would be a puppet, she had other plans. She restored the "secret police" to her bidding. She most notably arranged the marriage between a prince and maid. She made them get married in a palace made of ice during one of Russia's coldest winters ever. She forced them to consummate their marriage in an ice chamber — yes, she forced them to sleep naked in an igloo. They would've died if the bride hadn't traded her pearl necklace to a guard in exchange for a sheepskin coat.
She made a palace of ice in 1739.
15. Charles VI of France
He killed his own knights and would run around the palace howling because he believed he was a wolf.
16. The Zhengde Emperor of China
The Emperor liked to play elaborate games of make believe and demanded that everyone else commit. Perhaps today he would've been a part of an improv sketch comedy troupe, but back then, he had to rule that whole dynasty thing instead of playing "shopkeeper."
