Ancients Behaving Badly

This young Roman emperor had a fearsome reputation as a sadist, a murderer...and a raving lunatic.

A marauding barbarian with a reputation as one of history's monsters, even today Attila's name is a synonym for savagery.

The ruler whose ego was as big as his empire declares himself dictator of Rome for life--turning his allies to enemies in the process.

The king of Macedonia considered himself a god; his admirers called him a military genius; his enemies considered him the devil. He used weapons of mass destruction of his day to defeat his enemies. What drove his quest for world domination and led him to massacre tens of thousands, including women and children and members of his own family?

The Roman Emperor Nero, renowned for playing the fiddle whilst Rome burned, was infamous for cruelty, incest and murder.

As a child, Hannibal from Carthage, modern-day Tunisia, was forced by his father to make a blood to destroy the Romans. His reputation as one of history's cruelest generals was earned as he ruthlessly slaughtered women and children along with tens of thousands of his own and enemy soldiers in the pursuit of defeating Rome. While he won several major battles, he curiously gave up before marching into Rome.

This Mongol destroyer set in motion the conquest of a quarter of the world's population with a body count in the millions.

The infamous Queen of Egypt, known for her legendary powers of seduction, would stop at nothing, even murdering her entire family, to get her own way. Driven by power and ambition, her life was dominated by a heady cocktail of sex and murder.