Caligula incest with his sisters, Agrippina the Younger, Drusilla, and Livilla, and say he prostituted them to other men. They state he sent troops on illogical military exercises, turned the palace into a brothel, and, most famously, planned or promised to make his horse, Incitatus, a consul, and actually appointed him a priest. The validity of these accounts is debatable. In Roman political culture, insanity and sexual perversity were often presented hand-in-hand with poor government. Caligula's actions as emperor were described as being especially harsh to the senate, to the nobility and to the equestrian order. According to Josephus, these actions
Xanten Horse-Phalerae ('while Pliny was Prefect of the cavalry'). This suggests that these horse-phalerae belonged to a cavalryman under his command when Pliny was stationed in Germania Inferior in approximately 50 AD. The set of horse-trappings is made of about 60 silvered-bronze phalerae and forms part of a decorative equestrian harness that is only partly preserved. Organic material such as leather has not survived but enough roundels have to enable a partial reconstruction of the set in the museum. One of the phalerae has the bust of a Roman Emperor, but it is difficult to determine which emperor is represented from the