ITALY: For centuries scholars have debated whether Caligula, the Roman empire's eccentric third ruler, was a megalomaniac who dared to defy the gods or a maligned emperor whose caprices were exaggerated after his death.
Now a group of archaeologists digging up Caligula's ancient palace say they have finally found concrete evidence that he was indeed a "maniac" who turned one of Rome's most revered temples into the front porch of his residence.
"Everyone knows this guy was a little crazy. But now we have proof that he was completely off his rocker, that he thought he was one of the gods," Mr Darius Arya, one of the directors of the excavation, said yesterday.
"It's like someone - a president or a king or, you know, Bill Gates - turning St Peter's into their entrance hall," he said during a break from the dig in the Roman Forum in the heart of Italy's capital.
Arya, director of the non-profit American Institute for Roman Culture, worked with a group of 35 young archaeologists, mostly from Stanford and Oxford, on the initial five-week exploratory dig.
While the remains of Caligula's palace were first excavated by archaeologists on the edge of the Forum almost a century ago, the new dig has uncovered foundations and a plumbing system that prove the palace was much more massive.
"Caligula was really saying to the Roman people: 'I'm living with the gods. I'm basically one of the gods'," said Arya.