how to hide the emperors child chapter 25
One of the most famous historical events that took place in the Roman era occurred when Augustus Caesar became the next emperor. Many people viewed this as a miracle because the empire was thrown into chaos by a civil war at the time of his birth. Hiding an emperor’s child was customary in many cultures, and it was often done to protect or restore a dynasty. However, some had crueler intentions than others. In some cases, people wanted to remove the current emperor and replace him with a child of lesser status. In these situations, the child was not hiding but growing up in hiding- unaware of his true identity.
To hide an emperor’s child, historical events were often attributed to the young Caesars and their descendants. For example, one of Julius Caesar’s children died at an early age, which encouraged people to attribute future miracles to this young Caesar. Other events attributed to young Caesars were deathbed miracles and prophecies that came true. Some of these events probably did involve real children of the Caesars; whether or not they were actually experiencing these things is debatable. However, it is clear that people did believe these events were happening to them. This makes perfect sense considering how much stress many Caesars went through as children.
Outrageous rumors were also propagated about the young Caesars and their family members. These rumors went unchecked for centuries because people were willing to believe them. For example, people believed that Augustus Caesar’s brother Julius Caesar was murdered by a conspiracy led by his own wife. These rumors spread far enough that some believe this is why Brutus killed Caesar in the first place- he believed he was protecting Rome from his own wife’s machinations. Other rumors included tales of poisonings and mysterious deaths associated with this noble bloodline. Clearly, not everyone was willing to play nice while Caesar was still a baby- they just wanted to watch the dynasty fall apart anyway they could manage it.
The Roman people came up with many creative ways to humiliate and torment the Caesars. One common tactic involved putting statues of infants in front of their house so that they would step on them on their way to dinner. Other popular games involved throwing stuffed animals at them or attaching string or pins to them so they would constantly be wounded or humiliated. The most famous game among Roman children was called ‘Caesar’s Cage,’ where players would capture an emperor and lock him in a cage for entertainment purposes. The Roman people were ruthless when it came to humiliating young Caesars and their family members. They knew these acts would stick with them for the rest of their lives- resulting in memories that would haunt them daily for eternity.
Hiding an emperor’s child was common practice among empires past and present. However, some had crueler intentions than others; setting your child up so they can fall flat on their face every time they try to take over your life is cruel enough on its own. Clearly, not everyone was happy with how well Octavian Caesar turned out either since he ended up becoming the next emperor after all. Because of this constant pressure, many emperors ended up killing their offspring so that nobody else could claim them and subject them to this hell on earth again.
