The citizens of Thessalonika in 390 were mad about chariot racing, so when the star charioteer was arrested just before the big day they were very shirty. Adding insult to injury, he was arrested for homosexual activity, something the Greeks weren’t bothered about, by the commander of a garrison of Gothic soldiers. The Roman leaders had made a tactical peace with the Goths at this stage, but the man in the street didn’t like the idea that foreigners who had recently been rampaging all over their territory were now best buddies with the emperor. The logical thing was to break into the garrison, kill everyone they could find, and drag the bodies through the streets. So they did.
Emperor Theodosius flew into a Trumpian rage when he heard about it. He ordered the new garrison to go to the hippodrome for the next big race. They locked the doors and slaughtered everyone in sight, a total of 7000 men, women and children. By this time Theodosius had slept on it and changed his mind. Too late.
Just think about that next time you see football hooligans hitting each other over the head with bottles and setting fire to bus shelters. LOOXURY!
Image: Wikimedia Commons Slaughter of the Innnocents
I like that Donald Trump appears to have entered your lexicon as a descriptor for rages equivalent to Roman emperors. He does seem to be doing more each week to cement the usefulness of the word.
It just gets weirder and weirder.
It does. No denying.
Things haven’t changed much Gert.
Leslie