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Ancient Rome wasn't just togas and gladiators — it was also home to some seriously dark and disturbing stories. Join us as we count down our picks for the creepiest myths from Ancient Rome! From cursed kings to cannibalistic titans, these tales will make your skin crawl!
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00:00All men's souls are immortal, but the souls of the righteous are immortal and divine.
00:12Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most unsettling myths
00:18from across ancient Rome. We'll be diving deep into spoilers for various mythological tales,
00:23so consider this your warning.
00:33Number 10. Sisyphus and his boulder.
00:40Sisyphus was a king who notoriously infuriated the gods, and even one-upped them multiple times.
00:46He even managed to cheat death. As a result, Jupiter and the other gods taught Sisyphus a lesson
00:51by banishing him to the underworld. But being sent there wasn't the end of his punishment.
00:57Sisyphus was then forced to move a large boulder up a hill, yet every time it got close to the
01:02top,
01:02it rolled back. He's basically caught up in an endless loop for all eternity.
01:07Though Sisyphus is actually primarily known in Greek mythology,
01:10much of that mythos was ported over whole cloth to Roman mythology.
01:14So when it comes to looking at Greco-Roman mythology as a whole, Sisyphus is one heck of a cautionary
01:20tale.
01:21Hey! Does he ever get to the top of the hill?
01:27Huh. I'll let you know.
01:31Number 9. The Dinner with Trimalchio. In the late 1st century, Roman author Gaius Petronius Arbiter
01:38wrote a book called The Satyricon. In it, there's a segment called Cena Trimalchionis,
01:44from Latin that roughly translates to Dinner with Trimalchio. This dinner in specific was basically when
01:50several guests took time to tell spooky stories.
02:03Some of these stories involve some bizarre plot points, like someone becoming a werewolf, and another
02:09about witches transforming a boy into straw. The dinner is obviously a bit disturbing because of
02:14these details, but it's also a bit strange because of the layers to this. Think about it. This is a
02:20fictional tale from ancient Rome about fictional characters who tell scary stories to each other.
02:25This whole entry is basically Myths Gone Meta.
02:28On the scene, there's a company that represents a meme. An actor does the father, another does the son,
02:35another does the rich. But as soon as the comedy is finished, the fake face disappears,
02:40returns to the true story.
02:56The Roman Emperor Nero has a complex legacy. Besides being a widely hated tyrant, he may also be the
03:04source of terror beyond the grave. When he died, he was laid to rest in the Mausoleum of the Domitzi
03:09Inobarbi, known today as Pynchion Hill. Many stories over the centuries spoke about strange
03:15things happening near where he was buried. There were tales about citizens being plagued by screams
03:21of ghosts and other apparitions. The source of the evil which festered around that area was widely
03:26believed to be from Nero's corpse. Some stories even say Nero himself became a ghost who's haunted
03:32Rome too. Was his corpse really a beacon for evil? Who knows? But one thing for sure is he's pretty
03:39unpopular. As dawn broke, he watched as they dug his grave. Then some Roman soldiers approached,
03:46and with the help of a slave, he stabbed himself through the throat. His last words were,
03:53what an artist dies with me. Number seven, Romulus and Remus.
04:08While many Roman myths were carried over from Greek mythology, some are exclusively 100% Roman,
04:14like this one. The story of the twins who founded Rome is steeped in tragedy. Romulus and Remus were
04:20children of the god of war Mars and a woman named Rhea Silvia. To escape getting murdered, they were sent
04:26away as babies and raised by a female wolf. As they grew into men, they eventually founded Rome together.
04:47This isn't a rags to riches tale, though. The brothers eventually butted heads, which led to Romulus
04:52shockingly murdering Remus. Some interpretations also say afterwards, Romulus became a deity called
04:58Quirinius. Honestly, it's a little unfair. Yeah, you founded Rome, but you also killed its co-founder,
05:05who was your own brother. Not cool, dude.
05:07No one shall challenge your power now, and the city that you shall build be as great as the one
05:15I dreamed of.
05:17Number six, the abduction of Proserpina. Pluto was head over heels in love with Proserpina,
05:22the goddess of the spring. But instead of being normal and trying to get to know her better and
05:26ask her out politely, Pluto abducted her. He pulled up to Earth in a wicked chariot and dragged her down
05:32to
05:32the underworld. Proserpina would soon become his queen. However, her mom Ceres wasn't happy. When
05:38Proserpina was abducted, Ceres, the goddess of agriculture, subjected the Earth to extremely harsh
05:44conditions. This led to a deal where Pluto would let Proserpina stay on the surface for a certain
05:49amount of time every year. It's actually the mythological explanation for the spring and winter
05:54seasons. Besides that, this tale is perhaps the oldest example of an extremely unhealthy love story.
06:06Number five, Saturn usurping Kylus. Saturn, the titan of time, had some legendary beef with his dad,
06:13Kylus, a primordial sky deity. Instead of working through their problems like a normal family would,
06:18Saturn instead used a scythe to slice Kylus' lower regions apart. Ouch. Kylus didn't exactly die,
06:26but the attack from Saturn marked a noticeable shift in power. Kylus was no longer calling the shots now,
06:31and soon Saturn took over the throne. What makes this downfall more disturbing is that it was actually
06:37Saturn's mom, Terra, the personification of Earth, who encouraged him to betray his dad. This is because
06:43Kylus cast his and Terra's other kids, the Cyclopses, into Tartarus because he hated them. Evidently,
06:50this decision backfired big time. Don't piss off, Mother Nature.
06:55Number four, Lycaon's Transformation.
07:08The Roman writer Ovid's poem The Metamorphosis covers the cautionary tale of Lycaon,
07:13He was the king of Arcadia who had doubts about Jupiter's divinity. As a result, he had the bright
07:19idea to invite the god of thunder for a meal, however, it was secretly human flesh. He thought
07:25that if Jupiter was really omniscient, then he would know what he was being served was bad.
07:39When Jupiter discovered the truth, he was so disgusted that he turned Lycaon into a wolfman.
07:45This monstrous moment is widely considered by many to be the origin of werewolves. It's a grim yet
07:51finning punishment for Lycaon and his arrogance. You can't just rage bait the leader of the gods and
07:57expect to get away with it.
08:06Number three, Juno drives Hercules mad.
08:18The queen of the gods, Juno, has a lot of reasons to be upset. Her husband Jupiter notoriously cheats
08:24on her, and has countless other children through numerous affairs. That being said,
08:28Juno took things way too far when she vested her frustrations out on one of Jupiter's sons,
08:34Hercules. Her own anger caused her to infect Hercules with a stretch of madness. This temporary
08:40dose of insanity made him violently kill his own wife as well as their kids. This isn't the only
08:45time that Hercules had some violent tendencies. In a different fit of rage, he also killed Linus,
08:51his music teacher. However, the murder of his own family obviously took things to a much more
08:56disturbing level. Juno's rage is deadly. Number two, Apollo's Brutality.
09:11We mentioned the metamorphosis earlier with Lycaon, but another brutal tale in that book exists about
09:16Apollo. Apollo is an interesting deity, because he's simply Apollo in both Greek and Roman mythology.
09:22So, not only is he the same in both cultures, he's also the same level of ruthless.
09:27During the tale of Marcius, we learn about a competition between him and a fawn named Marcius.
09:33Whoever wins could do whatever they wanted to the loser. It sounds problematic, to say the least.
09:38When Apollo wins, he flays Marcius, and then nails his injured body to a pine tree.
09:44The lesson of this story is supposed to be to not challenge the gods,
09:48but maybe another lesson is to stay the hell away from Apollo.
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10:111. Saturn eating his own children
10:14There's bad fathers, and then there's Saturn. Not only did he steal the royal throne from his father,
10:19Kylus, he also inherited the title of mythology's worst dad ever. Well, at least that's what we think.
10:26When he discovered a prophecy saying that one of his children would overthrow him, he decided that
10:31devouring his kids would be the only logical solution. We don't have to explain why eating your kids is
10:36terrifying. But the real kicker is that his son, Jupiter, survived. That's because his mother,
10:42Ops, hid him away and tricked Saturn into eating a rock instead. Eventually, Jupiter grew up and
10:48managed to defeat Saturn and free his siblings, thus fulfilling the prophecy. Yeah, this is one
10:53really dysfunctional family. Are there any disturbing Roman myths we missed? Be sure to creep us out in the comments!
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