Even though the Roman empire came to an end thousands of years ago, we still tell stories about the emperors who ruled during that time. From Caligula, who threatened to make his horse a senator, to Nero, who killed his own mother and set fire to the city to make room for his palace, classicist Mary Beard argues that the stories we tell about the Roman emperors might say more about us than they do about the emperors themselves. We spoke with Beard in October 2023 about her latest book, “Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World,” which attempts to break down what we can actually know about the lives of the emperors and how they ruled.