He designed bridges, submarines, helicopters, bicycles on paper at least centuries before they were built.
He had an unrivalled understanding of the human body, thanks to spending thousands of hours dissecting corpses.
He was a brilliant musician who designed his own instruments, an avid reader, an accomplished astronomer and archaeologist.
Oh yes, and he was a rather talented artist.
Famously, in an application to the Duke of Milan for a job as an engineer designing bridges, weapons, armoured vehicles and public buildings, it was only in the 11th paragraph that he mentioned his artistic ability.
‘Likewise in painting, I can do everything possible,’ he wrote.
Food of the gods idler.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from idler.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Археологи восстановили сад удовольствий императора Калигулы oane.ws - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from oane.ws Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Caligulaâs Garden of Delights, Unearthed and Restored
Relics from the favorite hideaway of ancient Romeâs most infamous tyrant have been recovered and put on display by archaeologists.
 A theatrical mask in marble dust, recovered from the Horti Lamiani, the pleasure garden of the Roman emperor Caligula.Credit.Nadia Shira Cohen for The New York Times
By Franz Lidz
The fourth of the 12 Caesars, Caligula â officially, Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus â
was a capricious, combustible first-century populist remembered, perhaps unfairly, as the empireâs most tyrannical ruler. As reported by Suetonius, the Michael Wolff of ancient Rome, he never forgot a slight, slept only a few hours a night and married several times, lastly to a woman named Milonia.
Archaeologists discovered paintings, food residue, animal bones, skeletons of victims of the volcanic eruption and, surprisingly, some homophobic graffiti. (Pompeii Sites)
Archaeologists who have been excavating an Ancient Roman snack bar in Pompeii, Italy, have discovered “homophobic” graffiti scrawled on the walls.
According to a press release from Pompeii Sites, the colourful Thermopolium of Regio V was one of the snack bars at Pompeii, and it has finally been revealed in its entirety by archaeologists.
After years of work, they discovered paintings, food residue, animal bones, skeletons of victims of the volcanic eruption and, surprisingly, some homophobic graffiti.
On the last side of the snack bar’s counter to be excavated, above a painting of a dog, an ancient vandal has carved the words: “NICIA CINAEDE CACATOR.”