Nero

Power

Life

Early life

Great great grandson to Augustus, father was Gnaeus, mother was Agrippina Gnaeus died while Agrippina was pregnant and was then adopted by emperor Claudius Claudius favored Nero over his own son. Nero showed a cruel side reminiscing of the previous emperor, Caligula, known for being demented and insane. Agrippina was power hungry, and Nero at the time was disinterested. Agrippina poisoned her husband to have her son usurp the throne Nero did not want the position but took the throne at 16. Artists were the lowest class in society and Nero had an affection towards them. In fact, he was quite sympathetic to their position, often participating in theatre, discussions, brothels, and orgies of the lower classes. He would then proceed to advocate for them politically. Nero inherited a Rome in incredible debt so he alleviated the taxes to promote economic recovery. He created public jobs, supported private businesses, and made it legal for slaves to make complaints about their masters. Nero also negotiated out of a war with the Parthian empire. Nero was heavily disliked for this among the upper classes and, praised by the lower classes. Because of this, Nero kept a tight circle of political allies, his mother intentionally excluded. This prompted Agrippina to side with Nero’s step brother, Britannicus.

Downfall I

Nero got word that Britannicus and his mother were plotting to take the throne. This compelled Nero to poison Britannicus and send Agrippina on a boat designed to sink. When Agrippina swam to shore, Nero’s men killed her, and she DID NOT SAY, “Stab me in the stomach where the monster was nurtured.” Word had spread that Nero had killed his mother, and the public had turned on him. Nero was married to Octavia, she was known to be charming, active, and beloved by Romans. After Octavia failed to give Nero a child, he attempted to strangle her. This happened several times. Nero the divorced her consequently infuriated the Roman public. Nero saw this as an opportunity to display his power, so he had Octavia killed without the publics ‘consent’ There was then another plot, separate to Agrippa’s to kill Nero Upon hearing this, Nero killed 20 people for their involvement in the plot and exiled another dozen people.

Downfall II

Rome experienced The Great Fire, burning 2/3s of the city, lasting for 6 days. The fable goes: Nero was playing the fiddle while this transpired. THIS ALSO DID NOT HAPPEN Nero did not play the fiddle while Rome was burning: they were not even invented yet, Nero was not in the city while the city was on fire. Upon hearing that there was a fire from his estate in the countryside, he immediately left for Rome He opened his doors to the Royal Palace anyone affected After the fire, Nero constructed a new palace with a 120-foot statue of himself People thought Nero had started the fire to build his new palace. To circumvent this, Nero use the Christians, at the time a small-ish cult, as scapegoat. Christians were tortured for this. Around this time, Nero had been experiencing marital problems with his new wife, Poppaea Nero had kicked his pregnant wife to death, aiming for her stomach. Nero had his wife’s corpse embalmed in a glass case to visit and talk to he reach night. Nero saw a 13 year old boy named, Sporus walking through town. Nero had though he resembled Poppaea, thus having him castrated and forced to wear her clothing and live as his wife.

Downfall III

Nero’s statue and new palace was bankrupting Rome. So he asked, his advisor, Windex to raise taxes. This was the last straw for Windex: Windex then joined forces with the governor of Spain and Royal Guard to assassinate Nero. Nero probably knew this assassination was coming as he lived in paranoia and madness. One day he woke up to an empty palace. When escaping to his estate, Nero was being pursued by soldiers and opted to commit suicide. His final words, “What an artist dies in me.”

Things that are straight up not true

Nero did not play the fiddle while Rome was burning: they were not even invented yet, Nero was not in the city while the city was on fire. This fable was plagiarized from attacks on other Roman cities. Agrippa never said, “Stab me in the stomach where the monster was nurtured.” This was an act of Vituperatio of a fictional character written years prior to the writings of his history. Nero was well loved by the lower classes, but they were unable to express that effectively in history (bias of those who were writing about him). Tacitus, Cassius Dio, and Suetonius. were political elites who hated Nero. They sought to put him in the worst possible light, thus intentionally obscuring the affection the people felt towards him. Nero was the last of his dynasty so it was as Tacitus, Cassius Dio, and Suetonius were writing about him 20 years later, it was in their best interest to denigrate Nero’s character as much as possible: to make the new regime better by contrast. Their strategy falls under the Roman political strategy of Vituperatio Nero was madly in love with his second wife: he was desperate for a child after, their previous one had died. Murder of a pregnant wife is a common trope in Roman literature. Many believe Nero to be the embodiment of evil; some scholars believe Nero to be the inspiration for the antichrist. It is almost impossible to know whether or not Nero was as evil as he is recorded to be for these reasons: what is written matters more than what happened.

Roman Empire