Nero Author: Tom Lowe
Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (/'n??ro?/ NEER-oh; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68) was the fifth Roman Emperor and final Emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty reigning from AD 54 until he died in AD 68. He was adopted by the Roman Emperor Claudius at 13 and succeeded him on the throne. Nero was popular with the members of his Praetorian Guard and lower-class commoners in Rome and its provinces, but the Roman aristocracy deeply resented him. Most contemporary sources describe him as tyrannical, self-indulgent, and debauched. After being declared a public enemy by the Roman Senate, he committed suicide at age 30.
Nero was born at Antium in AD 37, the son of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina the Younger, a great-granddaughter of Emperor Augustus. When Nero was two years old, his father died. His mother married Emperor Claudius, who eventually adopted Nero as his heir; when Claudius died in 54, Nero became Emperor with the support of the Praetorian Guard and the Senate. In the early years of his reign Nero was advised and guided by his mother Agrippina, his tutor Seneca the Younger, and his praetorian prefect Sextus Afranius Burrus, but he soon sought to rule independently and to rid himself of restraining influences. His power struggle with his mother was eventually resolved when he had her murdered. Roman sources also implicate Nero in the deaths of his wife Claudia Octavia – supposedly so that he could marry Poppaea Sabina – and of his foster-brother Britannicus. Most Roman sources present Nero as sexually dissolute. He is said to have "married" a freedman Pythagoras, acting the bride's part at the ceremony. After Poppaea died in unclear circumstances, Nero, in short succession, married an aristocratic woman Statilia Messalina and another freedman, Sporus, whom he had castrated.
Nero's practical contributions to Rome's governance focused on diplomacy, trade, and culture. He ordered the construction of amphitheaters, promoted athletic games and contests, and made public appearances as an actor, poet, musician, and charioteer. This scandalized his aristocratic contemporaries as these occupations were usually the domain of enslaved people, public entertainers, and infamous persons. The provision of such entertainments made Nero popular among lower-class citizens, but his performances undermined Imperial dignity. The costs involved were borne by local elites either directly or through taxation and were much resented.
During Nero's reign, the general Corbulo fought the Roman–Parthian War of 58–63 and made peace with the hostile Parthian Empire. The Roman general Suetonius Paulinus quashed a major revolt in Britain led by the Iceni's queen Boudica. The Bosporan Kingdom was briefly annexed to the Empire, and the First Jewish–Roman War began. When the Roman senator Vindex rebelled, with support from the eventual Roman Emperor Galba, Nero declared a public enemy and condemned to death in absentia. He fled Rome, and on 9 June AD 68, he committed suicide. His death sparked a brief period of civil war known as the Year of the Four Emperors.
Most Roman sources offer overwhelmingly negative assessments of his personality and reign. The historian Tacitus claims the Roman people thought him irrational and corrupt. Suetonius tells that many Romans believed that Nero instigated the Great Fire of Rome to clear land for his planned "Golden House." Tacitus claims that Nero seized Christians as scapegoats for the fire and had them burned alive, seemingly motivated not by public justice but personal cruelty. Some modern historians question the reliability of the ancient sources on Nero's tyrannical acts, considering his popularity among the Roman commoners. In the eastern provinces of the Empire, a popular legend arose that Nero had not died and would return. After his death, at least three leaders of short-lived failed rebellions presented themselves as "Nero reborn" to gain popular support.
Early life
Nero was born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus on 15 December 37 AD in Antium (modern Anzio). He was an only child, the son of the politician Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina the Younger. His mother, Agrippina, was the sister of the third Roman Emperor, Caligula. ? Nero was also the great-great-grandson of former emperor Augustus (descended from Augustus' only daughter, Julia).
The ancient biographer Suetonius, critical of Nero's ancestors, wrote that emperor Augustus had reproached Nero's grandfather for his unseemly enjoyment of violent gladiator games. According to Jürgen Malitz, Suetonius says that Nero's father was known to be "irascible and brutal." Both "enjoyed chariot races and theater performances not befitting their position." Suetonius also mentions that when Nero's father Domitius was congratulated by his friends for the birth of his son, he replied that any child born to him and Agrippina would have a detestable nature and become a public danger.
Domitius died in 40 AD. A few years before his father's death, his father was involved in a serious political scandal. ? His mother and his two surviving sisters, Agrippina and Julia Livilla were exiled to a remote island in the Mediterranean Sea. His mother was said to have been exiled for plotting to overthrow Emperor Caligula. Nero's inheritance was taken from him, and he was sent to live with his paternal aunt Domitia Lepida the Younger, the mother of later Emperor Claudius's third wife, Messalina.
After Caligula's death, Claudius became the new Roman Emperor. Nero's mother married Claudius in 49 AD, becoming his fourth wife. By February 49 AD, his mother had persuaded Claudius to adopt her son Nero.
After Nero's adoption by the Emperor, "Claudius" became part of his name: Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus. Claudius had gold coins issued to mark the adoption. Classics professor Josiah Osgood has written that "the coins, through their distribution and imagery alike, showed that a new Leader was in the making."[12]:?231? However, David Shotter noted that, despite events in Rome, Nero's stepbrother Britannicus was more prominent in provincial coinages during the early 50s.
Nero formally entered public life as an adult in 51 AD at approximately 14 years old. When he turned 16, Nero married Claudius' daughter (his step-sister), Claudia Octavia. Between the years 51 AD and 53 AD, he gave several speeches on behalf of various communities, including the Ilians, the Arameans (requesting a five-year tax reprieve after an earthquake), and the northern colony of Bologna, after their settlement had suffered a devastating fire.
Claudius died in 54 AD; many ancient historians claim that he was poisoned. Shotter has written that "Claudius' death in 54 AD has usually been regarded as an event hastened by Agrippina due to signs that Claudius was showing a renewed affection for his natural son". He also notes that the Roman historian Josephus was uniquely reserved in describing the poisoning as a rumor.
Contemporary sources differ in their accounts of the poisoning. Tacitus says that the poison-maker Locusta prepared the toxin, which was served to the Emperor by his servant Halotus. Tacitus also writes that Agrippina arranged for Claudius' doctor Xenophon to administer poison if the Emperor survived. Suetonius differs in some details but also implicates Halotus and Agrippina. Like Tacitus, Cassius Dio writes that Locusta prepared the poison, but in Dio's account, it is administered by Agrippina instead of Halotus. In Apocolocyntosis, Seneca the Younger does not mention mushrooms at all. All modern scholars do not accept Agrippina's involvement in Claudius' death. ?
Before Claudius' death, Agrippina maneuvered to remove Claudius' sons' tutors to replace them with tutors that she had selected. She also convinced Claudius to replace two prefects of the Praetorian Guard (who were suspected of supporting Claudius' son) with Afranius Burrus (Nero's future guide). ? Since Agrippina had replaced the guard officers with men loyal to her, Nero could subsequently assume power without incident.
Reign (54–68 AD)
Most of what we know about Nero's reign is from three ancient writers: Tacitus, Suetonius, and Greek historian Cassius Dio.
According to these ancient historians, Nero's construction projects were overly extravagant. Many expenditures under Nero left Italy "thoroughly exhausted by contributions of money" with "the provinces ruined." Modern historians, though, note that the period was riddled with deflation and that it is likely that Nero's spending came in the form of public-works projects and charity intended to ease economic troubles.
Early reign
Nero became Emperor in 54 AD, at the age of 14. This made him the youngest sole Emperor until Elagabalus, who became Emperor at 14 years in 218. As Pharaoh of Egypt, Nero adopted the royal titulary Autokrator Neron Heqaheqau Meryasetptah Tjemaahuikhasut Wernakhtubaqet Heqaheqau Setepennenu Merur ('Emperor Nero, Ruler of rulers, chosen by Ptah, beloved of Isis, the sturdy-armed one who struck the foreign lands, victorious for Egypt, ruler of rulers, chosen of Nun who loves him').
Nero's tutor, Seneca, prepared Nero's first speech before the Senate. During this speech, Nero spoke about "eliminating the ills of the previous regime." H.H. Scullard writes that "he promised to follow the Augustan model in his principate, end-all secret trials intra cubiculum, do with the corruption of court favorites and freedmen, and above all to respect the privileges of the Senate and individual Senators."
Scullard writes that Nero's mother, Agrippina, "meant to rule through her son." Agrippina murdered her political rivals: Domitia Lepida the Younger, the aunt that Nero had lived with during Agrippina's exile; Marcus Junius Silanus, a great-grandson of Augustus; and Narcissus. ? One of the earliest coins that Nero issued during his reign shows Agrippina on the coin's obverse side; usually, this would be reserved for a portrait of the Emperor. The Senate also allowed Agrippina two lictors during public appearances, an honor that was customarily bestowed upon only magistrates and the Vestalis Maxima. In AD 55, Nero removed Agrippina's ally, Marcus Antonius Pallas, from his position in the treasury. Shotter writes the following about Agrippina's deteriorating relationship with Nero: "What Seneca and Burrus probably saw as relatively harmless in Nero—his cultural pursuits and his affair with the slave girl Claudia Acte—were to her signs of her son's dangerous emancipation of himself from her influence." Britannicus was poisoned after Agrippina threatened to side with him. Nero, who was having an affair with Acte, exiled Agrippina from the palace when she began to cultivate a relationship with his wife, Octavia.
Jürgen Malitz writes that ancient sources do not provide any clear evidence to evaluate the extent of Nero's involvement in politics during the first years of his reign. He describes the policies explicitly attributed to Nero as "well-meant but incompetent notions," like Nero's failed initiative to abolish all taxes in 58 AD. Scholars generally credit Nero's advisors Burrus and Seneca with the administrative successes of these years. Malitz writes that in later years, Nero panicked when he had to make decisions on his own during times of crisis.
Nevertheless, his early administration ruled to great acclaim. A generation later, those years were seen in retrospect as an example of excellent and moderate government and described as Quinquennium Neronis by Trajan. Especially well-received were fiscal reforms that put tax collectors under more strict control by establishing local offices to supervise their activities. After the affair of Lucius Pedanius Secundus, whom a desperate enslaved person murdered, Nero allowed enslaved people to file complaints about their treatment to the authorities.
Decline
Modern scholars believe that Nero's reign had been going well in the years before Agrippina's death. For example, Nero promoted the exploration of the Nile river sources with a successful expedition. After Agrippina's exile, Burrus and Seneca were responsible for the administration of the Empire. However, Nero's "conduct became far more egregious" after his mother's death. Miriam T. Griffins suggests that Nero's decline began as early as 55 AD with the murder of his stepbrother Britannicus, but also notes that "Nero lost all sense of right and wrong and listened to flattery with total credulity" after Agrippina's death. Griffin points out that Tacitus "makes explicit the significance of Agrippina's removal for Nero's conduct."
He built a new palace, the Domus Transitoria, from about AD 60. It was intended to connect all imperial estates acquired with the Palatine, including the Gardens of Maecenas, Horti Lamiani, Horti Lolliani, etc.
In 62 AD, Nero's adviser Burrus died. That same year Nero called for the first treason trial of his reign (maiestas trial) against Antistius Sosianus. He also executed his rivals, Cornelius Sulla and Rubellius Plautus. Jürgen Malitz considers this a turning point in Nero's relationship with the Roman Senate. Malitz writes that "Nero abandoned the restraint he had previously shown because he believed a course supporting the Senate promised to be less and less profitable."
After Burrus' death, Nero appointed two new Praetorian Prefects: Faenius Rufus and Ofonius Tigellinus. Politically isolated, Seneca was forced to retire. According to Tacitus, Nero divorced Octavia on the grounds of infertility and banished her. After public protests over Octavia's exile, Nero accused her of adultery with Anicetus, and she was executed.
In 64 AD, during the Saturnalia, Nero married Pythagoras, a freedman.
The Great Fire of Rome
The Great Fire of Rome
The Great Fire of Rome began on the night of 18 to 19 July 64, probably in one of the merchant's shops on the slope of the Aventine overlooking the Circus Maximus or in the wooden outer seating of the Circus itself. Rome had always been vulnerable to fires, and this one was fanned to catastrophic proportions by the winds.
Tacitus, Cassius Dio, and modern archaeology describe the destruction of mansions, ordinary residences, public buildings, and temples on the Aventine, Palatine, and Caelian hills. The fire burned for over seven days; then it subsided, and then it started again and burned for three more. It destroyed three of Rome's fourteen districts and severely damaged seven more.
Some Romans thought the fire an accident; the merchant shops where it probably started were timber-framed, they sold flammable goods, and the outer seating stands of the Circus were timber-built. Others claimed that it was arson committed on Nero's behalf. The accounts by Pliny the Elder, Suetonius, and Cassius Dio suggest several possible reasons for Nero's alleged arson, including his creation of a real-life backdrop to a theatrical performance about the burning of Troy. Suetonius wrote that Nero started the fire to clear the site for his planned, palatial Golden House. This would include lush artificial landscapes and a 30-meter-tall statue of himself, the Colossus of Nero, sited more or less where the Colosseum would eventually be built. Suetonius and Cassius Dio claim that Nero sang the "Sack of Ilium" in stage costume while the city burned. The popular legend that Nero played the fiddle while Rome burned "is at least partly a literary construct of Flavian propaganda [...] which looked askance on the abortive Neronian attempt to rewrite Augustan models of rule".
Tacitus suspends judgment on Nero's responsibility for the fire; he found that Nero was in Antium when the fire started and returned to Rome to organize a relief effort, providing the removal of bodies and debris, which he paid for from his funds. After the fire, Nero opened his palaces to provide shelter for the homeless and arranged for food supplies to be delivered to prevent starvation among the survivors.
Tacitus writes that Nero accused Christians of starting the fire to remove suspicion from himself. According to this account, many Christians were arrested and brutally executed by "being thrown to the beasts, crucified, and burned alive." Tacitus asserts that in his imposition of such ferocious punishments, Nero was not motivated by a sense of justice but a penchant for personal cruelty.
Houses built after the fire were spaced out, built-in brick, and faced by porticos on wide roads. Nero also built a new palace complex known as the Domus Aurea in an area cleared by the fire. The cost to rebuild Rome was immense, requiring funds the state treasury did not have. To find the necessary funds for the reconstruction, Nero's government increased taxation. In particular heavy tributes were imposed on the provinces of the Empire. To meet at least a portion of the costs, Nero devalued the Roman currency, increasing inflationary pressure for the first time in the Empire's history.
Later years
In 65 AD, Gaius Calpurnius Piso, a Roman statesman, organized a conspiracy against Nero with the help of Subrius Flavus and Sulpicius Asper, a tribune and a centurion of the Praetorian Guard. According to Tacitus, many conspirators wished to "rescue the state" from the Emperor and restore the Republic. The freedman Milichus discovered the conspiracy and reported it to Nero's secretary, Epaphroditus. As a result, the conspiracy failed, and its members were executed, including Lucan, the poet. He denied the charges but was still ordered to commit suicide as, by this point, he had fallen out of favor with Nero.
Nero was said to have kicked Poppaea to death in 65 AD before she could have his second child. Modern historians, noting the potential biases of Suetonius, Tacitus, and Cassius Dio and the likely absence of eyewitnesses to such an event, propose that Poppaea may have died after miscarriage or in childbirth. Nero went into deep mourning; Poppaea was given a grand state funeral and divine honors and was promised a temple for her cult. A year's importation of incense was burned at the funeral. Her body was not cremated, as would have been strictly customary, but embalmed in the Egyptian manner and entombed; it is not known where.
In 67, Nero married Sporus, a young boy who is said to have significantly resembled Poppaea. Nero had him castrated, tried to make a woman out of him, and married him in a dowry and bridal veil. It is believed that he did this out of regret for his killing of Poppaea.
Revolt of Vindex and Galba and Nero's death
A marble bust of Nero, Antiquarium of the Palatine.
In March 68, Gaius Julius Vindex, the governor of Gallia Lugdunensis, rebelled against Nero's tax policies. Lucius Verginius Rufus, the governor of Germania Superior, was ordered to put down Vindex's rebellion. In an attempt to gain support from outside his province, Vindex called Servius Sulpicius Galba, the governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, to join the rebellion and declare himself Emperor in opposition to Nero.
At the Battle of Vesontio in May 68, Verginius' forces easily defeated those of Vindex, and the latter committed suicide. However, after defeating the rebel, Verginius' legions attempted to proclaim their commander Emperor. Verginius refused to act against Nero, but the discontent of the legions of Germania and the continued opposition of Galba in Hispania did not bode well for him.
While Nero had retained some control of the situation, support for Galba increased despite his being officially declared a "public enemy." The prefect of the Praetorian Guard, Gaius Nymphidius Sabinus, also abandoned his allegiance to the Emperor and came out in support of Galba.
In response, Nero fled Rome intending to go to the port of Ostia and, from there, to take a fleet to one of the still-loyal eastern provinces. According to Suetonius, Nero abandoned the idea when some army officers openly refused to obey his commands, responding with a line from Virgil's Aeneid: "Is it so dreadful a thing then to die?" Nero then toyed with the idea of fleeing to Parthia, throwing himself upon the mercy of Galba, or appealing to the people and begging them to pardon him for his past offenses "and if he could not soften their hearts, to entreat them at least to allow him the prefecture of Egypt." Suetonius reports that the text of this speech was later found in Nero's writing desk but that he dared not give it for fear of being torn to pieces before he could reach the Forum.
Nero returned to Rome and spent the evening in the palace. After sleeping, he awoke at about midnight to find the palace guard had left. Dispatching messages to his friends' palace chambers for them to come, he received no answers. Upon going to their chambers personally, he found them all abandoned. He cried, "Have I neither friend nor foe?" and ran out as if to throw himself into the Tiber.
Returning, Nero sought a place where he could hide and collect his thoughts. An imperial freedman, Phaon, offered his villa, located 4 mi (6.4 km) outside the city. Traveling in disguise, Nero and four loyal freedmen, Epaphroditus, Phaon, Neophytus, and Sporus, reached the villa, where Nero ordered them to dig a grave for him. Nero learned that the Senate had declared him a public enemy. Nero prepared himself for suicide, pacing up and down and muttering Qualis Artifex pereo ("What an artist dies in me"). Losing his nerve, he begged one of his companions to set an example by killing himself first. However, he still could not bring himself to take his own life but instead forced his private secretary, Epaphroditus, to perform the task. At last, the sound of approaching horseback riders drove Nero to face the end.
When one of the horseback riders entered and saw that Nero was dying, he attempted to stop the bleeding, but efforts to save Nero's life were unsuccessful. According to Sulpicius Severus, it is unclear whether Nero took his own life. Nero's final words were, "Too late! This is fidelity!" He died on 9 June 68, the anniversary of the death of his first wife, Claudia Octavia. He was buried in the Mausoleum of the Domitii Ahenobarbi, in what is now the Villa Borghese (Pincian Hill) area of Rome.
With his death, the Julio-Claudian dynasty ended. ? Chaos would ensue in the year of the Four Emperors.
After Nero
Apotheosis of Nero, c. after 68. Artwork portraying Nero rising to divine status after his death.
According to Suetonius and Cassius Dio, the people of Rome celebrated the death of Nero. Tacitus, though, describes a more complicated political environment. Tacitus mentions that Nero's death was welcomed by Senators, nobility, and the upper class. The lower class, enslaved people, frequenters of the arena and the theater, and "those who were supported by the famous excesses of Nero," on the other hand, were upset with the news. Members of the military were said to have mixed feelings, as they had allegiance to Nero but had been bribed to overthrow him.
Eastern sources, namely Philostratus and Apollonius of Tyana, mention that Nero's death was mourned as he "restored the liberties of Hellas with a wisdom and moderation quite alien to his character" and "held our liberties in his hand and respected them."
Modern scholarship generally holds that, while the Senate and more well-off individuals welcomed Nero's death, the general populace was "loyal to the end and beyond, for Otho and Vitellius both thought it worthwhile to appeal to their nostalgia."
In what Edward Champlin regards as an "outburst of private zeal," Nero's name was erased from some monuments. Many portraits of Nero were reworked to represent other figures; according to Eric R. Varner, over fifty such images survive. This reworking of images is often explained as part of how the memory of disgraced emperors was condemned posthumously. Champlin, however, doubts that the practice is necessarily damaging and notes that some continued to create images of Nero long after his death. Damaged portraits of Nero, often with hammer blows directed to the face, have been found in many provinces of the Roman Empire, three recently having been identified from the United Kingdom.
During the year of the Four Emperors, ancient historians described the civil war as a troubling period. According to Tacitus, this instability was rooted in the fact that emperors could no longer rely on the perceived legitimacy of the imperial bloodline, as Nero and those before him could. Galba began his short reign with the execution of many of Nero's allies. One such notable enemy included Nymphidius Sabinus, who claimed to be the son of Emperor Caligula.
Otho overthrew Galba. Otho was said to be liked by many soldiers because he had been a friend of Nero and resembled him somewhat in temperament. It was said that the typical Roman hailed Otho as Nero himself. Otho used "Nero" as a surname and reerected many statues to Nero. Vitellius overthrew Otho. Vitellius began his reign with a large funeral for Nero, complete with songs written by Nero.
After Nero died at 68, there was a widespread belief that he was not dead and would return, especially in the eastern provinces. This belief came to be known as the Nero Redivivus Legend. The legend of Nero's return lasted for hundreds of years after Nero's death. Augustine of Hippo wrote of the legend as a widespread belief in 422.
At least three Nero imposters emerged, leading rebellions. The first, who sang and played the cithara or lyre and whose face was similar to that of the dead Emperor, appeared in 69 during the reign of Vitellius. After persuading some to recognize him, he was captured and executed. Sometime during the reign of Titus (79–81), another impostor appeared in Asia and sang to the accompaniment of the lyre and looked like Nero, but he, too, was killed. Twenty years after Nero's death, during the reign of Domitian, there was a third pretender. He was supported by the Parthians, who only reluctantly gave him up, and the matter almost came to war.
Military conflicts
Boudica's uprising
In Britannia (Britain) in 59 AD, Prasutagus, leader of the Iceni tribe and a client king of Rome during Claudius' reign, had died. The client stated that the arrangement was unlikely to survive following the death of Claudius. The will of the Iceni tribal King (leaving control of the Iceni to his daughters) was denied. When the Roman procurator Catus Decianus scourged the former King Prasutagus' wife Boudica and raped her daughters, the Iceni revolted.
Peace with Parthia
Nero began preparing for war in the early years of his reign after the Parthian king Vologeses set his brother Tiridates on the Armenian throne. Around 57 AD and 58 AD Domitius Corbulo and his legions advanced on Tiridates and captured the Armenian capital Artaxata. Tigranes was chosen to replace Tiridates on the Armenian throne. When Tigranes attacked Adiabene, Nero had to send other legions to defend Armenia and Syria from Parthia.
The Roman victory came when the Parthians were troubled by revolts; when this was dealt with, they could devote resources to the Armenian situation. A Roman army under Paetus surrendered under humiliating circumstances, and though both Roman and Parthian forces withdrew from Armenia, it was under Parthian control.
First Jewish War
In 66, a Jewish revolt in Judea stemmed from Greek and Jewish religious tension. This revolt is famous for Romans breaching the walls of Jerusalem and destroying the Second Temple of Jerusalem. In 67, Nero dispatched Vespasian to restore order. This revolt was eventually put down in 70, after Nero's death.
Pursuits
Historiography
The history of Nero's reign is problematic in that no historical sources survived that were contemporary with Nero. While they still existed, these first histories were described as biased and fantastical, either overly critical or praising Nero. The sources were also said to contradict several events. Nonetheless, these lost primary sources were the basis of surviving secondary and tertiary histories on Nero written by the next generations of historians. A few contemporary historians are known by name. Fabius Rusticus, Clavius Rufus, and Pliny the Elder, wrote condemning histories on Nero that are now lost. There were also pro-Nero histories, but it is unknown who wrote them or what deeds Nero was praised for. I want to mention other historians who wrote about Nero, some were complimentary, and some were very negative. However, there are good reasons for holding either opinion. I will, though, only mention their names: Philostratus, Cassius Dio, Dio Chrysostom, Epictetus, Josephus, and Lucan.
I hope you found this article both interesting and informative. I appreciate your comments, and I will indeed learn from them. May our God bless you for Jesus' sake.
