Ancient Fact File: Nero

By Charlie Whittle, Third Year Classical Studies

Nero

Often described as vindictive and cruel, Nero is one of the most well-known Roman Emperors. Here, we will outline his life to his death and discover why everyone knows his name.

Nero, who was born December 15th, 37 CE, died June 9th, 37 CE. He was the fifth Roman emperor and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty (CE 14-68). His reign succeeded his stepfather, Emperor Claudius; most known for his invasion of Britain and North Africa.

Nero’s path to becoming emperor was not as simple as being born next in line to rule. His mother, Julia Agrippina, married her uncle, Emperor Claudius, after poisoning her second husband and persuading him to make Nero his successor. This was successful, and Nero became Claudius’ successor over his own son. However, not only did Nero win power, but it was also arranged for him to marry Claudius’ daughter Octavia.

To accelerate Nero’s ascent to becoming emperor, it is likely that Agrippina killed opponents such as Claudius’ advisors and possibly even Claudius himself in 54 CE and then his son in 55 CE. As soon as Claudius was dead, Nero became emperor at only the age of 16. 

It was clear that Agrippina wanted power over the empire herself however, Nero’s old tutor Seneca as well as Roman praetor Burrus encouraged Nero to act independently. This led to a rift in Nero and Agrippina’s relationship and eventually Agrippina was forced to retire in 56 CE.

The start of Nero’s rule isn’t as heinous as his later rule. In the beginning, Nero put to rest some of the controversial laws created by past emperors such as secret trials before the emperor, and dominance of corrupt freedmen and he also gave the senate more independence. Furthermore, Nero also introduced other laws that were overall well-received like banning violent sports in the circus, banning capital punishment, reducing taxes, allowing slaves to give complaints against unjust masters and giving assistance to cities in need of aid. However, one of the more controversial laws that Nero suggested was in 58 CE, he proposed that custom fees (tax on imported goods) should be abolished. But, mostly, his power was used to gratify his pleasures, pursue his interest in artistic endeavours and public performances as well as to fulfil his desire to kill people at a whim.

Some of the most horrific things that happened under Nero’s reign were from 59 CE onwards. The following years of Nero’s rule have been further broken down in the rest of this article to enhance understanding of the timeline. 

59 BCE

It starts in 59 CE when Nero accused his mother of treason and ordered her to be killed due to her insanity. Nero fell in love with the wife of Senator (and future emperor) Otho, Poppaea Sabina and ordered his then wife Octavia to be killed as he feared that the population did not like her.

62 BCE

After the murder of Octavia, Nero married Poppaea. However, in the same year, Seneca believed he had lost all influence over Nero and was forced to retire when Burrus died meaning their influence over Nero was gone.

64 BCE

From the 18th/19th of July 64 CE for seven days, there was an intense fire in Rome. Nero took advantage of the destruction to rebuild the city in a new, Greek style and planned to cover over a third of the city in a new palace. Although Nero was not in the city at the time of the fire, the population mistakenly believed that he had started the fire purposefully, to rebuild the city. In response to this, Nero accused Christians of starting the fire which resulted in many Christians being arrested and brutally executed. Furthermore, this fuelled prejudice towards Christians in Rome would increase in the following years, leading to many labelling Nero as the Antichrist.

65 BCE

Poppaea died in 65 CE leading Nero to marry Statilia Messalina. People believed that Nero kicked Poppaea to death before she could give birth to his second child. However, modern historians suggest that there may have been a lack of eyewitnesses to this death and propose that Poppaea may have instead died after a miscarriage or during childbirth.

Nero’s death

In 68 CE, Nero’s delirious nature finally reached its limit. The Senate as well as those impacted by Nero’s rule and the middle class became frustrated with him. Revolts began to spread across the empire and Nero’s reign and life were threatened. In response to the threat, Nero fled Rome and after he was declared a public enemy, Nero allegedly ended his own life by slitting his throat or possibly by other means.

In the following years, disputes over Nero’s succession caused civil wars which almost ended the Roman Empire. In hindsight, many in the Senate and the Praetorian Guard regretted the loss of Nero; however the population’s consensus was that they were disgusted with Nero’s actions. Nero’s actions have meant that his negative reputation has followed him to the present day.