Who Was The Real Emperor Nero? | Tony Robinson's Romans: Nero | Timeline

has become one of the great symbols of the corruption of power the maniac playing the violin while his city a bird the tyrant was Nero the city ro playing the violin while Rome burns is just one of the stories that have made Nero's reputation as one of the most evil men in history the psychopath who killed his wife and mother who threw Christians to the lions who was sentenced to an early death all of these things are true, but the fact that you didn't even play the violin should alert us to the fact that there is more to him than the monster that historians have thrown into the dustbin of the past because there was another Nero, a man who loved peace, not war, the world's first rock star applauded by his admirers, an enlightened lover of musical theater and the arts, and it is that narrow, but I will try and Rescue from the ashes of its terrible reputation.

The close story unfolded here in Rome, in the imperial palaces of the Palatine Hill. These walls are all that remains of the hallways and dark rooms where a drama unfolded that was half political thriller, half domestic tragedy. life has all the elements of a soap opera political intrigue bitter jealousy passionate loves this hostile image was constructed by propagandists after his death as the centuries passed historians exaggerated the myths of Nero my job is to separate fact from fiction to balance The later propaganda against other sources and simple common sense, what we know for sure is that Nero came to power when he was only 16, at an age when most children decide what subjects to do for a level at which they were named ruler of half the world, that was when his story as Emperor began, but to understand Nero we have to go back further because it is what happened to him as a child that made him the Emperor he became.

Nero was the name he later adopted, but he was born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus on the 15th of December 37 here at one time on the coast near Rome, it was the playground of the Roman elite and these are the ruins of his own Nero's palace Nero's family had ties to the Emperor dating back to Julius Caesar. Family connections were everything to the Romans in terms. of social position Nero had a large family although in terms of a healthy psychological background they were a disaster first there was his father, a harsh and brutal alcoholic named Nyhus, this is a man who killed a former slave during a drunken bender and took out a companion senator.

He watched when he criticized him on the forum and deliberately killed a child in a traffic accident in a fit of road rage, but the

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aristocratic blood came from his mother's side. Nero's story is about the women who influenced him and the center of that story is his mother Agri Pina, the most aggressive woman, she created him, she made him and in the end she destroyed him. Agra poenas's father, the war hero Germanicus, had been heir to the imperial throne, but had died tragically young. She was fiercely ambitious and very aware that she was the only one.

The path to power for a woman was through a husband or, better yet, a son. She saw Nero as her passport to her power. Agra Pina, like many mothers in particular, has an ambition for herself, she has a son who will become powerful or could become powerful Nero had rich and powerful parents but he also had an uncle who was

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in the year Nero was born Agra poenas evil brother Caligula became Emperor Caligula was paranoid he saw betrayal everywhere there were secret trials political assassinations and terror throughout Rome when Nero was fair to Caligula and sent Agri Pina into exile on suspicion of being involved in a plot against him .

The boy Nero was left in the care of his alcoholic father and, just when he was getting used to not having a mother, tragedy struck his father again. Nero died. He was abandoned, raised by domestic slaves, a dancer and a barber. It was not a good start for a future

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, but in the year 41 AD. Nero's fortunes improved Caligula was assassinated by senators determined to stop his reign of terror Nero's mother was recovered from In exile, Caligula was replaced by Nero's stuttering great-uncle Claudius, an amusing figure who survived looking harmless. Anyone who has read the book or seen the television series of I Claudius will assume that Nero's problems were over, but far from it, Julius was much more than the wise, stuttering clown we are led to believe he was, he also shared the sadistic characteristics of his predecessor and kept the terror levels in court just as high, there were secret trials in private chambers, suspects tortured in front of him just for fun.

Nero grew up knowing that anyone nearby could be killed at any time, but the main threat to his existence came not from Claudius, but from his third wife Messalina. Seven-year-old Nero became the pawn in a power struggle. between two. ruthlessly ambitious women Messalina wanted her son to be Emperor after Claudius Agra pinna wanted him to be Nero both women were willing to fight dirty around 44 AD. While the young and handsome Nero lay sleeping an attempt was made on his life Messalina sent two Assassins to his rooms in the middle of the night and he was saved by a miraculous event when they removed the sheets to finish him off a snake slithered out of his bed and they fled in terror.

It's a colorful way to dramatize this dynastic dispute but this episode only emerges a century later and has suspicious parallels to Roman folktales at a time when the only evidence of this is actually a snake found in the bedroom his mother made for him. a bracelet, so it's one of those stories that's quite like a kind of Hercules and the snakes and a kind of Hercules kills the snakes it's one of those stories that you make up about childhood it's oh, it's a lovely story but probably not very true was Nero's Niagra Messalina mutation but she began a scandalous affair that was the talk of Rome Agra Pina made sure the news was leaked to Claudius and Messalina was forced to commit suicide with her rival out of the way.

Agra Pina put the next stage of her plan into practice and married Uncle Claudio. Part of the deal was that his son was adopted by Claudius changing his name to Nero effectively made him heir to the imperial throne and agra penis strengthened the bond with an arranged marriage a wife and Nero would also need political influence and Agri FINA

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ized that She didn't have to look away because she arranged the marriage between fifteen-year-old Nero and Claudius, and their 13-year-old daughter Octavia. Not surprisingly, they first had to change the law to avoid any charges of incest. The next stage in the Agra penis plan was to tighten its grip on power through strategic appointments this is where the Emperors gates were placed and broken the womens gate a military camp on the outskirts of Rouen is still used by Italian forces today.

Nowadays the legions could not enter Rome so the Emperor had his own elite force called the Praetorian Guard that was based here, any claimant to the imperial throne who did not have their support stood no chance, they were usually under the command of the prefect Agri Pina created only one bus. soldier named Boris he and his fellow officers knew that they owed loyalty to her and her son Boris was to be one of the two pillars of support for the teenage emperor his second appointment was a masterstroke the most respected philosopher of his time Seneca was hired as Nero's teacher and speechwriter with Burris and Seneca, Agra pina prepared the adolescent Nero for power, but Nero seems to have found his official role rather boring.

She hated the endless formal dinners with her stuttering uncle Claudio, who drooled over his gourmet food and became slowly but steadily drunk but according to historians these dinners had a much more immediate consequence: they gave Agri Pina the opportunity to murder her husband Claudio loved mushrooms Historians say Agri Pina employed Rome's most famous poisoner to prepare a powerful potion for his favorite dish. Claudius had a food taster to protect him against poisoning, but Agri Pina had bought it. This man put the poisoned mushroom on the plate after she took her portion. Claudio swallowed the bait, literally.

The poison was designed to work slowly. Claudio left drunk and with the first symptoms of stomach pain worsening, but then came the news that they had vomited shortly after dinner. If he survived, he would know that there had been an attempt on his life and both Nero and Agra Pina would be finished by a brother that Pina entered. In full gear they brought the poisoner again, this time they dipped a feather in a fast-acting potion. Agra Pina gave it to another of her Claudio's Stooges, her doctor told Claudio that if she tickled the back of his throat with the feather he would vomit. again and he felt much better.

Claudio followed the doctor's orders, sighed and lay down. Dead historians who wrote later enjoyed telling the story of Agri Pina killing Claudius, but we now know that there was no poison that could act so quickly at that time Claudius. He was in his late 60s and in poor health and it is much more likely that he died from excessive drinking or even food poisoning. What the stories really tell us is how people viewed Agri Pina, a ruthless politician who was quite capable of murdering her own husband through natural causes. or foul play the next few hours followed the same course that imperial deaths have followed from Maoist China to the Queen Mother her death immediately she needed to play for time prayers were offered for the Emperor's recovery and musicians were invited in to cheer him up even As his body cooled, as a precaution, he called the Praetorian Guard from his barracks to surround the palace while he worked on the official announcement with Burris and Seneca, finally at noon the next day the pronouncement was made: the Emperor is dead, long life. the Emperor the crowds love his glamor a 16 year old ruler Claudius his palace on the Palatine had been a place of fear ruled in secret by the Emperor's click now Nero announced a new regime the Senate would be restored to power the tyranny was over it seemed A new era had dawned Agra Pina and Nero knew he owed him everything when the Praetorian officer came to him that night to ask for the official password.

Nero told her that she would be the optimal mother, the perfect mother, but if Agraphena thought that Nero was going to be her puppet, she was very wrong. The perfect mother did not want praise, she wanted power for herself thanks to her scheming mother. Nero was emperor of Rome to the tender age 16 but now Agri Pina wanted revenge for her investment she craved power She had been the sister and wife of an emperor and now, with a novice son in charge, she tried to fix the system so she could have even more power. She managed to get the Senate to meet here in the palace instead of over there in the forum, so she could listen to the all-male assembly behind a curtain, but the grip on power was about to loosen.

No Roman woman could hold political office, but it is clear from these coins minted at the beginning of Nero's reign what Agri Pina wanted to be. I have seen the important thing about these coins: they are contemporary documents, they are not laser writing and they gave you the official imperial view, the imperial spin, if you will, no court gossip, but that is exactly what the Emperor wanted you to see about them. Oxford's Ashmolean Museum houses an extensive collection of ancient Roman coins that vividly tell the story of Nero and his mother as soon as he becomes Emperor, the power of Agra Pina is absolutely evident: his mother, that's his mother, It is in front of him and it is the first.

It is the first time that an Imperial woman is shown on the same side of the coin as the Emperor and you can see that she has actually been given priority in some way because her name and titles are on the beaten side of the coin and his name is on the other side. and they look at each other almost as equals but of course it doesn't last and the next coin shows the next stage in that process because his mother's atropine is still there but Nero is shown next to her but he is in front. and she's relegated to being behind him, so what caused the breakup wasn't economics or foreign policy, but an argument over a girlfriend.

Nero had fallen madly in love with a woman called acting, he had his official girlfriend Octavia, but this was a real woman's acting. She was old with Nero mature sexy but she was Greek with a former slave Nero wanted to hide the news of the affair from his mother but he wanted to get rid of Octavia and get married act and when he wants to divorce his wife and make a slave the empress of Rome is a little difficult to keep secret Agra Pina went crazy as far as she was concerned minutes had to go poor old Nero was supposed to be running around various senators trying to persuade themthat acting was actually an Eastern Princess and therefore eligible for the throne, but no one bought it.

Nero had to give up love for duty and it hurt him. Agra Pina may have won, but it hurt her in the long run. The intimidation. Nero forced him more and more into the arms of his advisors. The philosopher Seneca, the head of the Praetorian Guard, Burris, and some elder statesmen who were quite willing to put up with Nero's weaknesses, but not those of his mother, within a year of assuming control, the balance of power had tilted towards favor of Nero, 17 years old. He moved Agri Pina to a separate palace for a while as soon as he spoke to the woman who had once been the perfect mother he was his own man and here we begin to unravel the myth of the tyrant mirror because even historians like Tacitus who destroyed Nero's reputation After his death he had to admit that the first five years of his reign were a great success.

He returned power to the Senate. He administered the provinces fairly and cemented his popularity by giving each citizen a cash donation. When he was a fun-loving teenager, he seemed to have a natural contact with the man on the street, bread and circuses have always kept the mafia happy, but now Nero came up with a new lottery strategy, he threw small balls wooden with numbers above the crowd and if you got a winning number then you could show up at the palace and claim a luxurious gift, horses, slaves, even a vacation home. Nero's popularity, I think. From his youth came the fact that he really tried to be a good boy at first and did all the things he was supposed to do, but I think his relationship with the population was particularly strong because he was very ge

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us, he spent a lot, he gave a lot. . good entertainments and they really loved bread and circuses as we know and it was also quite accessible, I mean we are told that on several occasions there are banquets or entertainments where Nero walks through the crowd and they actually see him and I think it means a lot to they.

Nero started well, but found the limitations of being in charge. He had personality and needed to go out like a typical teenager anywhere he would love to hang out with his friends and get drunk, but preferably without anyone. Realizing that he was the Emperor, if they went to a pub or a brothel, he went in disguise, which had its disadvantage because after a particularly rowdy night he would return home with two black eyes, although his advisors Buress and Seneca gave him Nero a long leash. A Roman emperor wasn't supposed to act like Jack the boy, and his mother kept nagging him to behave.

The growing tension with Agri Pina came to a head again over a new adventure. Nero was 22 years old, this time the object of his affection was not a slave but a member of the aristocracy called popiah Nero was, of course, married to Octavia, the princess who had given him his passport to half the imperial line, but the paymaster began to pressure Nero to get a divorce and this became even more urgent. When she discovered that she was pregnant and that she could give Nero an heir, the only opponent to her relationship was her mother. Things disintegrate.

He begins to stop having public or private meetings, even with his mother. He won't be alone with his mother. He doesn't trust his mother. Dad kept the pressure on. He mocked Nero for being the son of a mummy. He told her that an emperor should be able to do whatever he wants. We know exactly how he did it and no one of him could have come up with such an extravagant plot. He came up with the idea in the theater. He went to a show with some friends and part of the entertainment was a boat that collapsed and came out through the holes. a series of wild animals the folding boat idea must have gotten stuck he had one built especially to take his mother home after dinner the night of the murder he was waiting on the key side manned by his loyal naval commander anna catice right on the moment right halfway across the bay towards Agra Poena's house the ship began to sink there was general panic but Agra Pina was a natural survivor she convinced her maid to pretend to be her as she abandoned the ship the maid she thought this would save her life and I screamed and Rapinoe's leg saved me but when the murderers heard her they hit her on the head and killed her meanwhile Agra Pina managed to swim until she was picked up by a fishing boat that took her home safely , but not safe, he can't.

It took her mother, exhausted and fearful, a long time to realize that her son wanted her dead on the other side of the bay. Nero learned that Agri Pina had survived. Terrified, he panicked. He ordered Burris to call the Praetorian Guard to finish it off. She outside Burris refused, saying that his men would never agree to kill a member of the royal family, particularly the daughter of their hero Germanicus, in the end it was the navy man and he supplies who agreed to do it. Niro's gratitude is revealing. I, my empire, she said at dawn, the sealers broke down the doors of the Agra penis village when they broke in, her servants fled leaving her alone to face her executioner, at first she stopped playing at that moment saying thank you, please return to the palace and say that.

I fully recovered, but when they approached, she screamed that her son would never have ordered her murder, in response they hit her on the head with a club, she fell to the ground, pointed to the womb where Nero was born and said: hit me. here they did as she asked and she died in line Burris and Seneca invented the story that Agra Pina had committed suicide because her plan to assassinate Nero had been discovered, although they were prepared to cover up for the Emperor, they gradually realized that they had lost. control of him, but this unforgivable act of murder, Nero had crossed the line of tyranny and there was no turning back.

Nero's reign as Emperor had begun with great acclaim, but by the age of 22 power had already corrupted him, he had murdered his mother, so he could divorce his wife Octavia and marry his papaya lover, but Octavia was still an influential woman in Rome with all the royal family clouds, so he was persuaded for his own good that he needed to get rid of his ex-wife permanently and there was no one there to tell him that he couldn't deal with Nero, the philosopher Seneca had retreated to the countryside and his military advisor Boris had died, replaced by a ruthless Tigellinus, if Seneca and Burris had managed to keep Mero in power.

It was Tigellinus and Papaya who derailed him again, concocting a plan for Nero to humiliate and discredit Octavia with a false accusation that she had slept with an Egyptian musician, her handmaidens were systematically tortured to provide the evidence, but Octavia inspired such loyalty. who refused to break even in their agony, one of them used his last ounce of strength to spit in Tigellinus's face the words my lover's vaginas cleaner than your mouth, but his plan to humiliate Octavia failed, not only They underestimated the loyalty of their servants. but they had also been without the affection of the Roman mob who worshiped their own Empress, they took to the streets in force throwing statues of Pytheas to the ground, reinstating Octavian and covering them with flowers.

People did not like a descendant of the nobleman. or that Gustus was treated like trash. Nero knew that he would have to come up with a pretty convincing plan to discredit Octavia if he was to have any chance of surviving, so he invited the Agra assassin Poena and attended the palace and offered her a He had a difficult choice: he could go to the Senate and say that he had slept with Octavia or he could be executed. He went to the palace and gave a very convincing performance. He said that Octavia not only wanted his body but also wanted to get the Navy on his side so she could stage a political coup.

Everything was going to be planned. Nero said goodbye to Anna Catice as he set sail for wealthy exile in Sardinia. Octavia was taken to an island prison near Naples, where she was quietly murdered after her arrival. The head was sent to the papaya as a trophy somehow Nero weathered the storm that followed the crowd was pacified with more gifts and entertainment and Nero stayed to enjoy life with the papaya here on the Palatine wrote poems studied singing and acting and organized evenings with poets and artists, he might have been remembered as a noble patron of the arts if it were not for the fact that the greatest catastrophe of his reign is the Circus Maximus. 2,000 years ago, this place would have been packed with people and would have been as exciting as the Chapman Gold Cup every year.

Here was the chariot racing track with free seating for 300,000 people, all around on huge wooden structures with wooden slums, behind was the palace with Nero's Royal Box, from where he had a bird's eye view not only of a day at the races, but of the first flames of the fire that devastated Rome in the oldest historical account, he writes Tacitus, the Great Fire of Rome probably started as a simple accident, an abrasion was kicked right outside the stadium, but a strong wind was blowing and within moments the flames took over, it was a devastating fire that devastated the crowded slums of Rome. wood and quickly spread to the elegant houses of the Palatine and to Nero's own Palace.

Rome had a kind of fire brigade that could not cope with the inferno, it was the worst fire. in history until Hamburg and Dresden in World War II and literally burned into people's memories as time went by, people began to tell stories about Nero himself seen on the palace balcony with a liar maniacally reciting his own epic poem, the fall of Troy as the The flames set fire to the Palatine and it was these stories recorded by later propagandists that sealed Nero's reputation, but Tacitus tells us that he was not even in Rome. Nero was actually miles away here, at his vacation villa in Anzio, when it happened.

He immediately heard the news and jumped on his horse returned to Rome and took charge of extinguishing the fire and organizing shelter and food for the homeless day and night. He could be seen running through the city completely without any of his bodyguards, who told him to go help put out the fire until after nine. Long days and nights the flames gradually subsided and did not stop there when the fire was finally put out Rome was devastated and there were thousands of homeless refugees Nero acted quickly to solve the problems caused by the fire, he drastically reduced the price of grain and he let the people camp in the temples of the forum while their houses were rebuilt.

He also commissioned innovative plans to design a safer city. Why do we remember him as the villain of the work? The answer is the simplest in history. All these good plans needed financing. Nero. He imposed fire attacks, it made him much more unpopular than killing his mother. He had turned out well in a crisis, but hitting people in the pocket afterwards was an unforgivable sin and, even though his Labor Party put out the fire when he began rebuilding his palace, rumors began. to spread that he himself had something to do with starting the fire, he needed a scapegoat and his choice was to seal his reputation throughout history, he chose a small religious sect that was already deeply unpopular, they called them Christians, the Romans already They were deeply distrustful, although they refused to take the vow of loyalty to the emperor, which was tantamount to treason, so when Nero needed someone to blame for the burning of Rome, they were perfect.

We know that the persecution was completely unjustified and that the fire started by accident, but at the time the idea of ​​a conspiracy did not seem so far-fetched. Christians believed that the world was about to end in a massive conflagration. Their leader had said I will throw fire. On earth the punishment was harsh even for such a despised group. Christians were crucified, fed to wild beasts in the arena, and used as burning torches in Nero's own gardens. These punishments were not invented for Christians. , they were all standard Roman ways of dealing with common criminals that Nero remembered because he was the first emperor to create a Christian. martyr, the chief disciples and Peter, who had come to Rome to preach the gospel, died in the first wave of Nero's persecution.

A Peter's Basilica is built where he was murdered. A lasting monument to Nero's scapegoating in AD 64. no one cared that a few Christians were massacred. Blaming them might have put an end to the rumors that he was responsible for the fire if Nero had not made the biggest mistake of his life. Neera had done her best to squash rumors about his involvement in the fire. of Rome with two architects, he had redesigned the city for the public good and the people might have thanked him for it if a key part of the plan had not included him fencing off a large portion of the devastated city for his own.Favorite project, Nero.

The palace at the top of the hill had seemed quite striking before the fire, but now he and his architects were conceiving a house that would make Louis Villas and palaces, gardens and green areas, a large lake. and at its entrance, the golden statue of Nero as a god 120 feet high, if you look at the plan of ancient Rome, the golden house occupied about a quarter of the city, most of its destruction, but A section of this amazing architectural feat remains because it was used for the foundations of the public baths that were built after Nero's death in Nero's time, all of this would have been open to light but is now a vast underground labyrinth.

Rome had never seen anything like it, all the walls and ceilings were covered with great art 14 centuries after Nero Renaissance artists were still lowered through the ceiling to study the paintings walking where he walked. He began to get a real idea of ​​Nero's mind, obviously he was refined but removed from political reality, he wanted popularity but couldn't. Look how something so beautiful would surprise people. Two things seem really obvious to me about this building. Firstly, it shows that Nero had very good artistic tastes, but secondly, how I faced the citizens of Rome, they must have been the ones who just burned the houses.

When they saw this huge building under construction, I don't think I ever realized until now that it still existed anywhere in the world. A Roman house as large and magnificent as this, what a house it was, would have had huge and elaborate tapestries on them. The walls and the rest of the walls would have been inlaid with gold and precious stones and pearls and there were pipes coming out of the walls and the ceiling to bathe the visitors with scent and flower petals and this room that was the centerpiece revolved around the era. a rotunda that rotated day and night in synchronization with the stars.

It was the largest, most luxurious and elegant Roman nightclub in the entire universe. Nero invested public money in the construction of the Golden House and that distanced him from the mafia that had always supported him before. Nero could have survived that unpopularity if he hadn't terminally offended the aristocracy and the ideal Ronin was a great military leader like Julius Caesar, someone who had expanded the Empire like Augustus, but Nero didn't like him, he didn't even like seeing gladiators, he wanted to be a different type of leader one who promoted poetry theater and peaceful games like the Greeks had done with the Roman elite this created a huge divide among their Mandara for them, that was all effeminate foreign nonsense and what is even more behavior inappropriate for an emperor, Nero still not only promoted these cultural activities, but actually participated.

This is a Roman style singing practice. Weights usually made of lead placed on the chest to strengthen breathing. Nero embarked on a Greek. -inspired by athletics and an all-consuming artistic career. He wanted to be a lying player and professional singer. Other emperors like Caligula had acted privately, but this was really serious. A strict diet and exercise regimen. He detoxified for days by drinking only chives preserved in oil and when his muscles ached from the rigor of exercise he rubbed them with dried boar dung. Everything focused on putting him in the best professional shape Nero was putting himself at the forefront of an artistic crusade Rome could having conquered Greece but The Emperor was now giving prominence to Greek ideas and culture, but for Nero, treading the boards was not just a cultural campaign, it was a way to increase his self-esteem.

He had always acted like a son, playing the lyre and reciting poetry before invited audiences. The applause gave him the illusion of instant affection and adulation, so in 65 AD, when he was rapidly losing political popularity, he naturally went on tour. Nero decided to go public and jumped into the limelight for a career as a professional actor. His first performance was in Naples, then a Greek-speaking city, and the crowd went wild, of course, his fine reedy voice helped by the acoustics of the amphitheater. If you talk from here you sound quite normal, but if you stay here your voice sounds like that of a God.

The Greek population of Naples loved it and cheered. They clapped the strings like a rock star, it went to his head, the adulation he had always craved was finally within his reach and now nothing would stand in the way of his ambitions on a wave of popular acclaim that he embarked on. a wild madness. artistic conquest of Greece itself could not be said to have been a modest affair two thousand tents of men and equipment, including 5,000 paid, applauded us to ensure that it received an enthusiastic reception at every concert at the four major Greek festivals in annual rotation, but to fit into tight schedule he got them all done during his visit and entered them all, in front of the judges was the ruler of the known world, this was a man who had made them change customs established for centuries and reschedule entire competitions , but I was sweating.

He wiped his forehead with his arm. He was so nervous that on one occasion he actually dropped his scepter while performing a dramatic play and he really thought the judges would mark him for it, of course they didn't and when they solemnly awarded him The laurels of The victors were happy, flattered and excited. That year there were 1,800 contests and Nero won first prize in 1,800 of them in Greece. Nero was genuinely popular, especially because he declared the country tax-free, but Rome was horrified by Nero's antics. To make matters worse, a triumph was awarded, the traditional celebration of the return of a military hero, instead of the emblems of successful battles and captured prisoners, paraded with his laurels and medals before the members of the Senate, it was degrading to the name of Rome.

What a Roman Emperor Should Be Doing Nero's grip on reality was loosening and his time was running out He was 30 years old He had been away from Rome for over a year without a leader The abandoned Empire was falling apart He had never bothered to visit to the army outposts and this lack of interest came back to haunt him, but when rebellions broke out and his army began to desert, Nero seemed paralyzed, he simply sat at home unable to act; Then, in June 68 AD, the Emperor woke up one night and found the palace deserted. This was not a good sign.

His Praetorian Guards had gone to a secret meeting of the Senate, the same Senate he had given power to was now turning its back on him, the cold, hard reality finally sinking in. Nero was still alone in his night. clothes he fled the palace looking for a place to hide the most sensible thing would have been to head to the port of Ostia where he could have gone abroad to gather his loyal forces abroad but he could not think clearly he ran into three slaves who got horses and took him They were taken to a villa on the outskirts of the city, when they arrived they discovered that the main door was locked and they had to crawl through the undergrowth to the side entrance.

Now they were hidden and there was nothing to do but wait. A messenger arrived with the news that Nero had been declared an enemy of the State and had been sentenced to death in the ancient manner. Nero had no idea what that meant and asked one of the slaves, who told him they would strip him naked and parade him. the streets of Rome with his head held on a forked branch and then he would be stoned to death. The slave added politely that suicide might be the best option. When dawn broke, he watched as they dug his grave and then some Roman soldiers came over and helped him. of a slave he stabbed himself in the throat his last words were what an artist dies with me he was thirty years and six months old the last of the line of Giulio Claudius dating back to Augustus Nero marked the end of a dynasty and the end of an era in which Julius Caesar and Augustus, the first emperors, had persuaded the Roman people that rule by one person was a good thing;

In the course of a century, there had been six emperors, but the dynasty had degenerated into corruption and self-indulgent tyranny. Rome stuck with the idea of ​​an emperor, but after Caligula and Nero it became clear that simply being related to Caesar and Augustus was not enough. After a year of chaotic civil war, the next Emperor Vespasian was not related to anyone special, but he was what the Empire needed. common sense leader in an attempt to erase the memory of Nero, he tore down the golden house, drained the lake and where Nero's great colossus had been, built the public theater we call the Colosseum, but Nero was too colorful a character to be forgotten .

Nero saw himself as an artist, his enemies considered him a tyrant and a buffoon, the truth is that he was all three, he certainly wasn't very good at running an empire, but then what did Rome expect if you put a sixteen-year-old in there? messy years? In charge of half the known world, you're asking for trouble. Rome learned the hard way. From now on he abandoned the line of emperors Giulio Claudius in favor of skillful administrators, but Nero left his mark on history. A showman, he did everything in style, from building his house to killing his mother, he considered himself an actor, but no character portrayed on stage could match the drama, the spectacle and the sheer theatricality of the show. his own life.