Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus - Nero Claudius Caesar (Nero)

12/15/37 A.D. - 06/09/68 A.D.

Nero was the son of Agripinilla and Domitius, (Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus,) her first husband. When Agripinilla became Claudius' third wife, Nero was adopted by Claudius by arrangement of Agripinilla. He was a mere adolescent when he became emperor, and is almost universally viewed as the worst emperor. He considered himself a great poet and actor, (although nobody else did,) but was terribly insecure and immature.

The death of Claudius in 54 A.D., generally thought to have been planned and carried out by his wife Agripinilla, secured for her son Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus the place as emperor which she had so carefully arranged. Before his death, Claudius, though he already had a son Britannicus, had adopted Lucius, who changed his name to Nero Claudius Caesar, (a great-great-grandson of Augustus) at Agripinilla's instigation; instrumental too in the transfer of power was the influence of Seneca, Nero's tutor, and of Sextus Afranius Burrus, the praetorian prefect. Since Nero was only an adolescent, the early part of his reign was characterized by direction from these older figures, including Agripinilla herself. Some scholars see a struggle between Agripinilla against Seneca and Burrus for control of the young emperor, and when Agripinilla began to show favor to Britannicus, a legitimate (though slightly younger) heir and possible rival, Britannicus' murder was arranged (55 A.D.) and Agripinilla's authority displaced.

The traditional portrait of Nero's dissolute life derives at least in part from the years which followed soon after his accession; the attraction of Poppaea Sabina, who was married first to Rufrius Crispinus and then to Otho, (himself a close friend of Nero), was too great, Poppaea became Nero's mistress in 58 A.D.. He took a great interest in the arts, sponsoring many poetry competitions. But in 59, his benign rule ended with his bungled but finally successful murder of his mother, (see Agripinilla) soon followed, in 62, by a divorce his wife Octavia. He then married Poppaea Sabina, his mistress. He was a very cruel man, pretending he was an talented artist, and had lots of bizzare, cruel and bloody ideas and habits, particularly for Christian persecutions. Burrus and Seneca continued in their guidance until 62 A.D. when the former died and the latter entered retirement. In their place that year appeared a counselor, Gaius Ofonius Tigellinus, who had been exiled in 39 A.D. by Caligula for adultery with Agripinilla, but who returned to find favor with Nero and a post for himself as praetorian prefect, from which position he exerted a further degenerating influence on Nero. Poppaea and Nero married in 62 A.D., and she bore a daughter to him the next year, but the child died only a few months later. The events of 62 and the next few years did little to improve public perception of Nero. In 62, at Tigellinus' instigation, a series of treason laws were put to deadly use against anyone considered a threat. Octavia was executed and her head was sent to Rome for Poppaea's pleasure.

In 64 A.D. a great fire started by Nero himself (he tried to burn down a part of his palace he considered unworthy an emperor, but it spread out of control) left much of the city in ruins, and his ambitious building campaign, which followed the fires (and in particular the construction of the Domus Aurea, his personal palace,) represented to many a private selfishness at a time when public reconstruction was most needed. In 65 A.D. Nero's artistic inclinations, present since his accession, became truly public, (pathetic,) and in a display which shocked conservative tastes he appeared on stage and sang for audiences. Late in 65, he kicked his wife Poppaea Sabina to death while she was pregnant with their second child, she died from the injuries early in 66. That same year, he married Statilia Messalina, after her husband, Atticus Vestinus was murdered. (Probably ordered by Nero.) Also in 66, he took prefix of title imperator, after investment of Tiridates, and so was called Imperator Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus. In the same year he took the boy Sporus as lover because of his resemblance to Poppaea.

Nero's Fall From Power

His enemies had become numerous, and that same year a plot to assassinate Nero and to replace him with Gaius Calpurnius Piso was both formulated and betrayed; among those forced to commit suicide in connection with the Pisonian conspiracy were Seneca, Lucan, Petronius, and Tigellinus' colleague in the prefecture. (His replacement, Nymphidius, was to be influential in the accession of Galba three years later.) Nero left Rome altogether for a tour of Greece, during which his extravagances alienated him further still from general citizens and military commanders alike. More crucially, in his paranoia after the conspiracy he ordered a popular and successful general, Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, to commit suicide, a decision which left other provincial leaders in doubt about his next move and inclined toward rebellion rather than inaction.

The Senate resented his confiscation of their property. The people were being taxed to death to fund the rebuilding of the city and the construction of the emperor's palace. The army felt neglected when Nero went on the tour of Greece to display his "artistic talents" instead of visiting the soldiers in the field. Several conspiracies against Nero were instigated. In 68 A.D. Vindex revolted in Lugdunensis, as did Clodius Macer in Africa. Galba declared his allegiance to the Senate and the Roman people, rather than to Nero. Such unrest in the provinces, coupled with intrigue at Rome among the praetorians (orchestrated at least in part by Nymphidius), provided Nero's enemies, especially within the Senate, with their chance to depose him. Eventually, his Praetorian guard turned on him and the Senate sentenced him to death. In 68, Nero fled Rome and eventually committed suicide on 9 June 68 A.D.. His last words were "Qualis artifex pereo." ("What an artist the world loses in me.")

A Historical Assessment of Nero as Emperor

Nero, last of the Julio-Claudians, had been placed in the difficult position of absolute authority at a young age coupled with the often-contradictory efforts of those in a position to manipulate him. Augustus, however, had not been much older when he began his infinitely more difficult task of winning and consolidating power to unite the entire Roman empire under his name, and so the responsibility for Nero's conduct must rest solely with him. Nero's reign was not without military operations (e.g., the campaigns of Corbulo against the Parthians, the suppression of the revolt of Boudicca in Britain), but his neglect of the armies was a critical error. He left Rome not to review his troops but to compete in Greek games, and as a further slight had left a freedman, Helius, in his place at Rome to govern in his absence. The suspicion which surrounded him after the treason trials and the conspiracy set the stage for a series of civil upheavals, "the Year of the Four Emperors," which included the rise to power of men, such as Otho in Lusitania and Vespasian in Judaea, whom Nero himself had sent to the frontiers, unaware that they were to become his successors.

Make sure to read about Agripinilla, to see how this monster treated his own mother.