The main ancient Roman literary sources for Nero's reign are
Tacitus,
Suetonius and
Cassius Dio. They found Nero's construction projects overly extravagant and claim that their cost left Italy "thoroughly exhausted by contributions of money" with "the provinces ruined". Modern historians note that the period was riddled with deflation and that Nero intended his spending on public-work and charities to ease economic troubles.
Early reign Nero became emperor in AD 54, aged 16. His 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, to end all secret trials
intra cubiculum, to have done with the corruption of court favorites and freedmen, and above all to respect the privileges of the Senate and individual Senators." His respect for Senatorial autonomy, which distinguished him from Caligula and Claudius, was generally well received by the
Roman Senate. 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. , work by Spanish sculptor
Eduardo Barrón Jürgen Malitz writes that ancient sources do not provide any clear evidence to evaluate the extent of Nero's personal involvement in politics during the first years of his reign. He describes the policies that are explicitly attributed to Nero as "well-meant but incompetent notions" like Nero's failed initiative to abolish all taxes in AD 58. 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 exemplar of good and moderate government and described as
Quinquennium Neronis by
Trajan. Especially well received were fiscal reforms which among others put tax collectors under more strict control by establishing local offices to supervise their activities. After the affair of
Lucius Pedanius Secundus, who was murdered by a desperate slave, Nero allowed slaves to file complaints about their treatment to the authorities.
Residences Outside of Rome, Nero had several villas or palaces built, the ruins of which can still be seen today. These included the Villa of Nero at Antium, his place of birth, where he razed the villa on the site to rebuild it on a more massive and imperial scale and including a theatre. At
Subiaco, Lazio, near Rome he had 3 artificial lakes built, with waterfalls, bridges and walkways for the luxurious villa. He stayed at the
Villa of Nero at
Olympia, Greece, during his participation at the
Olympic Games of AD 67.
Matricide Billon tetradrachm of Alexandria, Egypt, 25 mm, 12.51 gr. Obverse: radiate head right; ΝΕΡΩ. ΚΛΑΥ. ΚΑΙΣ. ΣΕΒ. ΓΕΡ. ΑΥ. Reverse: draped bust of Poppaea right; ΠΟΠΠΑΙΑ ΣΕΒΑΣΤΗ. Year LI = 10 = 63–64.According to
Suetonius, Nero had his former freedman
Anicetus arrange a shipwreck, which Agrippina managed to survive. She then swam ashore and was executed by Anicetus, who reported her death as a suicide.
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome cautiously notes that Nero's reasons for killing his mother in AD 59 are "not fully understood". According to
Tacitus, the source of conflict between Nero and his mother was Nero's affair with
Poppaea Sabina. In
Histories Tacitus writes that the affair began while Poppaea was still married to
Rufrius Crispinus, but in his later work
Annals Tacitus says Poppaea was married to
Otho when the affair began. In
Annals, Tacitus writes that Agrippina opposed Nero's affair with Poppaea because of her affection for his wife
Octavia.
Anthony A. Barrett writes that Tacitus' account in
Annals "suggests that Poppaea's challenge drove [Nero] over the brink". A number of modern historians have noted that Agrippina's death would not have offered much advantage for Poppaea, as Nero did not marry Poppaea until AD 62. Barrett writes that Poppaea seems to serve as a "literary device, utilized [by Tacitus] because [he] could see no plausible explanation for Nero's conduct and also incidentally [served] to show that Nero, like Claudius, had fallen under the malign influence of a woman."
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. Griffin suggests that Nero's decline began as early as AD 55 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". Nero began to build a new palace, the
Domus Transitoria, from about AD 60. It was intended to connect all of the imperial estates that had been acquired in various ways, linking the
Palatine with the
Gardens of Maecenas,
Horti Lamiani,
Horti Lolliani, etc. In AD 62, 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 to be 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 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 AD 64 during the
Saturnalia, Nero is said to have married
Pythagoras, a
freedman.
Great Fire of Rome (1785) The Great Fire of Rome began on the night of 18 to 19 July 64, probably in one of the merchant 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 before subsiding; it then started again and burned for three more. It destroyed three of Rome's 14 districts and severely damaged seven more. Some Romans thought the fire an accident, as the merchant shops were timber-framed and sold flammable goods, and the outer seating stands of the Circus were timber-built. Others claimed 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, the site of its construction would become known as the Colosseum, though later the famous
Flavian Amphitheater was built, and to posterity the word 'Colosseum' was incorrectly misappropriated as the name of the theater. 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
lyre 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 for the removal of bodies and debris, which he paid for from his own funds. After the fire, Nero opened his palaces to provide shelter for the homeless, and arranged for food supplies to be delivered in order to prevent starvation among the survivors. According to this account, many Christians were arrested and brutally executed by "being thrown to the beasts, crucified, and being burned alive". Tacitus asserts that in his imposition of such ferocious punishments, Nero was not motivated by a sense of justice, but by 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 himself 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. Particularly 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 AD 65,
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. Nero's previous advisor
Seneca was accused by Natalis; 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 AD 65, before she could give birth to his second child. Modern historians, noting the probable 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 sumptuous
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 after the Egyptian manner and entombed; it is not known where. In AD 66, Nero funded a lavish expedition to
Africa on nothing more than the promises of
Cesellius Bassus that he knew where to find a hoard of buried gold, left behind by the legendary queen
Dido. Bassus was either a charlatan or delusional, and no gold was ever found, though many writers noted that Nero was spending as if the gold would imminently arrive any day. In AD 67, Nero married
Sporus, a young boy who is said to have greatly resembled Poppaea. Nero had him castrated and married him with all the usual ceremonies, including a dowry and a 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 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 own province, Vindex called upon
Servius Sulpicius Galba, the governor of
Hispania Tarraconensis, to join the rebellion and to 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. While Nero had retained some control of the situation, support for Galba increased despite his being officially declared a "public enemy". At this time, Nero learned that the Senate had declared him a public enemy. Nero prepared himself for
suicide, pacing up and down muttering
Qualis artifex pereo ('What an artist the world is losing'). Losing his nerve, he begged one of his companions to set an example by killing himself first. At last, the sound of approaching horsemen drove Nero to face the end. He took his own life with the help of his private secretary, Epaphroditus. . When one of the horsemen entered and saw that Nero was dying, he attempted to stop the bleeding, but efforts to save Nero's life were unsuccessful. 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, and was buried in the Mausoleum of the Domitii Ahenobarbi, in what is now the
Villa Borghese (
Pincian Hill) area of Rome. According to
Sulpicius Severus, it is unclear whether Nero took his own life. The Mausoleum of the Domitii Ahenobarbi was destroyed by
Pope Paschal II in the early 12th century and the ashes scattered in the Tiber because of a legend that the
Antichrist would be a reconstructed Nero. The Church of
Santa Maria del Popolo stands at the foot of the Pincian hill, while the actual mausoleum's location was somewhere higher up the slopes, visible from the Campus Martius. With Nero's death, the
Julio-Claudian dynasty ended. Chaos ensued in the
Year of the Four Emperors.
After Nero 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, slaves, 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. 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 that he "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". Nero's name was erased from some monuments, in what Edward Champlin regards as an "outburst of private zeal". Many portraits of Nero were reworked to represent other figures; according to Eric R. Varner, over 50 such images survive. This reworking of images is often explained as part of the way in which the memory of disgraced emperors was condemned posthumously, a practice known as
damnatio memoriae. Champlin doubts that the practice is necessarily negative 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. The civil war during the
Year of the Four Emperors was described by ancient historians as a troubling period. 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 common Roman hailed Otho as Nero himself. Otho used "Nero" as a surname and reerected many statues to Nero. After Nero's death in AD 68, there was a widespread belief, especially in the eastern provinces, that he was not dead and somehow would return. 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 popular belief in AD 422. At least
three Nero impostors 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 AD during the reign of Vitellius. After persuading some to recognize him, he was captured and executed. 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==