Nero AD37-68
Roman emperor from AD54 to AD68

Nero was born in Antium, son of Cnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and of Agrippina, the Younger, daughter of Germanicus. His mother became the wife of the Emperor Claudius, who adopted him in AD50. After the death of Claudius (54), the Praetorian Guard declared Nero emperor.

His reign began well, but the influence of his mother and his moral weakness and sensuality, soon plunged him into debauchery, extravagance and tyranny. He caused Britannicus, the son of Claudius, to be poisoned, and afterwards murdered his mother and his wife Octavia. After this Seneca, the Younger, was the main power behind the throne. In July 64 two-thirds of Rome was destroyed by fire. Nero is said to have been responsible, but this is doubtful, as is the story that he admired the spectacle from a distance while reciting his own verses about the sack of Troy. But he needed a scapegoat, and found one in the Christians, many of whom were cruelly put to death.

He rebuilt the city with great magnificence, and built a splendid palace on the Palatine hill; but in order to provide for his expenditure Italy and the provinces were plundered. A conspiracy against Nero in 65 failed, and Seneca and the poet Lucan fell victims to his vengeance. In a fit of passion he murdered his second wife Poppaea Sabina, by kicking her when she was pregnant. He then offered his hand to Antonia, daughter of Claudius, but was refused; whereupon he had her executed, and married Statilia Messallina, after murdering her husband. He also executed or banished many eminent persons.

Nero sought distinction as poet, philosopher, actor, musician and charioteer; as a poet he seems to have had some talent, and a few fragments survive from his poem on 'The Sack of Troy'. However, his patronage of the arts and promotion of musical and theatrical contests, in which he took part himself, caused much criticism and increased his unpopularity. In 68 the Gallic and Spanish legions, and after them the Praetorian Guards, rose against him to make Galba emperor. Nero fled to the house of a freedman, four miles from Rome, and saved himself from execution by suicide.

Bibliography: M Griffin, Nero: The End of a Dynasty (1985); B W Henderson, The Life and Principate of the Emperor Nero (1903).