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Nero
Emperor of the Roman Empire
Nero at Glyptothek, Munich
Reign	October 13, 54 – June 9, 68 (Proconsul from 51)
Predecessor	Claudius
Successor	Galba
Wives	Claudia Octavia Poppaea Sabina Statilia Messalina
Issue	Claudia Augusta
Names Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus
Dynasty	Julio-Claudian
Father	Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus
Mother	Agrippina the Younger

Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (December 15, 37 – June 9, 68), born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, also called Nero Claudius Caesar Germanicus, was the fifth and last Roman Emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great uncle Claudius to become heir to the throne. As Nero Claudius Caesar, he succeeded to the throne on October 13, 54, following Claudius' death.

Nero ruled from 54 to 68, focusing much of his attention on diplomacy, trade, and increasing the cultural capital of the empire. He ordered the building of theatres and promoted athletic games. His reign included a successful war and negotiated peace with the Parthian Empire (58–63), the suppression of the British revolt (60–61) and improving diplomatic ties with Greece. In 68 a military coup drove Nero into hiding. Facing execution at the hands of the Roman Senate, he reportedly committed forced suicide with the help of his scribe Epaphroditos.

Nero's rule is often associated with tyranny and extravagence. He is known as the emperor who "fiddled while Rome burned" and an early persecutor of Christians. These accounts follow the histories of the major historians of the imperial period (Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio) along with a number of early Christian writers. Few surviving sources paint Nero in a favorable light. Some sources, though, portray him as an emperor who was popular with the Roman people, especially in the east.

The study of Nero is problematic as some modern historians question the reliability of ancient sources when reporting on Nero's alleged tyrannical acts. It may be impossible to completely separate fact from fiction concerning Nero's reign.

Ermias is hot

Historiography

The history of Nero’s reign is problematic in that no historical sources survived that were contemporary with Nero. These first histories at one time did exist and were described as biased and fantastical, either overly critical or praising of Nero. The original sources were also said to contradict on a number of events. Nonetheless, these lost primary sources were the basis of surviving secondary and tertiary histories on Nero written by the next generations of historians. A few of the contemporary historians are known by name. Fabius Rusticus, Cluvius Rufus and Pliny the Elder all wrote condemning histories on Nero that are now lost. There were also pro-Nero histories, but it is unknown who wrote them or on what deeds Nero was praised.

The bulk of what is known of Nero comes from Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio, who were all of the Patrician class. Tacitus and Suetonius wrote their histories on Nero over fifty years after his death, while Cassius Dio wrote his history over 150 years after Nero’s death. These sources contradict on a number of events in Nero’s life including the death of Claudius, the death of Agrippina and the Roman fire of 64, but they are consistent in their condemnation of Nero.

A handful of other sources also add a limited and varying perspective on Nero. Few surviving sources paint Nero in a favorable light. Some sources, though, portray him as a competent emperor who was popular with the Roman people, especially in the east.

Constantine in the 4th century became a patron of Christianity. Christian influence in Rome continued from that time forward. In these circumstances, Nero's record of persecuting Christians reinforced the negative perceptions that already existed.

Cassius Dio Cocceianus

Cassius Dio (c. 155- 229) was the son of Cassius Apronianus, a Roman senator. He passed the greater part of his life in public service. He was a senator under Commodus and governor of Smyrna after the death of Septimius Severus; and afterwards suffect consul around 205, as also proconsul in Africa and Pannonia.

Books 61–63 of Dio's Roman History describe the reign of Nero. Only fragments of these books remain and what does remain was abridged and altered by John Xiphilinus, an 11th century monk.

Dio Chrysostom

Dio Chrysostom (c. 40– 120), a Greek philosopher and historian, wrote the Roman people were very happy with Nero and would have allowed him to rule indefinitely. They longed for his rule once he was gone and embraced imposters when they appeared:

Indeed the truth about this has not come out even yet; for so far as the rest of his subjects were concerned, there was nothing to prevent his continuing to be Emperor for all time, seeing that even now everybody wishes he were still alive. And the great majority do believe that he still is, although in a certain sense he has died not once but often along with those who had been firmly convinced that he was still alive.

Epictetus

Epictetus (c. 55- 135) was the slave to Nero's scribe Epaphroditos. He makes a few passing negative comments on Nero's character in his work, but makes no remarks on the nature of his rule. He describes Nero as a spoiled, angry and unhappy man:

Is in royal power? It is not. If it were, Nero would have been happy. Only see that he has not Nero's stamp. Is he passionate, is he full of resentment, is he fault-finding? If the whim seizes him, does he break the heads of those who come in his way?

Josephus

The historian Josephus (c. 37- 100), while calling Nero a tyrant, was also the first to mention bias against Nero. Of other historians, he said:

But I omit any further discourse about these affairs; for there have been a great many who have composed the history of Nero; some of which have departed from the truth of facts out of favor, as having received benefits from him; while others, out of hatred to him, and the great ill-will which they bare him, have so impudently raved against him with their lies, that they justly deserve to be condemned. Nor do I wonder at such as have told lies of Nero, since they have not in their writings preserved the truth of history as to those facts that were earlier than his time, even when the actors could have no way incurred their hatred, since those writers lived a long time after them.

Marcus Annaeus Lucanus

Though more of a poet than historian, Lucanus (c. 39- 65) has one of the kindest accounts of Nero's rule. He writes of peace and prosperity under Nero in contrast to previous war and strife. Ironically, he was later involved in a conspiracy to overthrow Nero and was executed. He wrote:

Where Caesar sits, be evermore serene, And smile upon us with unclouded blue. Then may all men lay down their arms, and peace, Through all the nations reign, and shut the gates, That close the temple of the God of War.

Philostratus

Philostratus II "the Athenian" (c. 172- 250) spoke of Nero in the Life of Apollonius Tyana (Books 4–5). Though he has a generally negative view of Nero, he speaks of others' positive reception of Nero in the East.

Pliny the Elder

The history of Nero by Pliny the Elder (c. 24- 79) did not survive. Still, there are several references to Nero in Pliny's Natural Histories. Pliny has one of the worst opinions of Nero and calls him an "enemy of mankind."

Plutarch

Plutarch (c. 46- 127) mentions Nero indirectly in his account of the Life of Galba and the Life of Otho. Nero is portrayed as a tyrant, but those that replace him are not described as better.

Seneca the Younger

It is not surprising that Seneca (c. 4 BC- 65), Nero's teacher and advisor, writes very well of Nero. He wrote:

So Nero shows his face to Rome before the people's eyes, His bright and shining countenance illumines all the air, While down upon his graceful neck fall rippling waves of hair. Thus Apollo. But Lachesis, quite as ready to cast a favourable eye on a handsome man, spins away by the handful, and bestows years and years upon Nero out of her own pocket. As for Claudius, they tell everybody to speed him on his way, With cries of joy and solemn litany.

Suetonius Tranquillus

Suetonius (c. 69- 130) was a member of the equestrian order and head of the department of the imperial correspondence. Removed by Hadrianus in 121, he started writing biographies of the emperors, accentuating the anecdotal and sensational aspects.

Portions of his biography of Nero appear openly hostile, and while it might be possible that Nero's rule invited such hostility, some modern historians question the accuracy of his account. For example, the following quote, often taken as a sign of Nero's insanity, might simply be propaganda:

He castrated the boy Sporus and actually tried to make a woman of him; and he married him with all the usual ceremonies, including a dowry and a bridal veil, took him to his home attended by a great throng, and treated him as his wife. And the witty jest that someone made is still current, that it would have been well for the world if Nero's father Domitius had that kind of wife. This Sporus, decked out with the finery of the empresses and riding in a litter, he took with him to the courts and marts of Greece, and later at Rome through the Street of the Images, fondly kissing him from time to time.

Tacitus Publius Cornelius

The Annals by Tacitus (c. 56- 117) is the most detailed and comprehesive history on the rule of Nero, despite being incomplete after the year 66. He is unkind to Nero, but unlike other historians, he minimizes the use of sensational stories. Tacitus described the rule of the Julio-Claudian emperors as generally unjust. He also thought that existing writing on them was unbalanced:

The histories of Tiberius, Caius, Claudius, and Nero, while they were in power, were falsified through terror, and after their death were written under the irritation of a recent hatred.

Tacitus was the son of a procurator, who married into the elite family of Agricola. He entered his political life as a senator after Nero's death and, by Tacitus' own admission, owed much to Nero's rivals. Realizing that this bias may be apparent to others, Tacitus protests that his writing is true:

I would not deny that my elevation was begun by Vespasian, augmented by Titus, and still further advanced by Domitian; but those who profess inviolable truthfulness must speak of all without partiality and without hatred.

Nero and religion

Jewish tradition

At the end of 66, conflict broke out between Greeks and Jews in Jerusalem and Caesarea. According to a Jewish tradition in the Talmud (tractate Gitin 56a-b) , Nero came to Jerusalem and told his men to fire arrows in all four directions. All the arrows landed in the city. He then asked a passing child to repeat the verse he had learned that day. "I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel," (Ez. 25,14) said the child. Nero became terrified, realizing that God wanted the Temple in Jerusalem to be destroyed, but would punish him if it were. Nero said, "He desires to lay waste his House and to lay the blame on me." Nero fled to Rome and converted to Judaism to avoid such retribution. Vespasian was then dispatched to put down the rebellion. The Talmud adds that the sage Reb Meir Baal HaNess, a prominent supporter of Bar Kokhba's rebellion against Roman rule, is a descendant of Nero.

Christian tradition

Early Christian tradition often held Nero as the first persecutor of Christians and the killer of Peter and Paul. There was also a belief among some early Christians that Nero was the Antichrist.

First Persecutor

The non-Christian historian Tacitus describes Nero extensively torturing and executing Christians after the fire of 64. Suetonius also mentions Nero punishing Christians, though he does so as a praise and does not connect it with the fire.

The Christian writer Tertullian (c. 155- 230) was the first to call Nero the first persecutor of Christians. He wrote Examine your records. There you will find that Nero was the first that persecuted this doctrine. Lactantius (c. 240- 320) also said Nero first persecuted the servants of God as does Sulpicius Severus. However, some sources speak of earlier Christian persecution, namely Claudius' expulsion of Christians from Rome.

Killer of Peter and Paul

The first text to suggest that Nero killed an apostle is the apocryphal Ascension of Isaiah, a Christian writing from the 2nd century. It says the slayer of his mother, who himself this king, will persecute the plant which the Twelve Apostles of the Beloved have planted. Of the Twelve one will be delivered into his hands.

The Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 275- 339) was the first to write that Paul was beheaded in Rome during the reign of Nero. He states that Nero's persecution led to Peter and Paul's deaths, but that Nero did not give any specific orders. Several other accounts have Paul surviving his two years in Rome and traveling to Hispania.

Peter is first said to have been crucified upside down in Rome during Nero's reign (but not by Nero) in the apocryphal Acts of Peter (c. 200). The account ends with Paul still alive and Nero abiding by God's command not to persecute any more Christians.

By the 4th century, a number of writers were stating that Nero killed Peter and Paul.

The Antichrist

The Ascension of Isaiah is the first text to suggest that Nero was the Antichrist. It claims a lawless king, the slayer of his mother,...will come and there will come with him all the powers of this world, and they will hearken unto him in all that he desires.

The Sibylline Oracles, Book 5 and 8, written in the 2nd century, speaks of Nero returning and bringing destruction. Within Christian communities, these writings, along with others, fueled the belief that Nero would return as the Antichrist. In 310, Lactantius wrote that Nero suddenly disappeared, and even the burial-place of that noxious wild beast was nowhere to be seen. This has led some persons of extravagant imagination to suppose that, having been conveyed to a distant region, he is still reserved alive; and to him they apply the Sibylline verses.

In 422, Augustine of Hippo wrote about 2 Thessalonians 2:1–11, where he believed Paul mentioned the coming of the Antichrist. Though he rejects the theory, Augustine mentions that many Christians believed that Nero was the Antichrist or would return as the Antichrist. He wrote, so that in saying, "For the mystery of iniquity doth already work," he alluded to Nero, whose deeds already seemed to be as the deeds of Antichrist.;

Some scholars, such as Delbert Hillers (Johns Hopkins University) of the American Schools of Oriental Research and the editors of the Oxford & Harper Collins translations, contend that the number 666 in the Book of Revelation is a code for Nero, a view that is also supported in Roman Catholic Biblical commentaries.

The concept of Nero as the Antichrist is often a central belief of Preterist eschatology.

Nero in post-ancient culture

Nero in medieval and Renaissance literature

Usually as a stock exemplar of vice or a bad ruler

• In the Golden Legend, and its apocryphal account of his forcing Seneca the Younger's suicide, where they meet face to face on this occasion.
• In Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, The Monk's Prologue and Tale.
• Giovanni Boccaccio's Concerning the Falls of Illustrious Men.
• Matthew Gwinn wrote a play Nero in 1603.

Nero in modern culture

Ancestry

Notes

1. Nero's birth day is listed in Suetonius, The Lives of Twelve Caesars, Life of Nero 6. His death day is uncertain, though, perhaps because Galba was declared emperor before Nero died. A June 9th death day comes from Jerome, Chronicle which lists Nero's rule as 13 years, 7 months and 28 days. Cassius Dio, Roman History LXII.3 and Josephus, War of the Jews IV, say Nero's rule was 13 years, 8 months which would be June 11th
2. Nero was not a fiddle player, but a lyre player. Suetonius claims Nero played the lyre while Rome burned, see Suetonius, The Lives of Twelve Caesars, Life of Nero 38; For a detailed explanation of this transition see M.F. Gyles "Nero Fiddled while Rome Burned", The Classical Journal (1948), p. 211-217
3. http://community.middlebury.edu/~harris/LatinAuthors/Historians.html THE ROMAN HISTORIANS
4. Tacitus, Histories I.4, I.5, I.13, II.8; Suetonius, The Lives of Twelve Caesars, Life of Nero 57, Life of Otho 7, Life of Vitellius 11; Philostratus II, The Life of Apollonius 5.41; Dio Chrysostom, Discourse XXI, On Beauty
5. On fire and Christian persecution, see F.W. Clayton, "Tacitus and Christian Persecution", The Classical Quarterly, p. 81-85; B.W. Henderson, Life and Principate of the Emperor Nero, p. 437; On general bias against Nero, see Edward Champlin, Nero, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003, p. 36-52 (ISBN 0-674-01192-9)
6. Tacitus, Annals I.1; Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews XX.8.3; Tacitus, Life of Gnaeus Julius Agricola 10; Tacitus, Annals XIII.20
7. Tacitus, Annals XIII.20; Tacitus, Annals XIV.2
8. Tacitus, Annals XIII.20; Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews XIX.1.13
9. Tacitus, Annals XIII.20
10. Tacitus, Annals I.1; Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews XX.8.3
11. Dio Chrysostom, Discourse XXI, On Beauty
12. Epictetus, About Cynicism
13. Epictetus,Against the Quarrelsome and Ferocious
14. Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews XX.8.3
15. Marcus Annaeus Lucanus, Pharsalia (Civil War) (c. 65)
16. Pliny the Elder, Natural Histories VII.8.46
17. Seneca the Younger, Apocolocyntosis 4
18. Suetonius, The Lives of Twelve Caesars, Life of Nero 28
19. Tacitus, Annals I.1
20. Tacitus, History I.1
21. Cite error: The named reference annals-xv-44 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
22. Suetonius The Lives of Twelve Caesars, Life of Nero, chapter 16
23. Tertullian Apologeticum, lost text quoted in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History II.25.4
24. ^ Lactantius, Of the Manner in Which the Persecutors Died II
25. Sulpicius Severus, Chronica II.28
26. Suetonius The Lives of Twelve Caesars, Life of Claudius 25
27. ^ Ascension of Isaiah Chapter 4.2
28. Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History II.25.5
29. In the apocryphal Acts of Paul, in the apocryphal Acts of Peter, in the First Epistle of Clement 5:6, and in The Muratorian Fragment
30. Apocryphal Acts of Peter
31. Lactantius wrote that Nero crucified Peter, and slew Paul., Lactantius, Of the Manner in Which the Persecutors Died II; John Chrysostom wrote Nero knew Paul personally and had him killed, John Chrysostom, Concerning Lowliness of Mind 4; Sulpicius Severus says Nero killed Peter and Paul, Sulpicius Severus, Chronica II.28-29
32. Sibylline Oracles 5.361-376, 8.68-72, 8.531-157
33. Sulpicius Severus and Victorinus of Pettau also say Nero is the Antichrist, Sulpicius Severus, Chronica II.28-29; Victorinus of Pettau, Commentary on the Apocalypse 17
34. Cite error: The named reference augustine was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
35. Hillers, Delbert, “Rev. 13, 18 and a scroll from Murabba’at”, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 170 (1963) 65.
36. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Ed. Raymond E. Brown, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and Roland E. Murphy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1990. 1009
37. Just, S.J., Ph.D., Prof. Felix. "The Book of Revelation, Apocalyptic Literature, and Millennial Movements, University of San Francisco, USF Jesuit Community". Retrieved 2007-05-18. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
38. Gwinn, Matthew. "Nero". Retrieved 2007-05-19. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

References

Primary sources

• Cassius Dio, Roman History, Books 61–63 (c. 229)
• Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book XX (c. 94)
• Josephus, War of the Jews, Books II-VI (c. 94)
• Philostratus II, Life of Apollonius Tyana, Books 4–5, (c. 220)
• Plutarch, The Parallel Lives, The Life of Galba (c. 110)
• Suetonius, The Lives of Twelve Caesars, the Life of Nero (c. 121)
• Tacitus, Annals, XIII–XVI (c. 117)
• Tacitus, Histories, I-IV (c. 105)

Secondary material

• Nero basic data & select quotes posted by Romans On Line
• Nero biography by Herbert W. Benario in De Imperatoribus Romanis
• Nero Caesar biographical sketch archived in Bible History Online
• Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus entry in the Illustrated History of the Roman Empire
• Nero entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith
• Nero Nero:The Actor-Emperor
• Grant, Michael. Nero. New York: Dorset Press, 1989 (ISBN 0-88029-311-X).
• Griffin, Miriam T. Nero: The End of a Dynasty. New Heaven, CT; London: Yale University Press, 1985 (hardcover, ISBN 0-300-03285-4); London; New York: Routledge, 1987 (paperback, ISBN 0-7134-4465-7).
• Warmington, Brian Herbert. Nero: Reality and Legend (Ancient Culture and Society). London, Chatto & Windus, 1969 (hardcover, ISBN 0-7011-1438-X); New York: W.W Norton & Company, 1970 (paperback, ISBN 0-393-00542-9); New York: Vintage, 1981 (paperback, ISBN 0-7011-1454-1).

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• Roman emperors
• Julio-Claudian Dynasty
• Ancient Olympic competitors
• Roman emperors to suffer posthumous denigration or damnatio memoriae
• Roman emperors who committed suicide
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• Suicides by sharp instrument
• 37 births
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