Nero
Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, commonly referred to as Nero, was Roman Emperor from A.D. 54 to his death in A.D. 68. He succeeded the Emperor Claudius, who had adopted him in A.D. 50; Claudius already had a son, Britannicus.[1]
Nero was born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus in A.D. 37, during the reign of Caligula; he was the son of Julia Agrippina and Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus. Julia's father, Germanicus Caesar, had been adopted by the Emperor Tiberius and the people of Rome felt that the family were the heirs of Augustus, who had himself adopted Tiberius. Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus died in A.D. 39 and Agrippina was exiled the same year, taking her son with her. When Claudius became Emperor in A.D. 41 he recalled Agrippina and Lucius to Rome.[2] Claudius' wife, Messallina, began an affair and with her lover plotted to assassinate the Emperor. The plan was discovered in A.D. 48 and Messallina committed suicide, leaving behind two children from her marriage to Claudius: a girl, Octavia, and a boy, Britannicis. The following year Agrippina married Claudius, who was her uncle.[3]
On the advice of one of his freedmen, Claudius adopted Lucius as his son. This surprised many contemporaries as it was seen as a slight against his son, Britannicus. In recognition of his new status, on 25 February A.D. Lucius officially became known as Tiberius Claudius Nero Caesar. Nero married Octavia, the daughter of the Emperor, in A.D. 53.[4] Nero was just 17 years old when Claudius died, and when the Praetorian Guard proclaimed him emperor he was the youngest man to have held the position.[5] In A.D. 62 Nero divorced Octavia. According to the historian Tacitus, writing in the late 1st and early 2nd centuries, Nero accused his wife of committing adultery wife a slave. When Octavia's maid defended her mistress even under torture, Nero divorced Octavia claiming she was sterile. She was sent away from Rome and later murdered.[6]
The surviving literature from the Roman world is united in the opinion that Nero was a tyrant. For instance Pliny the Elder wrote that Nero was "the destroyer of the human race". For later historians, Italian in particular, he was considered the archetypal despot along with figures such as Caligula. In Christian writings Nero was considered the Anti-Christ, an opinion which gained popularity as Christianity became a mainstream religion. Nero's notoriety persisted over the following centuries (he was reference in the play Hamlet), and amongst modern historians it is considered that Nero's personality contributed to the rebellion which led to his downfall.[7]
References
- ↑ Le Glay, Marcel; Voisin, Jean-Louis; Le Bohec, Yann; Cherry, David & Kyle, Donald (2006). A History of Rome, 3rd edition. pp. 234–235. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 1-4051-1083-X
- ↑ Shotter, David (2005). Nero, 2nd edition. London: Routledge. pp. 10–11. ISBN 0-415-31941-2.
- ↑ Griffin, Miriam T. (1987). Nero: The End of a Dynasty. London: Routledge. pp. 28–29. ISBN 978-0415214643.
- ↑ Griffin, Nero: The End of a Dynasty, pp. 29–30. ISBN 978-0415214643.
- ↑ Le Glay et al, A History of Rome, p. 235.
- ↑ Griffin, Nero: The End of a Dynasty, p. 99. ISBN 978-0415214643.
- ↑ Griffin, Nero: The End of a Dynasty, 15–16.