In 65 a high-level conspiracy to assassinate the emperor emerged, leading Nero to order the deaths of a prefect and several senators and officers. With things falling apart at home, Nero took an extended tour of Greece, where he gave himself to music and theatrical performance, drove a chariot in the Olympic games, announced pro-Hellenic political reforms and launched an expensive and futile project to dig a canal across the Isthmus of Corinth.
Upon his return to Rome in 68, Nero failed to respond decisively to a revolt in Gaul, prompting further unrest in Africa and in Spain, where the governor Galba declared himself legate of the Senate and Roman People. Soon the Praetorian Guard declared allegiance to Galba, and the Senate followed suit, declaring Nero an enemy of the people.
Nero attempted to flee, but upon learning that his arrest and execution were imminent, he took his own life. In the centuries followed his reign, the name Nero would become a byword for debauchery, misrule and anti-Christian persecution. In the short term, his demise marked the end of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty, which had ruled Rome since 27 B.
It would be 30 years before Rome had another emperor, Trajan, who would rule as long as Nero had. Start your free trial today. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. He shrewdly combined military But the new emperor paid more heed to his advisors Burrus and the philosopher Seneca, and the result was five years of exemplary government.
Britannicus was poisoned by Nero a year into the new reign and in 59 AD, he had his mother put to death. He divorced his wife Octavia, who was later executed, and married his mistress Poppaea. Two years later, much of Rome was destroyed in a fire, for which Nero was blamed, although this is now regarded as unlikely.
Nero diverted blame from himself by accusing the Christians - then a minor religious sect - of starting the fire, leading to a campaign of persecution.
He provided help for Romans made homeless by the fire and set about the necessary rebuilding of the city, appropriating a large area for a new palace for himself.
This was the architecturally and artistically innovative 'Golden House' Domus Aurea. Their marriage was not a happy one. According to ancient writers, Nero had various affairs until his lover Poppaea Sabina convinced him to divorce his wife. Octavia was first exiled then executed in AD 62 on adultery charges. According to ancient writers, her banishment and death caused great unrest among the public, who sympathised with the dutiful Octavia.
The flames soon encompassed the entire city of Rome and the fire raged for nine days. Only four of the 14 districts of the capital were spared, while three were completely destroyed. Rome had already been razed by flames — and would be again in its long history — but this event was so severe it came to be known as the Great Fire of Rome.
Later historians blamed Nero for the event, claiming that he set the capital ablaze in order to clear land for the construction of a vast new palace. According to Suetonius and Cassius Dio, Nero took in the view of the burning city from the imperial residence while playing the lyre and singing about the fall of Troy. This story, however, is fictional. Tacitus, the only historian who was actually alive at the time of the Great Fire of Rome although only 8 years old , wrote that Nero was not even in Rome when the fire started, but returned to the capital and led the relief efforts.
Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio all describe Nero as being blinded by passion for his wife Poppaea, yet they accuse him of killing her, allegedly by kicking her in an outburst of rage while she was pregnant. Interestingly, pregnant women being kicked to death by enraged husbands is a recurring theme in ancient literature, used to explore the self destructive tendencies of autocrats.
The Greek writer Herodotus tells the story of how the Persian king Cambyses kicked his pregnant wife in the stomach, causing her death. A similar episode is told of Periander, tyrant of Corinth.
She was given a lavish funeral and was deified. Centred on greater Iran, the Parthian empire was a major political and cultural power and a long-standing enemy of Rome. The Parthian War started in AD 58 and, after initial victories and following set-backs, ended in AD 63 when a diplomatic solution was reached between Nero and the Parthian king Vologases I.
According to this settlement Tiridates, brother of the Parthian king, would rule over Armenia, but only after having travelled all the way to Rome to be crowned by Nero. The coronation ceremony took place in the summer of AD 66 and the day was celebrated with much pomp: all the people of Rome saw the new king of Armenia kneeling in front of Nero. Vindex was defeated in battle by troops loyal to Nero, yet Galba started gaining more military support.
Abandoned by the people and declared an enemy of the state by the senate, Nero tried to flee Rome and eventually committed suicide. However, Nero was still given an expensive funeral and for a long time people decorated his tomb with flowers, some even believing he was still alive. Nero was a young ruler trying to negotiate his position within a relatively new and unstable political system, one where monarchical the emperor and republican the senate elements sat side by side. While the emperor surpassed all in terms of power and authority, the outward appearance of monarchy had to be avoided.
Emperors therefore needed to recognise, at least formally, the role of the senate. This traditional council, to which belonged only the members of the aristocracy, had long played an important role in the government of Rome.
With the Civil War and the end of the Republic, however, senatorial power was severely weakened. Nero, like other emperors before and after him, often clashed with the senate, his superior authority at odds with the views of this traditional aristocratic assembly that was slowly but irrefutably losing power.
The blaze began in stores at the southeastern end of the Circus Maximus and ravaged Rome for 10 days, decimating 75 percent of the city. Although accidental fires were common at the time, many Romans believed Nero started the fire to make room for his planned villa, the Domus Aurea. Whether or not Nero started the fire, he determined that a guilty party must be found, and he pointed the finger at the Christians, still a new and underground religion. With this accusation, persecution and torture of the Christians began in Rome.
In order to finance this project, Nero needed money and set about to get it however he pleased. He sold positions in public office to the highest bidder, increased taxes and took money from the temples. He devalued currency and reinstituted policies to confiscate property in cases of suspected treason.
These new policies resulted in the Pisonian conspiracy, a plot formed in 65 by Gaius Calpurnius Piso, an aristocrat, along with knights, senators, poets and Nero's former mentor, Seneca. They planned to assassinate Nero and crown Piso the ruler of Rome. The plan was discovered, however, and the leading conspirators, as well as many other wealthy Romans, were executed. Just three years later, in March, 68, the governor Gaius Julius Vindex rebelled against Nero's tax policies. He recruited another governor, Servius Sulpicius Galba, to join him and to declare himself emperor.
While these forces were defeated and Galba was declared a public enemy, support for him increased, despite his categorization as a public enemy. Fearing that his demise was imminent, Nero fled.
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