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Any interesting tidbits from Emperor Nero’s reign? I’d love to collect what you guys know!
Heir of Splendor
@bella-d Well, to start with, the major event of Nero’s reign was the great fire, supposedly started by… Nero. It is said he played a fiddle while Rome burned! Then he blamed Christians for starting the great fire, and Paul and Peter were both martyred. I think it’s safe to say Nero was evil.
In his first five years of rule Nero was very generous politically. There were tax cuts, parties, and it was such a good time that it was called a mini golden age. Nero was a handsome young man, and he spent a lot of time goofing off. He gave most of the actually serious political decisions to his advisers, Seneca, and Burrus.
Then Seneca brought Nero’s overbearing mother, Agrippina to his attention. So what did Nero do? he tried to build a bed that would collapse and kill her, and when that invention flopped, he arranged for a self sinking boat… Which also didn’t work when she swam to shore. Finally he did it the old fashioned way- and she was stabbed to death.
Soon after that Nero had an affair with Poppaea Sabina, and his wife Octavia was sent into exile. Nero and Poppaea’s marriage didn’t get that much better after their rocky start, and Poppaea and her child were both killed when Nero kicked her belly.
This sent Nero completely over the edge of crazy, and he spent much of his time performing on the lyre and encouraging members of the upper class to get dancing lessons. Nero loved to sing, (even though his voice was awful) and he forced people to stay at his concerts until he was done. It is even said that they were so long women gave birth, and men literally were so bored that they committed suicide.
Then came the great fire. The rebuilding of Rome was extremely costly, especially because Nero’s new design for the city centered around his 100 acre “golden house” palace complex. And at the center of all of new Rome? A 100 foot tall bronze statue of… Himself!
Rebuilding like this proved to be extremely expensive, and that led to a bunch of political stuff that I don’t have time to write out. Long story short, Rome was falling apart, and Nero found himself in a perilous place. So naturally he went to Greece and gave himself to theater and music. Then basically he went back to Rome every body hated him- What a surprise!
Nero started to flee, but he decided that suicide was a better option. Nero’s final lament? the historian Suetonius says it was “What an artist dies in me!”.
So there you go! My long interpretation of Nero’s reign, guided on by the lovely thing known as the internet!
The Kingdom has been torn asunder...
http://www.encircledbygrace.com/Thanks for the history, @kaya-young! Some of it made me laugh. It was extremely helpful!
Heir of Splendor
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