History UsefulNotes / Nero

Nero (born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, 15 December 37 – 9 June 68 AD) was the fifth [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire Roman Emperor]] and among UsefulNotes/{{Augustus}}, UsefulNotes/{{Caligula}}, UsefulNotes/{{Claudius}}, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, and Constantine the Great is one of the most famous (or ''in''famous in his case). Note that much of his infamy - similarly to Tiberius and Domitian - is handed down to us by how much the elite of ancient times hated him. In particular, the fact Nero loved to [[FunPersonified strum his lyre, host grand parties, and pined to become a gladiator]] was altogether against the morals of the kind of people who recorded history at the time. Further to this, he became one of UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}}'s earliest and [[WrittenByTheWinners most notorious villains.]] It's worth bearing in mind when reading about how apparently despicable he was.

* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: Nero thought he was going to be arrested and executed by the Senate, so he committed suicide. He was the first emperor to do.

He was adopted by Emperor Claudius on behalf of his new wife Agrippina The Younger, who was Nero's mother (and UsefulNotes/{{Caligula}}'s [[VillainousLineage sister]]). In 54 AD Claudius was poisoned by Agrippina, making Nero his successor. As emperor, Nero immediately made sure nobody stood in his way. He poisoned his adoptive and step brother Britannicus in 55 AD, ordered the execution of his first wife Claudia Octavia and in 59 AD even the woman who placed him on his throne: mother Agrippina. In 65, he beat his second wife Poppaea to death while she was pregnant with their child.

After Nero's death his name lived on in infamy, not least because everyone at the time not in his personal circle absolutely hated him. The aristocratic pagan writers of his day and the subsequent centuries loathed him for his affronts to Roman dignity -- particularly his love of acting and the stage, [[TheWickedStage seen as low pursuits]] -- and the Christians who took charge 300 years later identified him with ''evil'' on account of his persecutions of the early Christians. The Roman common people (whose accounts have not survived) were probably less negative at first, but he quickly fell out of their good graces too on account of high taxes, bad management, and stupid decisions.[[note]]like building his ridiculously lavish palace after the Great Fire rather than using that wealth to rebuild the city as well as sending a load of sand to Rome instead of wheat.[[/note]] He is still seen as the prime example of a bad and mad emperor, while at the same being perhaps the most famous Roman emperor to the general public (save perhaps UsefulNotes/{{Augustus}}). More recent historians have started to doubt whether Nero's reputation [[WrittenByTheWinners wasn't just the result of some serious badmouthing]]. By all accounts the guy was cruel, unhinged, and dangerously power-hungry, but several of the stories about him are certainly false.

Nero (born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, 15 December 37 – 9 June 68 AD) was the fifth [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire Roman Emperor]] and among UsefulNotes/{{Augustus}}, UsefulNotes/{{Caligula}}, UsefulNotes/{{Claudius}}, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, and Constantine the Great is one of the most famous (or ''in''famous in his case). Note that much of his infamy - similarly to Tiberius and Domitian - is handed down to us by how much the elite of ancient times hated him. In particular, the fact Nero loved to [[FunPersonified strum his lyre, host grand parties, and pined to become a gladiator]] was altogether against the morals of the kind of people who recorded history at the time. Further to this, he became one of UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}}'s earliest and [[WrittenByTheWinners most infamous villains.]] It's worth bearing in mind when reading about how apparently despicable he was.

Nero (born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, 15 December 37 – 9 June 68 AD) was a notorious [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire Roman Emperor]] and among UsefulNotes/{{Augustus}}, UsefulNotes/{{Caligula}}, UsefulNotes/{{Claudius}}, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, and Constantine the Great is one of the most famous (or ''in''famous in his case). Note that much of his infamy - similarly to Tiberius and Domitian - is handed down to us by how much the elite of ancient times hated him. In particular, the fact Nero loved to [[FunPersonified strum his lyre, host grand parties, and pined to become a gladiator]] was altogether against the morals of the kind of people who recorded history at the time. Further to this, he became one of UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}}'s earliest and [[WrittenByTheWinners most infamous villains.]] It's worth bearing in mind when reading about how apparently despicable he was.

Nero's early reign was decent, influenced by the philosopher Creator/{{Seneca}}, but after five years he started to become more preoccupied with leading a decadent life. He disposed of Seneca, drank and ate a lot, and immersed himself in perverted sexual behaviour, both with men and women. The emperor fancied himself a wonderful poet, singer and lyricist, so much even that he supposedly [[WhileRomeBurns played the lyre during the Great Fire of Rome]] in 64 AD and even lit the city on fire personally.[[note]]Nowadays, history presumes that both fires (yes, there were ''two'' Great Fires of Rome) were caused by bad city design and some spilled coals in a tenement section of the city.[[/note]] After the disaster Nero ordered the construction of a large palace, the ''Domus Aurea'' ("Golden House") on the destructed area of Rome, with a 40 meter high statue of himself. Nero also persecuted Christians and blamed them for the Great Fire. [[RefugeInAudacity He had many of them tied up on poles next the road, then covered in tar and set on fire, so they could function as street lighting during parties]].

Nero (born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, 15 December 37 – 9 June 68 AD) was a notorious [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire Roman Emperor]] and among UsefulNotes/{{Augustus}}, UsefulNotes/{{Caligula}}, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, and Constantine the Great is one of the most (in)famous. Note that much of his infamy - similarly to Tiberius and Domitian - is handed down to us by how much the elite of ancient times hated him. In particular, the fact Nero loved to [[FunPersonified strum his lyre, host grand parties, and pined to become a gladiator]] was altogether against the morals of the kind of people who recorded history at the time. Further to this, he became one of UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}}'s earliest and [[WrittenByTheWinners most infamous villains.]] It's worth bearing in mind when reading about how apparently despicable he was.

Nero (born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, 15 December 37 – 9 June 68 AD) was a notorious [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire Roman Emperor]] and among UsefulNotes/{{Augustus}}, UsefulNotes/{{Caligula}}, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, and Constantine the Great is one of the most (in)famous. Note that much of his infamy - similarly to Tiberius and Domitian - is handed down to us by how much the elite of ancient times hated him. In particular, the fact Nero loved to [[FunPersonified strum his lyre, host grand parties, and pined to become a gladiator]] was altogether against the morals of the kind of people who recorded history at the time. [[WrittenByTheWinners Further to this, he became one of Christianity's earliest and most infamous villains.]] It's worth bearing in mind when reading about how apparently despicable he was.

* The popular disk authoring software [[PunnyName Nero Burning ROM]] (made by Germans, who spell Rome that way, but couldn't resist the pun anyway), whose icon is even the Coliseum[[note]]Actually started 4 years ''after'' his death and completed 8 years later by the second emperor of the ''next'', Flavian dynasty, Titus. The name "Coliseum" comes from the latin word for "colossus", as a reference for a huge Nero statue which initially stood at the place the Coliseum was eventually built.[[/note]] on fire.

* The popular disk authoring software [[PunnyName Nero Burning ROM]] (made by Germans, who spell Rome that way), whose icon is even the Coliseum[[note]]Actually started 4 years ''after'' his death and completed 8 years later by the second emperor of the ''next'', Flavian dynasty, Titus. The name "Coliseum" comes from the latin word for "colossus", as a reference for a huge Nero statue which initially stood at the place the Coliseum was eventually built.[[/note]] on fire.