FYS 251

Spectacles of Blood

Nero

NERO'S DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY

• Mom and Dad

   

  • Agrippina: married to L. Domitius Ahenobarbus ('Red Beard'). From an ancient Roman family noted for its hot-tempered loutish sons.

     

  • Nero born in 37 C.E.

     

  • Agrippina had divorced Ahenobarbus and married Claudius after Claudius became Emperor (after the death of Caligula).

     

• Step Family

   

  • Claudius, at the time of his succession had a daughter, Octavia and a son, Britannicus (b. 41 CE).

     

  • His wife, Messalina, was noted for her wild affairs, which Claudius ignored. However, when she went through a marriage ceremony with a popular politician, something had to be done.

     

  • Claudius' chief advisors were freedmen of Greek origin, Pallas and Narcissus. Narcissus persuaded Claudius that Messalina and her pseudo-husband were planning a coup. The Emperor ordered them arrested and killed.

     

  • Pallas then persuaded Claudius to marry Agrippina, his niece (48 CE). Two years later, Agrippina persuaded Claudius to adopt Nero. The theory was that Nero would act as a guardian figure for Claudius' own son.

     

  • Agrippina's chief allies were Pallas, Seneca (Nero's tutor) and Burrus, the Praetorian Prefect. She then began a campaign against anyone who might object to Nero's eventual succession. Her methods included:

     

    • poison
    • trumped up charges of magic
    • delation (Claudius had stopped delation trials)

       

  • In 53, Nero married Claudius' daughter Octavia.

     

  • In 54, Claudius died eating mushrooms.

     

The Period of Regency - or how not to fight with your mother

• Nero was 16 at the time of his succession. Originally he was well received. Seneca wrote his first speech to the Senate in which he promised to rule according to the principles of Augustus and end treason trials. He refused the title pater patriae until 'he deserved it.'

   

• Seneca and Burrus effectively managed the Empire and did it well.

   

• Agrippina tried to become the power behind the throne, but was opposed by Seneca and Burrus (who had effected the downfall of Pallas).

   

• Agrippina responded by buttering up Britannicus. So Nero had Britannicus murdered.

   

• Agrippina responded by buttering up Octavia. So Nero (who was having a fling with Acte, a freedwoman) had his wife banished.

   

• Agrippina retires.

   

• Nero then began a wild affair with the wife of one his close friends, Otho. He rewarded Otho for his indulgence by giving him a provence (Lusitania). He would eventually marry Poppaea Sabina, Otho's wife.

   

• Nero then (55 CE) tried to secretly murder Agrippina. The attempt was botched and knowledge of the murder became public. He told the Senate that she in fact had been trying to murder him. People were outraged, but didn't protest.

   

Nero, the Artist

• Nero wrote poetry (the Siege of Troy) and loved to sing. He was greatly influenced by Greek traditions of performance and athletics. No one in Rome minded these obsessions until he began to insist on public performances. In the Roman tradition, only slaves and marginalized characters performed in public. In the Greek tradition, which Nero preferred, citizens could perform on stage.

   

• In 59 Nero instituted the Ludi Iuvanles - private competitions held on the Palace grounds, in which he insisted that members of Rome's aristocratic families compete.In 60 he instituted the Neronia, public games, in which he himself competed (he won most of the prizes).

   

The Alienation of the Elite

• In 62 Burrus, the Praetorian Prefect died (apparently from natural causes). Nero replaced him with two cronies, Faenius Rufus and Ofonius Tigellinus. Seneca retired.

   

• Nero then accused his wife of adultery and had her killed. He subsequently married Poppaea.

   

• He then began a series of trumped up treason trials. He would also simply ask members of the aristocracy to kill themselves. The trials were motivated in part by a desire for money.

   

The Alienation of the People

• In July 64 a fire started in Rome which burned for 10 days. About half the city (in which about 80% of the population lived) was destroyed. Nero was at Antium when the fire started. He returned immediately to Rome and actively led fire-fighting and relief efforts.

   

• He also began plans to rebuild the city into a monument to himself (vast gardens, 120 foot statues of himself, a palace to be called the Domus Aurea - the Golden House). These plans were wildly expensive and not popular with the people - most of whom were homeless. To effect his plans he increased the prosecution of the wealthy and debased the coinage.

   

• Rumors began to circulate that Nero had deliberately burned the city.

   

• He began a persecution of the Christians to divert the people's animosity. Normally he would have persecuted Jews, but his wife Poppaea was fascinated with Judeism. The trials did not explicitly link Christian's with the burning of Rome. Instead, Christian's were tried for status crimes. If you claimed to be a Christian, you were immediately guilty of treason.

   

• Romans hated the little they knew of Christians (whom they regarded as unpatriotic at best and cannibals at worst), but Nero's persecution was so vicious that it actually created sympathy for the persecuted.

   

Query - Can a Vicious Tyrant be Paranoid?

• In 65, a significant number of Senators and Equites began a conspiracy to murder Nero. The conspirators were divided about what they would do next. Some wanted to replace Nero with Piso, a senator from a leading family. Others thought about restoring the republic. Seneca was a leading member of the conspiracy.

   

• One of the conspirators ratted and Nero held a series of "private" trials and had the conspirators killed. He also killed his wife Poppaea that year, but apparently only in a fit of private pique.

   

• After this, Nero's paranoia knew no bounds. He began a persecution of Stoics, a philosophy which had attracted many aristocrats and taught non-involvement in politics.

   

• In 66-67, Nero ordered several provincial governors/army commanders [who were quite competent] to commit suicide. These men might have served as figures to lead a rebellion from the army. Unfortunately for Nero, it was precisely at this moment that Judea decided to revolt.

   

• By 68, Nero was associating himself with figures of Greek divinity and apparently actively seeking to be worshiped as a god. His Greek enthusiasms became even more extreme and he went to Greece to compete in games (where he won 1808 gold medals).

   

• His freedmen in Rome urged him to return because the people were becoming increasingly angry about a corn shortage. Nero stayed only a short time, however, before retiring to Naples - the most 'Greek' city in Italy.

   

• Vindex, a Gaul, then led a revolt against Rome. Roman armies in the west abandoned Nero. Galba in Spain, Otho in Lusitania and Macer in Africa all began propaganda campaigns to replace Nero. Vergniius Rufus, the commander in Gaul defeated Vindex and his troops offed to make him Emperor. He refused, believing that the aristocracy wouldn't accept him.

   

• Nero committed suicide and the armies began to compete for the honor of naming their general, Emperor. In 69, Galba, Otho, Vitellius and Vespasian were all crowned Emperor. Vespasian lasted and the Flavian dynasty was born.