IUVENIS IMPERATOR
Four years later in 54 AD Claudius died, it is speculated that Agrippina poisoned him. Nero succeeded him at the young age of seventeen and changed his name to Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus. Nero was now the youngest Emperor of that time and married his step sister Claudia Octavia. His youth and inexperience caused his early reign to be strongly influenced by Agrippina and his former tutor Seneca. At first his reign was full of hope and trust, he was a youth known for his love of theater music and horse racing. To show his support for the Roman people he ended so called “Secret Trails” and gave the Senate more independence as opposed to ruling like a complete Emperor. In addition he banned capital punishment, reduced taxes, allowed slaves to sue unjust slave owners, and established open competitions in drama, athletics and poetry. Also Nero provided aid to cities destroyed by disasters and even gave aid to the Jewish people who were protected and allowed to practice their religion freely in Rome. However masked by all this good, Emperor Nero had a dark side, before long stories began to circulate throughout Rome that the humble and caring Emperor seduced married women and young boys, married a male slave, and apparently wandered the streets murdering innocent people randomly. Seneca and Agrippina both concerned for Nero and Rome tried to control these bizarre acts. Seneca acted subtly but Agrippina made her opinion known, anger and tension grew between mother and son and Nero decided to kill his mother. He concocted the plan to invite Agrippina to his seaside resort and on her trip back she would be murdered, however the assassination attempt failed and Agrippina safely returned home. Frustrated that his plot failed Nero decided to accuse Agrippina of plotting against him and sent soldier’s to execute her, no one was fooled and Nero as no accused of Matricide the murder of one owns mother and according to the Romans is one of the worst possible crimes.
NERO CLAUDIUS CAESAR AUGUSTUS GERMANICUS : MALUS
The Roman people scorned Emperor Nero, and his reign was subject to numerous omens suggesting the fall of Rome. Tacitus a Roman historian wrote “Unlucky birds settled on the Capitol, houses fell in numerous earthquakes and the weak were trampled by the fleeting crowd” which all referred to the chaos and turmoil experienced by the Romans during Nero’s reign. But there was worse to come, “The Great Fire of Rome” which lasted for a staggering six days and seven nights and destroyed and damaged ten of Rome’s fourteen districts was apparently an incident of arson, the criminal being Nero. Emperor Nero was accused of this horrid crime after he built a huge mansion in the center of Rome known to most as the “Golden House”, this area would have been filled with houses and shops if the fire hadn’t destroyed it, therefore Nero would have had no place his monumental home. Attempting to escape ridicule Nero claimed that the Christians were responsible for the fire, some Christians confessed to the crime but eventually it came to be known that those who confessed were forced to by means of torture. The evidence was compelling to the Roman people, Nero was already hated by so many that there was no reason not to pin this crime on him but there is no concrete evidence to condemn Nero as the criminal, also accidental fires were common in Rome.
Momena Persaud