Rise Of Nero's Life

“Here an artist dies.” While Nero summed up his life with these dramatic dying words, other historians such as Suetonius, official biographer for the emperor, summed up his life by saying “the race of the Caesars perished with Nero” (Tenney 305). Both are accurate descriptions of the life Nero led as emperor of Rome from AD 54-68. He was dedicated to the performing arts and physical fitness, but at the same time disaster reigned during and after Nero’s time as emperor. Hundreds of people were killed under Nero’s orders, including the Christians when they were persecuted following the Great Fire of Rome. Despite the good things that came out of Nero’s reign such as a quinquennial where Hellenism, hygiene, and public safety increased, Nero is
From the very beginning, Agrippina’s sole goal was getting her son, the fifth in line for the Roman Empire, on the throne. After a difficult birth, Agrippina was said to have consulted an astrologer about Nero and his future. When the astrologer told her that Nero would kill his mother one day, she responded, “Let him kill, as long as he rules” (Griffin 23). Nero’s early years revealed further neglect as Agrippina was banished for treason to an island by Caligula and a two-year-old Nero was sent to live with his Aunt. One year later, Caligula met his demise, so Nero had his mother restored to him and he became the only living male descendant of Augustus and thus, the fourth in line to the throne. Claudius, the emperor that succeeded Caligula married a widowed Agrippina and adopted Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus at age thirteen, renaming him Nero. Besides getting a new name and a new father at age thirteen, Nero was also given the title “Prince of Youth” (Holland 55) and the power of proconsular powers outside the city limits. At age fifteen, Nero was brought even closer to the position of Emperor when he married Claudius's daughter from a previous marriage, Octavia. Through all of this, Agrippina was still playing puppeteer for her son Nero, waiting to get her hands on power. On October 12, AD 54, she
Multiple libations later, Claudius went to bed with a stomach ache, not knowing that he was feeling ill because Agrippina had poisoned his mushroom. A doctor was sent to heal Claudius, and after vomiting, the doctor reported to his wife Agrippina that Claudius would be fine. Wanting him dead, Agrippina found a deadlier poison, dipped a feather in it and forced the doctor to shove the feather in Claudius’s mouth. Claudius subsequently died leaving his sixteen-year-old son to be emperor of Rome. Too young to know what he was doing, Nero relied on his tutor Seneca and the Prefect of the Praetorian Guard, Burrus, to help him rule. For the first years of his reign, Burrus and Seneca were the controlling powers behind the empire while Nero focused on pursuing his passions and pleasures. Nero’s reliance on Seneca and Burrus put Agrippina on the outer circle of advisors which led to her becoming angry. This anger caused her to threaten to tell the Senate that Britannicus, son of Claudius, was the one who was intended to be emperor. Scared of losing his place on the throne, Nero appeased his mother and poisoned his adoptive brother one year after Claudius was poisoned by