Tyrant or Superstar? | The Life & Times of Nero

Watch your backs and the water in your wine, our road has led us back to Rome! Nero Claudius Caesar often gets a bad rap as one of the worst emperors, whether a madman or a tyrant. To be sure, he was an awful human being, he killed his mother Agrippina, his tutor Seneca, his cousin Britannicus, and many, many more. But as far as emperors go, he was pretty decent, despite coming to power as a teenager. So how bad was he really?

Special thanks to Knowing Better for making sure I don't steal his bit. He's made a few videos putting idolized and infamous figures into historical context, see here:    • In Defense of Columbus: An Exaggerate...  

Footnotes:

0:41 She was actually his first cousin once removed, but who's counting?

1:04 Specifically Claudius' wife Messalina accused him of having an affair with Julia Livilla, Claudius' other sister, but my Roman history professor phrased it as “Caligula's sisters” so I went with it. In any case, the accusations are somewhat dubious.

2:38 According to Tacitus she made it back to her own country home, though he also describes a bunch of onlookers at the beach. It probably makes more sense than I suggest it does and I just didn't follow along properly.

2:54 Basically there were a bunch of people temporarily adopting children to win political offices and then immediately un-adopting them. This was actually later in Nero's reign, but serves the point that he wasn't all bad.

2:57 Some of his other benevolent acts include de-escalating police presence in the city of Rome, fighting gubernatorial abuse, and a decreased focus on conquest.

3:17 Actually, this was done mostly by preventing people from tapping out too much water from aqueducts before it reached the city, but that's harder to convey in a single image over two seconds.

3:19 Basically he said “All buildings shall have a no-touch zone in between them” so as to slow new fires

3:20 In fact, he wasn't even in Rome when the fire happened, but in Antium (today Anzio).

3:32 In addition to the other things mentioned, he was a fanatic musician and charioteer. In the Olympics, he won a chariot race despite being thrown out of the chariot and never finishing. The judge's reasoning? If he had finished, he would have placed first.

3:52 Caligula might not have done this, or if he did, it could have been satirical. However, it is safe to say that Nero didn't appoint any equine senators.

4:23 I think I'm remembering Piso's ancestry from my Roman history class, but haven't been able to find sources to back this up. If you've got any, I'd love to see them.

4:56 You might notice some faces in here whose deaths weren't mentioned. Poppaea Sabina, Nero's second wife, was stomped in the uterus while carrying Nero's child. Corbulo became too popular for his own good and his son-in-law had already tried to overthrow the emperor.

5:10 Before Nero decided he needed someone else to kill him, he tried to bolster his confidence by making another freedman kill himself as an example.

5:30 Some people thought he'd faked his death, but after that there was a rumor he'd be reborn. On a few occasions, people actually claimed to be his reincarnation in order to lead rebellions.


Music (in order of appearance):

Kevin Macleod - Evening of Chaos

Kevin Macleod - Hidden Past

Kevin Macleod - Teddy Bear Waltz

Gino Finocchiaro - Tra Veglia E Sonno

Avatar: The Last Airbender Main Theme

Kevin Macleod - Crinoline Dreams

~-~~-~~~-~~-~
Check out the latest Life & Times: Joseph Haydn!
   • The Least Interesting Man in the Worl...  
~-~~-~~~-~~-~