Difference between revisions of "Nero"

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*This page is edited by Samuele Rocca, Israel
#REDIRECT [[:Category:Nero (subject)]]
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Nero (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category:Nero (subject)]]
 
 
'''Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus''' (37 - 68 CE) was the fifth and last Emperor of the Julio-Claudian Dinasty.
 
===Early Career===
[[Nero]] was born in [[Antium]], near Rome in 37 CE as [[Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus]]. He was the only son of [[Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus]] and [[Agrippina the Younger]], sister of [[Gaius Caesar]]. In 49 CE, after that [[Claudius]] married [[Agrippina]], [[Lucius Domitius]] was officially adopted in 50 CE and renamed [[Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus]]. As [[Nero]] was older than his step-brother, [[Britannicus]], he became heir to the throne. [[Nero]] was proclaimed an adult in 51 CE. He was then appointed proconsul. In 53 CE, he married his step-sister [[Claudia Octavia]].
===Imperial Succession===
[[Nero]] succeeded to [[Claudius]] in 54 CE. The ancient tradition presents Nero first five years of rule as excellent, the quinquennium neronianum. In this period the young [[Nero]] was assisted by his mother [[Agrippina]], [[Burrus]], the praefectus praetorius, and his tutor, [[Seneca]] the philosopher. In 55 CE, [[Nero]] had his step-brother [[Britannicus]] poisoned. From then onwards, [[Nero]] resisted the influence of his mother, and her advisors. In the same year, he removed [[Marcus Antonius Pallas]], an ally of [[Agrippina]], from his position in the treasury. Finally in 59 CE, [[Nero]] had his mother executed. He also divorced and later executed [[Octavia]] to marry [[Poppaea Sabina]]. With the sudden death of [[Burrus]] in 62 C.E., and the retirement of [[Seneca]], [[Nero]] was to rule alone. Afterwards, surrounded by new advisors, the rule of [[Nero]] assumed the characters of a Hellenistic monarchy. In the last years of rule, [[Nero]] was assisted by the new praetorian praefectus [[Ofonius Tigellinus]]. [[Nero]] showed much sympathy to Greek culture. In 60 C.E., he introduced in Rome, public games in the Greek fashion, the Neronia, and in 66 C.E., [[Nero]] left for Greece to perform at the various Greek games. By then, [[Nero]]’s rule had become quite unpopular with the Senate. [[Nero]] executed various people between 62 and 63 CE, including [[Pallas]], G[[aius Rubellius Plautus]], [[Faustus Sulla]] and [[Doryphorus]]. [[Nero]]’s difficulties with the Senate resulted in the Pisonian conspiracy in 65 C.E. However the conspiracy was unsuccesful in consequence of a delation. Its members, including [[Seneca]], [[Lucanus]], [[Petronius Arbiter]], were either executed or committed suicide. On the other side [[Nero]] was much popular with the lower classes, which were protected with various laws. In 64 CE, a huge fire devastated the city of Rome. [[Nero]], after the great fire of Rome, erected a huge palace in the center of Rome, the Domus Aurea. Other building projects were the draining of the [[Ostia]] marshes, and an attempt to have a canal dug at the Isthmus of [[Corinth]]. [[Nero]] foreign policy was much successful. In the West in [[Britannia]] the revolt of [[Boudicca]], queen of the [[Iceni]], was repressed in 61 C.E. by the governor [[Gaius Suetonius Paulinus]]. In the East [[Armenia]] was brought from Parthian vassalage to Roman influence. In 55 CE, the kingdom of [[Armenia]] overthrew the pro-Roman ruler [[Rhadamistus]], replacing him with the Parthian prince Tiridates. Nero sent in his general [[Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo]], who defeated the Parthians. Once more in 58 CE, the Parthian king [[Vologases I]] invaded [[Armenia]]. [[Corbulo]] defeated the invaders and [[Tiridates]] had to retreat. [[Nero]] crowned as King of [[Armenia]] [[Tigranes]], as the new ruler of [[Armenia]]. [[Corbulo]] was appointed governor of [[Syria]]. As Nero nominee in 62 CE, invaded [[Parthia]]. The war lasted till 63 CE. In 66 C.E. [[Tiridates]], a member of the Parthian royal family came to Rome to receive the diadem of [[Armenia]] from [[Nero]]’s himself. [[Nero]] rule was overthrown in 68 C.E. by a series of rebellions in the West. Betyween 67-68 CE, [[Vindex]], the governor of [[Gallia Lugdunensis]], rebelled against [[Nero]]. [[Vindex]] asked the support of [[Galba]], the governor of [[Hispania Citerior]]. However [[Virginius Rufus]], the governor of [[Germania Superior]], defeated [[Vindex]]'s forces who committed suicide. Yet, by June of 68 CE, the senate voted [[Galba]] as emperor and declared [[Nero]] a public enemy. In the same year [[Nero]] committed suicide.
 
===Nero the Jews and Judaea===
 
It seems that the Jews living in Rome fared well under [[Nero]]’s rule. A Jewish actor, [[Alityros]] (Aliturus), lived at his court (Josephus, Vita 3). His second wife, [[Poppaea]], according to Josephus, showed some sympathy for the Jews. However it is unclear the relationship between the Jews and the Christian community in Rome during [[Nero]]’s rule. According to [[Tacitus]], [[Nero]] had the Christians accused of the great fire in 64 CE and probably persecuted. It is usually contended that the number 666 of the evil beast in Revelation (13:17-18) is a code for [[Nero]]. Both [[Peter]] and [[Paul]] are believed to have been executed in [[Rome]] at that time. As the episode recorded happened after [[Paul]]’ coming to [[Rome]], it is possible that by then the Jewish and the Christian communities were already separated entities, that the “parting of the ways” was by then consumed. This can explain why the persecution of 64 CE is not referred by Josephus, and why [[Tacitus]] clearly defines the Christians and not the Judaeo-Christians as the targets of the persecution.
[[Herod Agrippa II]] remained in Rome at least till 52 CE, and possibly till 56 CE, therefore well after the accession of Nero. During this period, [[Agrippa II]] was instrumental in helping two Jewish delegations meeting the Emperor. In 55 CE, [[Nero]] added to the territories of his kingdom, which from 48 CE, included [[Chalcis]], and from 53 CE, instead of it, the tetrarchies of [[Philip]]  and [[Lysanias]], the cities of [[Tiberias]] and [[Taricheae]] in [[Galilee]], and [[Julias]], with fourteen villages near it, in [[Peraea]]. In [[Judaea]], proper, however, [[Nero]] was quite unsuccessful. As governor of Judaea, he first confirmed [[Antonius Felix]] (appointed by [[Claudius]] in 52 CE), then replaced him with [[Porcius Festus]] (58-62), [[Clodius Albinus]] (62-64), and [[Gessius Florus]] (64-66). None of them took any effective decision to mitigate the situation. [[Clodius Albinus]], who, corrupted by the Gentile of [[Caesarea Maritima]], in 60-62 CE asked from [[Nero]] to revoke the ''isopoliteia'' of the Jews living there. This was, according to [[Josephus]], the first step in the Jewish War. In 66 CE the population of [[Jerusalem]] rebelled against the governor [[Gessius Florus]], who appealed to [[Cestius Gallus]], governor of [[Syria]]. However his army was defeated at the [[Battle of Beth Horon]]. [[Nero]] reacted decisively only after the outbreak of the rebellion in 66, by appointing [[Vespasian]] commander-in-chief of the army in [[Judaea]].
 
==Nero in Scholarship==
 
==Nero in Fiction==
 
Quo Vadis and The Sign of the Cross have made Nero one of the most malicious and unforgettable villains of the history of cinema.
 
==Related categories==
 
*[[Roman Emperors]]
*[[Christian origins]] / [[Paul of Tarsus]] / [[Peter]]
 
==External links==
 
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero#Nero_and_religion Wikipedia]




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Latest revision as of 07:53, 19 February 2012

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