The Life of Nero Essay

In the beginning, Nero had stated that he would follow in the footsteps of Augustus and was deeply involved in his judicial duties but because he was so young, his focus and attitude eventually changed. Nero had complicated relationships with his spouses, friends, and even his own mother. He loved to spend money on extravagances and tended to waste it for the most part. He seemed to have been very paranoid and insecure as well as extremely selfish. Although Nero came off as caring, the true wickedness of his character came to surface. The day Nero was born was regarded as an omen. Nero was born just as the sun had rose and nine months after Tiberius’ death. His father had said “nothing that was not abominable and a public bane could be born of Agrippina and himself.” He was also mocked by Caligula at his purification. When he was three, he lost his father and Caligula had seized their property and banished his mother, Agrippina. He eventually recovered his father’s property and an inheritance, but was looked at as a threat by Messalina who tried to kill him by sending assassins to strangle him in his sleep but they were scared off by a snake. Claudius adopted him when he was eleven and he began to train with Seneca. At age 17, Claudius died and Nero gave him a big funeral and gave the impression he was truly heartbroken over his death. In the beginning, He showed his kingdom that he had the potential to be a good emperor by being generous and giving them all different kinds of entertainment. Nero was the first to create a Rome quinquennial contest. The contest was held every five years. “He gave many entertainments of different kinds: the Festival of Youth, chariot races in the Circus, stage-plays, and gladiatorial shows, even a naval battle in salt water with sea monsters swimming about in it”, and even gave presents away at these events. He prepared to have two foreign tours, but gave up the day it was supposed to begin. He also attempted to build a canal through the isthmus between Peloponnesus and the Greek mainland. He practiced to become a lyre and made his debut to the public at Naples. He even postponed the contest until the following year just so he could sing more. It was said that while he was performing “no one was allowed to leave the theatre even for the most urgent reasons.” He also would recite his poetry in the theatres. Nero’s cruel behavior was kept a secret at first, but he continued to cause so much havoc that it was too hard to ignore. He would dress up and go to the streets beating up men and stab those who resisted and rob local shops so he could resell the items and keep the profit. He prosecuted Christians. He abused freeborn boys and seduced married women. He even castrated a boy named Sporus and made him his wife. Nero had an incestuous relationship with his own mother and would take lovers that resembled her. He played a game where it was said he “covered with the skin of some wild animal, he was let loose from a cage and attacked the private parts of men and women, who were bound to stakes.”
Nero also loved to spend money and enjoy the riches of being emperor. He wasted money by giving people estates and expensive gifts. He also traveled with a thousand or more carriages and never wore the same clothes more than once. He built a huge palace he named the Golden House that had to be rebuilt because it had burned down shortly after it was finished. It was so magnificent that it was described to be “large enough to contain a colossal statue of the emperor a hundred and twenty feet high; and it was so extensive that it had a triple colonnade a mile long.” It also had a pond and pasture, and “rest of the house all parts were overlaid with gold and adorned with gems and mother-ofpearl.” When the money from his empire ran out, he turned to robbery and postponed paying his soldiers and veterans. He appointed a law that forced wealthy freedmen to give him five-sixths of their property. Nero

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