Emperor Nero Essay

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Recommended: Administration of Emperor Nero

Good morning staff and students. Today I will be presenting an exposition detailing Emperor Nero’s ascent and decline regarding his powerful reign. He was born in 37AD as Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, but he is more commonly referred to as Emperor Nero. He is remembered as one of Rome’s most influential leaders and is famed for being a madman who played the lyre while Rome crumbled to pieces. Around Rome, he was known for being tyrant and for his erratic behavior regarding Rome’s future, fueled by his love for the arts. Today, he is remembered as an ineffectual, neglectful and brutal leader. However, there is considerably more to the Roman Emperor than his tyrant behavior and artistic passion. From his abuse of Christians and the abuse of leadership against powerful Romans, to the draining of the treasury, evidence suggests that Nero’s ineffective rule of Rome ultimately halted the empire’s expansion during his reign.
Emperor Nero was the last emperor of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty in Rome; he was the son of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina the Younger (Roman.empire.net, 2014). Nero was only sixteen when the duty of emperor fell upon him, making him the youngest Emperor in history. Under the guidance of his mother Agrippina, his tutor Seneca, and the Praetorian Prefect Afranius Burrus, Nero’s first five years of ruling were considered to be the prime of his rule. However, things began to take a tumble shortly after. The following discourse details the impact of Emperor Nero’s abuse of power on the Roman world through personal factors, weaknesses in his leadership and social and political factors. This is demonstrated by primary records from his lifetime and shortly thereafter, alongside modern accounts and historical repor...

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...re throughout Rome trying to find out who was against their leader and if anyone was conspiring against him (J, W. and F, T. 2014).
Conclusion
The reign of Nero has long been generally accepted to be a period of insanity and darkness throughout the Roman Empire. It is true that Nero was a determined and violent man who was willing to knock over any obstacles in his path, to achieve what he wanted. However, his mother’s strong influence over his early leadership promoted his tyrannical behavior that resulted in the deaths of many Romans. Politics, whether it involves ancient Rome or even the modern world, is a dirty game that demands certain reprehensible actions in extraordinary situations. The company one keeps plays a huge role in a leader’s actions, when Nero had good administrative aides, such as Seneca and Burrus; he did great things for the expansion of Rome.

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