Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Life and times of Emperor Nero
Life and times of Emperor Nero
Life and times of Emperor Nero
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
“Every journey has an end.” For Emperor Nero his journey was short lived, ending at the young age of 30. His reign was full of lust, conspiracies, and murder all of which could top anything Forensic Files could have ever dreamed possible. He was not always destined to be the next Emperor to Rome and it would take a lot of planning, mostly by his mother, to make his succession possible. However, the young Emperor was a member of the unofficial dynasty of Rome, the Julio-Claudian’s, a lineage dating all the way back to Emperor Augustus who was the first and very beloved Emperor of Rome. Despite being a part of the Julio-Claudian legacy, Emperor Nero’s hegemony was filled with murder and questionable decisions that all eventually cultivated to his suicide. To start off with, to understand Emperor Nero one must understand the importance of his ancestry. He was born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus to Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Julia Agrippina, also known as Agrippina the Younger, in AD 37 . The combination of Gnaeus and Julia was like a match made in elite heritage for Nero. Gnaeus’ mother, Nero’s grandmother, was Antonia the Elder. She was the daughter of Mark Antony, one of the three members of the Second Triumvirate of Rome, and Octavia the Younger, Emperor Augustus’ …show more content…
Because, once Caligula became Emperor, he took many symbolic actions to show that his three sisters, including Agrippina, were just as important and as powerful as he was . Emperor Caligula might have even made the young Lucius his heir had it not been for his sisters, Drusilla, death and his mental spiral downward. The Emperor then became paranoid. Accusing his remaining sisters of conspiracy, banishing them to the Pontine Islands, and auctioning off their estates and belongings . The toddler was left in the care of his ailing father and no hopes of every seeing the
Arrogant- Caligula ‘publicised’ his laws by writing them in small, illegible writing and putting them up on high pillars. He then enjoyed feeling superior by punishing them for a crime they weren’t aware of committing.
He cooled his temper by watching chariot racing, wrestling bouts and acting and singing competitions which was ‘appalling’ to the people of Rome. All of his executions were directed towards political opponents and unlike his immediate predecessors there is no reason to believe he enjoyed their deaths (Dennison, 2012). This however is very subjective as there are primary sources like Suetonius and Tacitus that say the opposite of this, that Nero did enjoy the executions of his rivals death. Nero reacted harshly to accusations of treason against himself and the senate and because of this people, if caught trying to overturn him, were exiled and executed ("Nero", 2017). One of the people Nero had executed was Seneca, Neros former tutor and mentor ("Who is Nero? Everything You Need to Know", 2017). By Nero executing his rivals, he made people scared to overturn him and changed future beliefs of emperors. It changed future emperors beliefs because they had less tolerance for conspirators making Nero an
The Senate was a danger to Claudius and he refused to enter the house of the Senate during the first thirty days of his reign. By removing and abolishing treason trials, and Caligula’s tax reforms, he sought to gain their support. Although Claudius was a successful ruler, he was easily persuaded by many closest to him, most importantly, his fourth wife Agrippina (Rome: The Autobiography). Messalina was Claudius’ third wife and they had a son named Britannicus, who was to be the heir of the throne when Claudius died.
...icus and was therefore suspect. Tacitus was writing about Tiberius after the emperor had died and probably believed that since he was most likely killed by his nephew Caligula that Tiberius was probably justified in suspecting his relatives.
In the Ancient Roman times which was a very chaotic time period, with many different power struggles that led to some of the best and worst people ruling the Roman Empire Over the ages different emperors made their way to the throne, whether they killed to get there or inherited it from their parents, they all left distinct marks although some left bigger marks than others. The three considered the worst emperors, are Nero, Caligula, and Commodus (Champlin, E, 2003). Out of the three worst Roman emperors, the worst was Caligula because of the hideous crimes he committed compared the Commodus and Nero
The deaths of Caligula's mother Agrippina and brother Nero, however, were not enough to please Tiberius's supremacy over Roman politics. Caligula’s other brother, Drusus, who was infuriated by the death of his father,...
In the early first century AD, the Roman Empire was subject to autocratic rule and the old Republic was long dead. Augustus had been ruling for forty years and most of that time he was loved and praised by the Senate and the people of Rome. Throughout his reign, Augustus had the one lingering problem of finding a successor to take over the role of Emperor. He had chosen 3 different heirs in his time of rule; however, they all passed before they had the chance to inherit Augustus’ esteemed power. His fourth choice, Tiberius, was the one to succeed Augustus. He was often referred to, by Augustus, as an outstanding general and the only one capable of defending Rome against her enemies. The statement, ‘Tiberius is condemned by many ancient historians (including Tacitus), and his reign is often portrayed as being detrimental to the welfare of the Roman Empire’ is invalid as he treated the senate fairly, created strong economics and security in the state and boosted the empire into an unprecedented state of prosperity. This hypothesis will be proven through this essay by analyzing factors such as Tiberius’ administration of the Empire, his relationship with the senate, his financial control, the effect of Sejanus over his rule and why were his last years as Emperor referred to as a ‘reign of terror’ by Tacitus.
Augustus created the office of emperor with the Augustan Principate, which was “to have no institutionalized authoritarian power, no perpetual dictatorship such as Julius Caesar had had himself voted early in 44, or anything like it (Stockton, 124).” Despite his wishes the people of Rome ended up giving Augustus eternal office, and powers to control the Senate with the rights to dictate agendas and veto (Stockton, 128). The people of Rome had created a position of absolute power, the exact thing Augustus was attempting to prevent. At the time the people of Rome could not have realized what they were creating in the office of emperor, for Augustus was a great man whose leadership created a great shadow over the shoulder of any future emperor.
Claudius (another Roman emperor) passed away when Nero was seventeen years old, leaving the Emperorship to Nero. According to Suetonius, Nero immediately turned over all Roman public and private affairs to his mother's management. Primary sources then go on to list Nero's accomplishments and contemporary ideas, such as the founding of a colony at Antium for retired centurions, Nero's promise to base roman law upon that of Augustus, and Nero's obvious attempts to always look generous and merciful.... ... middle of paper ... ... CP Jones, Plutarch and Rome, Oxford House University Press, Ely House, 1971.
Tacitus lived under the reign of Domitian, twenty years after Nero. His family originated from southern Gaul. After becomng a barrister he was promoted to the position of provincial governor in 112-113AD in Asia. Under the reign of Domitian, Tacitus was incredibly lucky that he managed to survive, unlike many of his colleagues. Domitian disposed of rivals and opposition, thus making him a very paranoid man. The killings of these men started Tacitus' anti-emperor feelings. Domitian's reign was modelled on Tiberius' who Tacitus also heavily criticised. But, in Annals 13 and 14, Tacitus concentrated n Nero, whom he despised.
Tiberius was a hindrance to Rome’s success as an empire, and he made numerous poor decisions that caused the problems that eventually led to Rome’s downfall and dark age. Tiberius’s mother Livia wanted really badly for her son to become emperor. To please his mother, Tiberius married Augustus's daughter, Julia, whom Tiberius did not love, so he could become emperor. The Senate knew that Tiberius was up to no good and did not trust him. Also, Tiberius did not know how to rule, so as the adopted son of Augustus, he copied what his father did (Wasson). Imitating Augustus led to a disaster because Tiberius did not have the same skills needed to be emperor (“Tiberius”). Tiberius made Rome less politically stable by abandoning his responsibilities, creating paranoia, and by being indecisive.
Agrippina the Younger is well known throughout history and amongst historians as being the sly woman who brought many Emperors and soon to be Emperors to their deaths with the taste of poison. However, Agrippina did not thoughtlessly poison them without cause, but she had an agenda instead. This powerful and strong minded woman was entirely willing to ensure that her imperial lineage was made Emperor of Rome without exception. No matter the trickery that she would have to partake in, or the lives that she would have to exterminate with her poisonous concoctions, Agrippina masterminded plan after plan to ensure her son’s Nero success as Rome’s next great Emperor. Agrippina the Younger was born with imperial blood coursing through her veins.
The first half of Suetonius’ biography of Tiberius reflects very well on him. He is described as being so humble as to be almost annoying about it. Suetonius quotes a senator saying, “others were slow in doing what they promised, but that he was slow to promise what he was already doing.” However, the second half of the biography, which addresses Tiberius’ ruthlessness leads me to believe that Suetonius did not think highly of Tiberius’ in the second half of his reign. To illustrate this, I will give a brief summary of the biography. Then I will give my reasons for believing that the first two years of Tiberius’ reign was good. Finally, I will show how Tiberius turned sour, and became like the many other bad emperors.
He did not want to have to share his power with someone else so he went to the Roman Senate and demanded that Tiberius’ will be invalid. The Roman Senate declared Caligula the Roman emperor, that would be Rome’s third emperor. It has been said that for his first six months as emperor he was a good ruler. The people of Rome fell in love with Caligula, but it wasn’t long after he became emperor Caligula became ill with what they called “brain fever”. He seriously became insane, he would have his family members killed (MRREESE 2014). There has been talk about him having sexual relations with his sister (Cohen 2012). Caligula would have his rivals killed, children killed and forced the family members to watch. He would also have people tortured and killed if they did not respect him. He would have intercourse with married women while his guests were dining, then come back to the table and brag about it. Caligula raised the taxes and would often take property of the wealthy, then have them killed. Caligula had been married four times and cheated on all of his wives with both men and women. Each wife knew of the infidelity. The people of Rome have had enough of Caligula and his hatefulness towards
Caligula, first known as Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, is remembered as a tyrant, a villain, a madman, and much more horrible things. Many words can describe the dominant third Roman emperor. Additional figures in the early Roman history can be defined as menacing, but Caligula overpowers most. Think of the worst possible thing you can think of, and Caligula can possibly match that. Even though he had a rough start to his short life, he made himself worse and worse to the rest of the world as his life went on. Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus should be remembered for his rise to power, his interesting tactics to win, and his surprisingly short tyranny.