Emperors - Nero Flashcards
Nero reign?
54-68AD
‘quinquennium aureum’
five ‘golden years’ at the start of Nero’s reign
Sources that Nero deified Claudius?
Tacitus and an aureus from 54AD which shows Claudius ‘Divine Claudius Augustus’
Philhellenism and Nero?
Nero was consistently criticised for his love of Greek things, he even toured Greece for two years
When does Tacitus’ Annals break off?
66
‘applied to the emperor’s person and voice the epithets of deities’
Tacitus on the upper classes praising Nero, showing that he didn’t necessarily manipulate the imperial cult himself but had it placed on him. This whole passage is presenting Nero as a corrupting influence on society, but also shows Tacitus’ snobbery
‘he lowered…. some of the heavier taxes’
‘he promised to model his rule on the principles laid down by Augustus’
‘he gave an immense variety of entertainments’
Suetonius on the quinquennium aureum of Nero’s reign
‘pretending to be disgusted by the drab old buildings and narrow, winding streets of Rome, he brazenly set fire to the city’
Suetonius on Nero’s involvement in the Great Fire of Rome
‘for eight days he wrote no orders… apparently trying to ignore the whole affair’
Suetonius on Nero’s initial reaction to Vindex’s revolt
‘Nero was now so universally loathed that no bad enough abuse could be found for him’
Suetonius on Nero around the time he was preparing to set out to Gaul. He also says he was ‘profiteering in grain’ - a likely cause for popular resentment
‘his dominant characteristics were his thirst for popularity and his jealousy of men who caught the public eye by any means whatsoever’
Suetonius on Nero
‘this was clearly the true Nero, not merely Nero in his adolescence’
Suetonius on Nero’s cruel, lustful and greedy practices
What does the As of Nero from c.62AD represent?
it is a low-denomination coin showing Nero playing the lyre and associating him with Apollo. it is trying to present him as cultured
Nero and the Colossus of Nero?
Pliny says it was over 100ft, cast in bronze and was later re-dedicated to the sun god.
Suetonius says it was in the entrance hall to the ‘Golden House’ palace he had built in the middle of Rome, and that it was 120ft tall
How old was Nero when he took the throne?
16
Key figures in transferring power to Nero?
- Agrippina
- Burrus
- Seneca
In what year did Nero murder Britannicus?
55AD
What factor in Nero’s accession highlights changes in determining who ruled?
That the soldiers were used to endorse him, as had been done by Claudius too, shows that the army was now very significant in determining who ruled
Significance of Aureus of Nero 54AD?
Depicts him with Agrippina, highlights her influence on him and her prominence as an imperial woman
What does Tacitus imply was the reason for Nero to have Agrippina killed?
She was using sex to control him and he was warned the army would not support him if he was sacreligious in this way.
When was Agrippina killed?
59AD.
Suetonius decribed Nero’s almost comical attempts to kill her in different ways, and Tacitus also says that at first he tried to kill her with a collapsing ship, then she was basically bludgeoned to death by assassins
