Y12 Ancient History Roman/Julio-Claudian Points Test 16 Nero Accession and Early Reign

Question 1

1. Describe the accession of Nero? (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 1

• Nero’s Ultimate accession to the Principate was due to the intrigues of his mother, Agrippina the Younger, in the years preceding Claudius’ death.
• 25th February 50 AD Nero became the imperial heir.
• Assumed the toga virilise a year before the normal age, distributions of money were given to soldiers and the people in his name, election to consulship 4 March 51AD.
• Being according the same privileges as Lucius and Gaius, Augustus’ grandsons.
• Co-opted into 4 ancient priesthoods, given proconsular imperium outside of the city, led Praetorian troops in parade, and at games in his honour, contrast with himself and Britannicus made it clear who the heir was.
• Nero’s portrait now appeared on coins. In provincial coinage, Britannicus and Nero were both on it, but noticeably, in Roman coinage, Britannicus’ face disappeared…
• 53, Nero married Octavia. Agrippina had won this position by a network of allies, Vitellius, Pallas, Xenophon Claudius’ doctor, displaced PG tribunes/centurions loyal to Britannicus and appointed Burrhus.
• On the sudden death of Claudius, his natural children were detained in the palace while Nero appeared outside with Burrus, commander of the PG (who owed his position to Agrippina’s influence).
• Nero was then taken to the PG barracks where he was hailed as imperator, having made a promise to pay each guardsman 15,000 sesterces.
• Only then did he appear at the Senate House to receive the appropriate powers and honours.
• As in the case of Gaius when Tiberius’ will was declared invalid, so now the Senate suppressed the will of Claudius – probably because it implied the equality of Nero with Britannicus.
• In the following year (55) Britannicus was poisoned, to remove the possibility of a Claudian conspiracy against Nero.

Question 2

2. Describe how the childhood of Nero might have affected his character? (any relevant point for 2 marks).

Answer 2

• The effect on the young Nero of the tense and sinister atmosphere in which he grew up can only be divined in part.
• His mother’s temporary and unsure absence may have contributed to the constant assurance and affection he required in adult life.
• His mother’s ruthlessness and methods may have made him associate political power with malice, intrigue and distrust.

Question 3

3. Describe how well-prepared Nero was for becoming Emperor? (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 3

• Nero was, in fact, brought up at the centre of power, where senatorial ideals and perspectives were not prominent.
• When Seneca returned, Agrippina banned philosophy from the curriculum, Nero being taught practical wisdom and eloquence.
• Britannicus’ education entrusted to minions of Agrippina.
• Nero demonstrated rhetorical flair, such as thanking Claudius for honours in the senate, or addressing it on behalf of the colony of Bononia in financial straits owing to a serious fire, and he could perform in Greek, pleading for privileges for Ilium, Rhodes and Apamea.
• Nero had also made a favourable impression when judging cases as prefect of Rome, and he gave games in honour of Claudius.
• Griffin says that when Nero was hailed as imperator by the PG and the senate voted him the necessary tribunician power and the pro-consular imperium, he was now princeps, “but it was unclear who would rule.”

Question 4

4. Describe Tacitus’s overall impressions on Nero? (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 4

• In the ‘Quinquennium Aureum’, Nero seems to do what is expected, such as deifying his adopted father Claudius (Tacitus Annals 12.69), as Augustus did Caesar.
• Nero’s touring of Greece for various festivals, coupled with his interest in chariot-racing, infuriated the traditional moral conservatism of authors such as Tacitus…
“It was an old desire of his to stand in the racer of a four-horse team, and a no less foul enthusiasm to sing to the Lyra as if at the games.” (Annals, 14.14).
• Tacitus here reveals his snobbery towards activities considered beneath the dignity of the Roman elite. Indeed, he seems to delight in describing the ‘outrages’ of Nero, presenting him as a corruption influence on Roman society (Annals, 14.15, 15.37). A picture of the young princeps emerges: drawn to unsuitable activities, keen on a foreign culture; and actively enticing others to join in his shame.

Question 5

5. Describe Suetonius’s overall impressions on Nero? (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 5

• The presentation of Nero in the sources is rarely positive, but various authors at least allow him a ‘Quinquennium Aureum’, five ‘Golden Years’, at the start of his reign (Suetonius, Nero 10-11).
• Nero was of average height with blond hair which he always set in a row of curls. He was ‘pretty, rather than handsome’, although his stomach protruded and his legs were spindly; Suetonius says that his body smelt and he was shameless in his manner of dress, often giving audiences in his silk dressing gown and slippers – yet despite his indulgent lifestyle, he was healthy.
• One consistent criticism of Nero is his Philhellenism: love for all things Greek. Far from being a compliment, this implies a disregard for Roman values. His love of theatre and music (highlighted in Suetonius, Nero 20-23) becomes perhaps the defining characteristic of his reign.
• The most unusual of Nero’s excesses is the so-called Colossus. This immense bronze statue of Nero was placed near the centre of the city (Suetonius, 31). Pliny the Elder (Natural History, 34.45-6) states that Nero would have been prepared to pay for casting the statue in silver or gold. Thus the Colossus becomes a by-word for self-indulgence, a symbol for Nero’s design for immortality in the arts.

Question 6

6. Describe Cassius Dio’s overall impressions on Nero? (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 6

• Dio (and Suetonius) also highlight the social, religious and sexual excesses of Nero (Suetonius, Nero 26-7, 30, 53). Nero himself openly celebrated his sense of being cultured, such as on the as coin of 62, where he portrayed himself as a lute player.
• While for Nero it may have spoken of sophistication, such images would have merely fuelled the source authors’ hostility to him.
• While Nero was certainly unpopular at the time of his death, it is interesting that in 69, Otho (a successor) could draw support by citing his Neronian connections. Dio also reports that a pseudo-Nero (an imposter), Terentius Maximus, gathered followers in the East during the reign of Titus (Roman History, 66.19.3). If, over a decade after his death, Nero’s name could still attract popular support, any loathing of him cannot have been ‘universal’.

Question 7

7. Describe the level of influence Agrippina the Younger had on the initial reign of Nero? (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 7

• Nero was sixteen when he ascended the imperial throne in 54.
• The transfer of power was stage-managed by key figures in the imperial household: Agrippina, Burrus and Seneca (the latter two of whom owed their positions to her).
• Nero was presented to the PG (Tacitus, Annals 12.65-9) and Claudius’ own son Britannicus was delayed in the palace by Agrippina (12.68). From the outset, this presents him as a usurper, despite his blood relationship to Augustus.
• It is clear that Agrippina was instrumental in her son’s acquisition of power, and her marriage to Claudius seems to have been designed solely for that end (Tacitus, Annals 12.41).
• This behaviour is consistent with her wider portrayal in the sources (Tacitus, Annals 14.2), though the allegation that she had poisoned Claudius (Suetonius, Claudius 44) is perhaps more the result of hostility than proof.
• Yet the speed with which Nero was rushed to the PG camp, assisted by Burrus, does indicate the political intrigue which allowed Nero, an adopted son, to replace Britannicus.
• The use of soldiers to endorse Nero also highlights the significance that the army now enjoyed in determining who ruled.
• In the early years of Nero’s reign, Agrippina clearly remained a powerful influence over him, as the aureus dated within months of his succession suggests. It highlights the special relationship between mother and son: although other imperial women had featured on imperial coinage, none had featured so prominently as Agrippina here.
• Agrippina was the one who arranged the recall of Seneca, as she wanted him to be a distinguished tutor for her son, and he in turn was believed to be devoted to her.
• Agrippina had the prefect of the PG removed to appoint Burrus, who was fully aware of who was behind his appointment.

Question 8

8. Describe how the level of influence Agrippina the Younger enjoyed began to fail, leading to her death? (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 8

• Sextus Afranius Burrus (AD1-62) was a favourite of Agrippina, who got him the role of PG Prefect by 51AD. He retained the post under Nero.
• Nero’s other main advisor was Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4-65AD), a learned man appointed Nero’s Tutor. After the death of Agrippina in 59, the relationship with Nero became strained, and after being implicated in the 65AD Conspiracy of Piso, he was eventually forced to commit suicide.
• Seneca and Burrus quickly found themselves in opposition to Agrippina as factions competed to guide the young princeps.
• Agrippina was not easily removed. Tacitus (Annals, 14.2) alleges that she used sex as a means to control Nero.
• This may have been prompted by the emergence of an independent and ruthless streak within Nero, one that matched if it did not exceed Agrippina’s own.
• Seneca actively exploited the situation to lessen the influence of Agrippina. Agrippina even supposedly threatened to support Britannicus’ claim to the throne as he was now approaching the age of maturity, but all this achieved was the murder of Britannicus by Nero at a banquet in 55.
• Agrippina’s desire to be the ‘power behind the throne’ eventually came to nothing. Tacitus (Annals 14.3-11) gives a rich account of the plots to kill her, with Suetonius (Nero, 34) providing his own abbreviated version.
• Her removal in 59 coincides with the end of Nero’s quinquennium, not because she was a positive influence, but because thereafter Nero seemed to ignore all of his advisors.
• The actions of Burrus and, in particular, Seneca in removing the ‘threat’ of Agrippina thus actually set a precedent for their own removal.

Question 9

9. Describe Seneca and Burrus, the two chief advisors of Nero during his early reign? (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 9

• Annaeus Seneca, philosopher and tutor, influenced Nero from 49 to 62; Seneca’s strength was in amiable high principles and his tuition of Nero in public speaking.
• Afranius Burrus influenced Nero from 51-61, his strength being his soldierly efficiency and his seriousness of character.
• These two men worked in collaboration with each other, and collaborated in controlling the emperor’s adolescence.
• From 56-61, Burrus and Seneca retained influence over Nero.

Question 10

10. Describe how well Nero governed during his initial reign under Seneca and Burrus’ influence? (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 10

• This period generally marked peace, prosperity, internal order and protection of the frontiers.
• The welfare of Rome and Italy was considered: sufficient grain was assured by the appointment of an excellent prefect of the grain supply, Faenius Rufus.
• Claudius’ aqueduct system was extended and his harbour developments at Ostia completed.
• Provisions were made for better accommodation and order at the games.
• Nero twice distributed 400 secterces each to the people.
• Justice was carefully supervised and a law passed to allowing slaves to bring to the city prefect any complaints they had against their masters.
• Nero replenished the treasury with 40 million secterces of his own money, and replaced the quaestors in charge with imperial prefects.
• To check the serious depopulation of Italy, and to provide for the army, colonies were established at Capua, Nuceria, Puteoli and various other sites between 57 and 60.
• The economic welfare of the provinces was promoted: Seneca had extensive financial interests.
• Governors charged with extortion were punished more readily. Of 12 governors tried for maladministration during the first seven years of Nero’s reign, over half were condemned.
• An edict of 57 prevented governors from organising wild beast and gladiatorial displays in their provinces.
• The activities of the publicani/tax collectors were curbed even further.
• Substantial aid was given to the Campanian cities (including Pompeii) which suffered an earthquake in AD63.
• An attempt to stimulate trade throughout the empire by abolishing harbour dues (establishing free trade) was a good scheme, but it was blocked by the senate because there were practical difficulties in its implementation.
• Financial administration was improved, and imperial power over it increased, when in 56 2 imperial prefects (ex-praetors) replaced quaestors at the Aererium, where Nero transferred 40 million secterces.
• Measures taken to make the prosecution of extortionate governors easier, and to preserve the agrarian welfare of Cyrene.
• Several colonies of veterans established to check severe depopulation of Italy, at Capua and Nunceria (57), Puteoli, Tarentum and Antium (60), and Pompeii after the earthquake of 63.

Question 11

11. Describe how Nero initially behaved well towards the Senate? (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 11

• When he first addressed the Senate, Nero started well, making a speech composed for him by Seneca where he promised to follow the Augsutan model of his Principate, to end all secret trial, to do away with court favourites and corruption and freedmen, and to respect the privileges of the senate.
• The evils of Claudius’ last years were denounced, though Claudius was later deified, and Nero produced the oration at the state funeral as divi filius.
• Nero promised that Clementia, the name of a work by Seneca for him, would be the watchword of the new regime.
• He modestly refused the title ‘pater patriae’, opposed the first charge of Maiestas, exempted his fellow-consul in 55 from swearing the usual oath in acta principis, he avoided using imperator as a praenomen, he employed as a coin type the civic crown of oak which was a symbol of liberty, he restored to the senate the right to issue gold and silver coinage.
• Nero declined a perpetual consulship in 58.