Good morning dear Community, we hope you are very well, we start a Sunday full of history, and as you can read in the title of this publication, we will talk about the life of a very controversial Emperor, but you will be the ones in charge of judging if what we tell is true or false. We hope you enjoy this interesting post, make yourselves comfortable.
For nobody is a secret today, the social and political role, so important that had the Ancient Rome, and its history is incredible, from that society, great changes for humanity, great contributions and inventions, which today continue to prevail, despite the time, it is also no secret that their form of government, underwent many changes, and it is at that precise moment, where they begin to emerge: Rulers, Leaders, Emperors, among others, and like everything in life, there were good and some not so much, is the case of our protagonist. Emperor Nero.
Who was Nero?
In the year 37 A.D., in the city of Anzio, Italy, Lucius Domitius Enobarbus was born, son of Agrippina the younger, and Cnaeus Domitius Enobarbus. From a very young age, he had a sad childhood, his father died when he was only 3 years old, some described this man as violent, ill-mannered and rude. And he did not earn these descriptions out of envy or malice, on the contrary, he was so cruel that one day he almost killed a child by running him over with his vehicle. Since he found out he was going to be a father, he detested the baby that was in Agripina's womb, and dared to say, that whatever would come out of him and Agripina, would be something really unpleasant. Many superstitious people began to think that this child was "cursed", not only the words of his parents led them to think that, but also other strange events that occurred while Lucio was being born.
Despite descending from great men of Ancient Rome, his childhood was not the most pleasant, it should be noted that his mother (Agrippina), was great-granddaughter of the great Mark Antony, and his uncle Caligula, a bloodthirsty emperor, who had no scruples, when Agrippina's husband died, he had to go into exile, His brother was not very nice to say, the young Lucius, had no chance to get to rule the Roman Empire, there was no chance, his aspirations were others, however everything changed, when his uncle Caligula, his own Praetorian Guard, murdered him and his family (wife and daughters). Thanks to this action, Caligula's successor was his uncle, Claudius, who was more affable with his niece Agrippina, and allowed her to return, with her young son.
How did Nero come to power?
Agrippina, according to those who had the opportunity to meet her, and describe her, says that she was an extremely attractive, intelligent woman, always had several plans, for each objective she set herself. She wanted to ensure her future and that of Lucius, so she decided to conquer her Uncle Claudius, but there was a problem, the new Emperor had two children (Britannicus and Octavia) and a wife (Messalina). But as we mentioned before, this woman had an extremely interesting mind, and she devised every plan to achieve her goal, and she did, certain rumors began to arise, that the wife of the Emperor, had a lover and was planning with him, to assassinate Claudius, to stay in power, curiously Agrippina, managed to buy certain figures of that time, so that this rumor had more power, and the Emperor believed it. So it happened, she was formally accused of: Adultery and attempted Treason.
Without any opponent, the plan was going well, it only remained to seduce the Emperor and everything would be solved, you can imagine, at that time, where incest was not accepted, but not repudiated, some simply tried to ignore that it happened, she young, pretty, he alone, they got carried away, and in a short time, they married, love came to her door, and the great Agrippina, got her way. And she moved on to Phase II of her plan, to secure her son's future. In 50 AD, Agrippina began to convince Claudius to adopt Lucius. And this not to contradict his beloved wife, he accepted, and it is at that precise moment, when Lucius, was renamed: Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus.
Although the young Nero was more interested in the arts, was a lover of music, acting, and especially of history, his tutor, the Roman philosopher, politician, orator and writer, Seneca, captivated him with great stories of ancient Egypt, about its culture, and tried to prepare him for a possible succession of power, but he was not interested in it. So much was Agrippina's influence on Claudius that she suggested that Nero marry the daughter of the Emperor Octavia, and with this new action Agrippina sought to secure power once and for all. But everything changed, 4 years later, in 54 A.D., something terrible happened in the Emperor's house, just when Claudius was about to eat some mushrooms, he died, some alleged that he was poisoned, and you can imagine who was behind this death, right? Agrippina, curiously, was the only one who benefited from this death.
Although it seemed that the new successor of Claudius, would be his son Britannicus, the opposite happened, that same year, Nero was elected new Emperor of Rome, long live the Emperor, his mother, achieved what she had sought, that her son became the most powerful man in Rome, bought many people, to pay allegiance to the new ruler, and began a new era for Rome, its states and provinces. Agrippina, became the one in charge of command, thanks to the influence she had on the young Nero, everything was consulted with her, and nothing was done if she did not approve it.
How was his mandate?
Many historians agree that Nero was well received by the citizens, because they saw in him a young man, who had much to give, and perhaps so it was, in the early years, Rome lived a very special time, where abundance amazed many people, even praised the new Emperor, for his generosity, for giving away so much wealth, Nero focused a lot on keeping the citizens happy with: Games, tournaments, races, and what could not be missed, the famous fights of the Gladiators, and then at the end of these activities, they began to distribute great gifts, obviously, everyone was fascinated, but did not see that they were just buying them. He was also in charge of giving power back to the Senate, something that was lost, with the process from Republic to Empire, however this power was not to give a voice to the senators, nor to work for the benefit of Rome, on the contrary, it was to have more support and recognition. Despite having so many obligations, like directing an entire Empire, Nero focused on following his dreams and surrounding himself with great musicians, to the point of participating in theaters, singing, although some say he did not sing anything nice, but those who attended the event, could not get up and leave until he finished his performance. The Roman historian and biographer Suetonius, in one of his writings said: "We read of women in the audience giving birth, and of men so bored with the music and the applause that they fell furtively from the back wall... and were removed for burial".
Nothing is forever, and that is seen in history, the beautiful, the good, is over, over the years Nero got tired of his mother, her advice and overprotective attitude, he thought she had the real power, and could not allow that. For this reason, he decided to remove her from the Emperor's Palace, then he withdrew the Praetorian Guard protection, but Agrippina's reaction was not long in coming, as we mentioned before, she was a cunning woman with several plans to achieve her goal. She decided to join Britannicus (the true heir to the Empire), and began to support him to overthrow Nero, and take what was truly his, the rumor spread through Rome, that the son of Claudius, wanted to regain power, and began to emerge to support Britannicus, but wow, the twists of life, curiously, while the young man ate, he died, it is presumed that he ran with the bad fortune of his father, poisoned. And with this Nero was sending a message to his mother, and he understood it, he knew that she would be next.
Nero, planned the murder of his mother, with specialists of Alexandria, however none was the most suitable, even commanded to develop a boat with a kind of trap, so that Agrippina died, but all failure, there was no choice but to send her to murder her in a cruel way, sent one of his men, stab her, and this is when the young man, begins to become paranoid, and his torment, led him to commit the greatest follies. We cannot deny that Nero surrounded himself with the best advisors of the time, Seneca and Donkey (Sextus Aphranius Donkey was Claudius and Nero's praetorian). Discontent was already beginning to be felt in the streets, the days of glory were in the past, the Empire was in decline and it was rumored that it was also bankrupt, without any money, because the Emperor spent it giving it away. Apart from everything that was happening in Rome, the political, economic and social problems, Nero used some dirty tricks to kill his wife Octavia, and thus, to be with a new woman, called Poppea, who is believed to be the mastermind of the death of Agrippina and Octavia, all a love this girl, the Emperor was crazy about her, she was so beautiful, so sensual, that she took him to the stars, but sometimes, if you don't control what you feel, some tragedies can come and make you lose yourself, and it happened, they tried to have a son, and he died, then, she got pregnant again, but in one night they argued, and Nero ended up kicking her in the belly, according to this caused her death.
How did it end?
The Young Emperor was devastated and devastated, so he began to be with men, with handsome boys, it is said that he met one, who had a physique similar to that of his deceased wife Poppea, but as marriage between two people of the same sex was not accepted, he had him castrated, and so they decided to marry. However, there are many historians who allege very grotesque things about Nero, in Virtual Variety, we decided not to tell them because they are too disturbing.
The biggest accusation against the Emperor was that he ordered the burning of all Rome, and blamed the Christians, who paid for a crime they did not commit. Philosophers and historians of that time allege that he did it with all his intention, to design the city in his own way, because he did not like the view he had of the city, all this brought devastating consequences on Nero, and he was losing the support of the senate, they tried to assassinate him, but failed, this made him give the order to kill 41 people, who were supposedly involved, and not to make this post so long, the end of the Emperor was intense.
The Senate met and declared him Enemy of Rome, and for this reason, the politician Galba, became the new Emperor, Nero, seeing himself lost, without control and absolute power, decided to commit suicide, but as he did not have the courage, nor the strength, he asked one of his loyal men, to assassinate him. We apologize for omitting certain situations, or fragment of the history of Nero, there are things that cannot be told in this platform, very disturbing and regrettable, however, if you want to know more about Nero, and learn about him extensively, we invite you to read this fascinating book, which tells in a different and unique way his story: The caress of the snake - Javier Gomez Molero.
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