Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus: The Fall Of The Roman Emperor

Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, born 15 December 37 AD, was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68 AD, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his granduncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54AD following Claudius’ suspicious death. Nero focused much of his attention on diplomacy, trade and enhancing the cultural life of the Empire. When he became emperor, Nero was a young man who enjoyed the theater, music and horse racing. Ancient Historian, Suetonius, stated that “Nero degenerated from the good qualities of his ancestors, yet he reporoduced the vices of each of them, as if tramsitted to him by natural inheritance” (Suetonius, 110 AD). His dominating mother, Agrippina, had already

His fourteen-year reign represented everything decadent about the Julio-Claudian period of the Roman Empire. His self-indulgent, cruel and violent affairs continued the economic chaos that had plagued the Roman citizenry since the days of Tiberius (Champlin, 1990). In the first five years as emperor, Nero gained a reputation for political generosity, promoting power sharing with the Senate and ending closed-door political trails. However, he generally pursued his own passions and left the ruling to his three key advisers – the Stoic Philosopher Seneca, the prefect Burrus and Nero’s mother Agrippina (Armstrong, 2012). Nero was a reckless and selfish adolescent when he ascended to Emperor, as highlighted by Suetonius within his historical scripture, ‘The Twelve

While Suetonius’s scriptures of Nero may pose a risk of bias, similar perversions were discussed within Edward Champlin’s ‘Nero Reconsidered’. Champlin discuses Nero’s descent into debauchery and malfeasance; how his personal exploits gradually began to corrupt his political and military affairs (Champlin, 1990). Nero began alienating and persecuting much of the elite for higher interests in personal concerns, as well as neglecting military advances and affairs completely. Nero’s exorbitant personal affairs and expenditures left the treasury thoroughly exhausted. His period was riddled with deflation as shortage of money began to emerge (Champlin, 1990). Nero’s adolescence and unruly upbringing was largely contributory to his inadequacy during his years as Roman Emperor. While Nero contributed significantly to the city, his reign demonstrated the unravelling of the Roman