Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus: A Narcissist In Power

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A Narcissist in Power Nero, or Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus was a part of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, alongside his mother who were the last of the Germanic family. His birth name was Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus until he took on his stepfather's name and Augustus’s name. His rise to power was mostly by marriage all arranged by his mother Agrippina who wanted power and social status, and for him to get married to his step-sister Octavia. By marrying into the Julian family, Agrippina helped secure her and her son’s position of power. Not only ambitious, Agrippina was also malicious, poisoning her first and second husband solely to help secure her position in the house. Once Nero received his toga of manhood, the senate …show more content…

During Nero’s first five years in power he had taken his step-father Claudius’s government and changed reformed it to be Augustan and go back to older times, even firing the finance minister Pallas, who had been Claudius’s favorite treasurer. Because of pietas, one of the virtues upheld by The Romans, Nero created new coins with his step father Claudius on it. Despite the coin not being in circulation for long, act made Nero seem like a dutiful and loyal Emperor to his stepfather and to his country. On the outside, Nero’s government was very conservative, despite all the major changes and reversion to a more Augustinian government and the attempt to eliminate the corruption in the government, such as the trials held for treason and private hearings (Shotter 17). Specific reforms that were important and initiated by Nero was the elimination of private hearings and his financial policy, the elimination of indirect taxation (Shotter 21). The elimination of indirect taxation allowed the economy to grow, especially since the finance minister Pallas had been fired and instead replaced with 3 ex-consuls to manage the national treasury. These made Nero’s government and Empire quite strong and similar to his predecessors despite having his mother slaughtered and not fulfilling his

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