Nero, in full Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, also called (50–54 ce) Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus, original name Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, (born December 15, 37 ce, Antium, Latium—died June 9, 68, Rome), fifth Roman emperor (54–68 ce), stepson and heir of the emperor Claudius. He castrated a boy so he could marry him. Julia Agrippina, mother of the Roman emperor Nero and a powerful influence on him during the early years of his reign (54–68). In 52 AD, at the age of twelve, she married her step-brother Nero. Your stepfather gleefully divorced his wife, who was pregnant, too. Augustus forces you to marry his daug… Nero even dreamed of abandoning the throne of Rome in order to fulfill his poetical and musical gifts, though he did not act on these puerile ambitions. Nero married Poppaea, and Poppaea was given the title Augusta when they had a daughter, Claudia. Poppaea Sabina was the mistress and second wife of the Roman emperor Nero. In archaeological study of the city of Pompeii, where volcanic tragedy preserved the city within 15 years of Poppaea's death, scholars have found evidence that during her lifetime, she was considered a virtuous woman, with many statues in her honor. Occupation: Emperor of Rome Born: December 15, 37 AD in Antium, Italy Died: June 9, 68 AD outside Rome, Italy Reign: October 13, 54 AD to June 9, 68 AD Best known for: One of the worst Emperors of Rome, legend has it he played the fiddle while Rome burned Biography: Nero ruled Rome from 54 AD to 68 AD. Nero reportedly kicked her during an argument when she was pregnant in 65 C.E., resulting in her death, possibly from the effects of the subsequent miscarriage. At the time she was still married to Otho (a future emperor! Emperor Nero surveys the damage in Rome after the Great Fire of 64 A.D. One dubious story holds that he blamed, and punished, the city’s Christians for the devastating blaze. Even still some argue that she died as a result of childbirth or miscarriage. Others suggest Nero poisoned her. Then in 64 AD, the Great Fire of Rome broke out. Roman Emperor, 54-68 AD. In reality, Agrippina detested Poppaea Sabina and forced Nero to marry Octavia. Nero and Poppaea were, according to some contemporaries, happy in their marriage, but Nero had a temper and became more and more erratic. Shortly after Nero allegedly killed Poppaea, he remarried … Nero rode a chariot in the Greek Olympic games. From that time until 62, Burrus and Seneca were the effective rulers of the empire. The opera was first performed in Venice in 1642. Nero married Poppaea, and Poppaea was given the title Augusta when they had a daughter, Claudia. This caused a rift with his mother, Agrippina the Younger. She dies in 65 AD as a result of being kicked to death while pregnant by Nero, some claim. To the Romans these antics seemed to be scandalous breaches of civic dignity and decorum. Nero divorced his wife, Octavia, who was the daughter of his predecessor, the Emperor Claudius. During the fire, Nero was at his villa at Antium 35 miles (56 km) from Rome and therefore cannot be held responsible for the burning of the city. His government forbade contests in the circus involving bloodshed, banned capital punishment, reduced taxes, and accorded permission to slaves to bring civil complaints against unjust masters. It was then that the infamous same-sex marriage took place. An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors. It was the fourth marriage of Claudius and he had had his previous wife Messalina executed in 48 AD. Nero’s rule would have its share of bloodshed in places throughout the empire. Also known as: Poppea (Italianized spelling), Poppaea Augusta Sabina, Poppaea Sabina the Younger (to differentiate from her mother). Gender:. In the second instance, a different delegation won Poppaea's influence in its cause to keep standing a wall at the temple that would keep the emperor from seeing the Temple's proceedings. Agrippina—having already helped bring about the murder of Valeria Messalina, her predecessor as the wife of Claudius, in 48, and ceaselessly pursuing her intrigues to bring Nero to power—eliminated her opponents among Claudius’s palace advisers, probably had Claudius himself poisoned in 54, and completed her work with the poisoning of Britannicus in 55. Poppaea Sabina was born the daughter of a woman with the same name who committed suicide. She embarked on her third marriage, to the Emperor Claudius, in AD 49, and although he already had a son, Britannicus, by another wife, manipulated him into adopting Nero as his heir. The testimony of contemporaries depicts Nero at this time as a handsome young man of fine presence but with soft, weak features and a restless spirit. Please select which sections you would like to print: Corrections? But our most detailed images of homosexual marriages come from the descriptions of Roman emperors. Nero was a Roman emperor who ruled from 54 to 68 AD. However, Nero’s second marriage wasn’t happy. Hitherto the government had not clearly distinguished Christians from Jews. Nero’s father, Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, died about 40 ce, and Nero was brought up by his mother, Julia Agrippina, a great-granddaughter of the emperor Augustus. Otho was then defeated by Vitellius' forces, and he subsequently killed himself. Tacitus, for instance, asserts that Poppaea engineered her marriage with Otho specifically to get closer to, and eventually marry, Nero. Nero proclaimed her divine. ), but she had only married him to get close to Nero. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Nero (/ ˈ n ɪər oʊ / NEER-oh; Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus; 15 December 37 – 9 June 68 AD) was the fifth Roman emperor, ruling from 54 to 68.His infamous reign is usually associated with tyranny, extravagance and debauchery. In 56 Agrippina was forced into retirement. Nero also inaugurated competitions in poetry, in the theatre, and in athletics as counterattractions to gladiatorial combats. Beginning about 63, he also developed strange religious enthusiasms and became increasingly attracted to the preachers of novel cults. After poisoning her second husband, Agrippina married her uncle, Emperor Claudius, in 49 AD. For the first time, absolute power in the Roman Empire was vested in a mere boy, who was not yet 17. According to the Annals of the Roman historian Tacitus and to the Nero of the Roman biographer Suetonius, Nero in response tried to shift responsibility for the fire to the Christians, who were popularly thought to engage in many wicked practices. Seeing that he could do what he liked without fear of censure or retribution, Nero began to give rein to inordinate artistic pretensions. He may have been a puer delicatus, who were sometimes castrated in an effort to preserve their youthful qualities. DIR Atlas (Claudia) Octavia, wife of Nero Donna Hurley Octavia, properly Claudia Octavia, was the daughter of the emperor Claudius and his third wife Valeria Messallina. Her mother was executed in their childhood for committing adultery, and her father remarried Agrippinna. By now Seneca felt that he had lost all influence over Nero, and he retired after Burrus’s death in 62. Because Nero became emperor as a young age, he was very much influenced by his mother, his tutor (Lucius Seneca), and the Praetorian Prefect (Sextus Burrus). Updates? Omissions? Three ancient writers, Tacitus, Suetonius, … Nero's bad acts are often attributed to her influence. Nero appointed Otho to an important post as governor of Lusitai (Lusitania). Nero, Roman emperor from 54 to 68 AD, was born at Antium on the 15th of December 37. It’s true that Nero out-did his predecessors when building his palace in Rome – but outdoing his predecessors was exactly what a Roman emperor was meant to do. But his early promise gave way to wild extravagance and murder. The image of a crazed and capricious Emperor Nero is immortalised in popular culture: from fiddling while Rome burns to having a sexual relationship with his mother. Agrippina followed in 59BC, and finally, in 62 AD, Nero murdered first wife Octavia and her elder sister. Agrippina immediately eliminated the powerful freedman Narcissus, who had always opposed her aims. Her father was Titus Ollius. She being his favorite, Nero impregnated her and then married her in 63. She is a former faculty member of the Humanist Institute. While directing the government themselves, Burrus and Seneca had largely left Nero uncontrolled to pursue his own tastes and pleasures. Too bad! Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Nero, portrait bust; in the Roman National Museum, Rome. Agrippina, the Empress Who Scandalized Rome, A Look at the Lives of the First 12 Roman Emperors, Five Roman Empresses You Shouldn't Invite to Dinner, Biography of Tiberius, 1st Century Roman Emperor, Marcus Fabius Quintilianus, Better Known as Quintilian, M.Div., Meadville/Lombard Theological School. In order to marry her, he accused Octavia of adultery and exiled her, later to be murdered (but made to look like a suicide). The last emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was notorious as a brutal, tyrannical, and ineffective leader. Her birth year is unknown, but we know she died in 65 C.E. Taking advantage of the fire’s destruction, Nero had the city reconstructed in the Greek style and began building a prodigious palace—the Golden House—which, had it been finished, would have covered a third of Rome. The legend that Nero fiddled during the 64 CE fire in Rome is false because bowed stringed instruments would not reach Europe for almost another millennia. He was led to the murder of Agrippina by her insanity and her fury at seeing her son slip out of her control, to the murder of Octavia by his having fallen in love with Poppaea Sabina, the young wife of the senator (and later emperor) Otho, and by his fear that his repudiated wife was fomenting disaffection at court and among the populace. Rome burned while he was emperor, and the eagerness with which he rebuilt led many to believe that he was responsible for the fire. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. It is widely believed that she poisoned Claudius when Nero was 16 and poisoned Claudius's son Britannicus to seal Nero's claim to the throne. Artistic pretensions and irresponsibility, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nero-Roman-emperor, JewishEncyclopedia.com - Biography of Nero, Jewish Virtual Library - Biography of Nero, Public Broadcasting Service - Biography of Nero, Nero - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Being older than his stepbrother Britannicus, Nero became heir to the throne. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Agrippina the Younger, as empress, removed him from his position, as he was too close to a previous empress, Messalina. In 50 AD, at the age of 13, Nero was adopted by Emperor Claudius and took the name by which he is famous, Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus. Cassius Dio identifies Sporus as a freedman. Imagine yourself as nine-year-old Tiberius. His father died when Nero was about three. She also advocated for her home town of Pompeii, and helped it gain considerable autonomy from the Empire's rule. His armies put down rebellions in Britain and Judaea, he was an enthusiastic patron of the arts, and he was lenient toward his enemies. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Poppaea was married first to Rufrius Crispinus of the Preaetorian Guard, and they had a son. After poisoning her second husband, Agrippina incestuously became the wife of her uncle, the emperor Claudius, and persuaded him to favour Nero for the succession, over the rightful claim of Claudius’s own son, Britannicus, and to marry his daughter, Octavia, to Nero. The opera focuses on the replacement of Nero's wife Octavia by Poppaea. They encouraged Nero to act independently of her, and a growing coolness resulted in Nero’s relations with his mother. Her body was embalmed and buried in the Mausoleum of Augustus. The main source for information about Poppaea is the Roman writer Tacitus. Brought up in this atmosphere, Nero might well have begun to behave like a monster upon his accession as emperor in 54 but, in fact, behaved quite otherwise. If only your troubles ended there. But the Roman populace mistakenly believed that he himself had started the fire in Rome in order to indulge his aesthetic tastes in the city’s subsequent reconstruction. Nero is considered as one of best known for the worst list of Roman emperors ever existed and also having allowed his wife and also his mother to rule for him and then stepped out from their Shadows and in the result of having them and reportedly kicking his wife to death. His nocturnal rioting in the streets was a scandal as early as 56, but the emergence of real brutality in Nero can be fixed in the 35-month period between the putting to death of his mother at his orders in 59 and his similar treatment of his wife Octavia in June 62. After poisoning her second husband, Agrippina incestuously became the wife of her uncle, the emperor Claudius, and persuaded him to favour Nero for the succession, over the rightful claim of Claudius’s own son, Britannicus, and to marry his daughter, Octavia, to Nero. Her paternal grandfather, Poppaeus Sabinus, was a Roman Consul and a friend of several emperors. For more details, see our Privacy Policy. He married Poppaea in 62, but she died in 65, and he subsequently married the patrician… She hoped to control the government, but Burrus and Nero’s old tutor, the Stoic philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca, though they owed their influence to Agrippina, were not content to remain her tools. Nero was born in 37 A.D., the nephew of the emperor. OCTÁVIA) (late AD 39 or early AD 40 – 8 June AD 62) was an empress of Rome. You fall in love? He became infamous for his personal debaucheries and extravagances and, on doubtful evidence, for his burning of Rome and persecutions of Christians. In Nero: Artistic pretensions and irresponsibility …having fallen in love with Poppaea Sabina, the young wife of the senator (and later emperor) Otho, and by his fear that his repudiated wife was fomenting disaffection at court and among the populace. Nero appointed Otho to an important post as governor of Lusitai (Lusitania). Almost by accident, Nero initiated the later Roman policy of halfhearted persecution of the Christians, in the process earning himself the reputation of Antichrist in the early Christian tradition. The puer delicatus generally was a child-slave chosen by his master for his beauty and sexual attractiveness. In 53 AD, Nero married Claudia Octavia, his stepsister and daughter of Claudius with Messali… In 66, Nero remarried. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). He had Poppaea's son by her first marriage killed. He was even said to have dressed one of his enslaved males as Poppaea so he could believe she had not died. Your father was forced to divorce your pregnant mother, marrying your stepfather instead. Wikimedia Commons Emperor Nero took the young boy Sporus as his bride in 67 A.D. Birthplace: Antium, Latium Location of death: Rome, Italy Cause of death: Suicide. Her family was wealthy, and Poppaea herself owned a villa outside Pompeii. Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. Poppaea and Nero’s child died after her birth, while Pappaea’s next pregnancy ended in tr… This Roman historian also villified Poppaea in his writing about her. The first time was to free priests; Josephus went to Rome to plead their case, meeting with Poppaea and then receiving many gifts from her. Nero was married to Octavia, the daughter of Claudius and Messalina, but had affair with Poppaea Sabina. This led the Christians to label him the Antichrist. She was born in early 40 at the latest, but perhaps a year or two earlier, because her younger brother Britannicus was born in February of 41. He was married to the very popular Octavia, the daughter of Claudius and Messalina (a marriage made at his mother’s urging) but also having an affair with the very pregnant Poppaea Sabina (his mother detested her). Nero, a depraved first-century emperor, married at least two men. wife Poppaea Sabina. Claudia did not live long. AKA Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus. The great fire that ravaged Rome in 64 illustrates how low Nero’s reputation had sunk by this time. This caused a rift with his mother, Agrippina the Younger. Two Sides to Every Story. Sporus became emperor Nero’s formal wife in the eyes of everyone, and he had to be addressed as “empress.” He would wear all the luxurious attires worthy of the Roman aristocracy and had an entourage of servants at his disposal. 65 AD, Nero ’ s biographers cite only acts of generosity and on... 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