Nero

Nero (Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus; 15 December 37 – 9 June 68 AD) was the last Roman emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty.

The Julio-Claudian dynasty was the first Roman imperial dynasty, consisting of the first five emperors—Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero —or the family to which they belonged.

He was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius and became Claudius' heir and successor. Nero's inheritance was taken from him and he was sent to live with his paternal aunt Domitia Lepida, the mother of Claudius' third wife Valeria Messalina.

After his death in 54 (at the age of 63), his grand-nephew, step-son, and adopted son Nero succeeded him as emperor.

During his reign, the redoubtable general Corbulo conducted a successful war and negotiated peace with the Parthian Empire.

These events coincided with the accession of Nero to the imperial throne in Rome, and the young emperor decided to react vigorously.

The Bosporan Kingdom was briefly annexed to the empire, and the First Jewish–Roman War began.

The Great Revolt began in the year 66 CE, during the twelfth year of the reign of Nero, originating in Roman and Jewish religious tensions.

Like Claudius, Nero became emperor with the consent of the Praetorian Guard.

Under Nero, the pay of a Praetorian was three and a half times that of a legionary, augmented by prime additions of donativum, granted by each new emperor.

The Bosporan Kingdom was briefly annexed to the empire, and the First Jewish–Roman War began.

It was a Roman province from 63 to 68 AD, under Emperor Nero.

His general Suetonius Paulinus crushed a major revolt in Britain, led by the Iceni Queen Boudica.

The crisis caused Nero to consider withdrawing all Roman forces from Britain, but Suetonius' victory over Boudica confirmed Roman control of the province.

He was supported by Galba, the governor of Hispania Tarraconensis.

The governor of Hispania at the time of the rebellion of Gaius Julius Vindex in Gaul, he seized the throne following Nero's suicide.

His death ended the Julio-Claudian dynasty, sparking a brief period of civil wars known as the Year of the Four Emperors.

The suicide of the emperor Nero in 68 was followed by a brief period of civil war, the first Roman civil war since Mark Antony's death in 30 BC.

Most Roman sources, such as Suetonius and Cassius Dio, offer overwhelmingly negative assessments of his personality and reign; Tacitus claims that the Roman people thought him compulsive and corrupt.

The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero, and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors (69 AD).

His maternal grandparents were Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder; his mother, Caligula's sister.

He was also the nephew of Tiberius, the father of Caligula, and the maternal grandfather of Nero.

His general Suetonius Paulinus crushed a major revolt in Britain, led by the Iceni Queen Boudica.

On Nero's accession Roman Britain extended as far north as Lindum.

Nero's inheritance was taken from him and he was sent to live with his paternal aunt Domitia Lepida, the mother of Claudius' third wife Valeria Messalina.

She was a paternal cousin of Emperor Nero, a second cousin of Emperor Caligula, and a great-grandniece of Emperor Augustus.

He was Augustus' great-great grandson, descended from the first Emperor's only daughter, Julia.

Julia was also stepsister and second wife of the Emperor Tiberius; maternal grandmother of the Emperor Caligula and the Empress Agrippina the Younger; grandmother-in-law of the Emperor Claudius; and maternal great-grandmother of the Emperor Nero.

Suetonius tells that many Romans believed that the Great Fire of Rome was instigated by Nero to clear the way for his planned palatial complex, the Domus Aurea.

According to Tacitus and later Christian tradition, Emperor Nero blamed the devastation on the Christian community in the city, initiating the empire's first persecution against the Christians.

During the early years of his reign, Nero was content to be guided by his mother, his tutor Lucius Annaeus Seneca, and his Praetorian prefect Sextus Afranius Burrus.

A few years before his death, Domitius had been involved in a political scandal that, according to Malitz, "could have cost him his life if Tiberius had not died in the year 37."

His relationship to the other emperors of this dynasty was as follows: he was the stepson of Augustus, grand-uncle of Caligula, paternal uncle of Claudius, and great-grand uncle of Nero.

His maternal grandparents were Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder; his mother, Caligula's sister.

Although the Julio-Claudian dynasty continued to rule the empire until the fall of his nephew Nero in 68, Caligula's death marked the official end of the Julii Caesares in the male line.

Most Roman sources, such as Suetonius and Cassius Dio, offer overwhelmingly negative assessments of his personality and reign; Tacitus claims that the Roman people thought him compulsive and corrupt.

Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus was probably born about 69 AD, a date deduced from his remarks describing himself as a "young man" twenty years after Nero's death.

David Shotter noted that, despite events in Rome, Nero's step-brother Britannicus was more prominent in provincial coinages during the early 50s.

Their marriage was followed by the adoption of Agrippina's son, Lucius Domitius, whose name became Nero as a result.

When he turned 16, Nero married Claudius' daughter (his own step-sister), Claudia Octavia.

She was the daughter of the Emperor Claudius and stepsister and first wife of Emperor Nero.

Nero's mother, Agrippina the Younger, was likely implicated in Claudius' death and Nero's nomination as emperor. He was the only son of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina the Younger.

She briefly served as the de facto ruler of Rome during the reign of his son, emperor Nero.

During the early years of his reign, Nero was content to be guided by his mother, his tutor Lucius Annaeus Seneca, and his Praetorian prefect Sextus Afranius Burrus.

In AD 41, Seneca was exiled to the island of Corsica by the emperor Claudius, but was allowed to return in 49 to become a tutor to Nero.

Caligula then banished his two surviving sisters, Agrippina and Julia Livilla, to a remote island in the Mediterranean Sea.

Julia Livilla was the youngest great-granddaughter of Emperor Augustus, great-niece and adoptive granddaughter of the Emperor Tiberius, sister of the Emperor Caligula, niece of the Emperor Claudius, and through her eldest sister Agrippina the Younger, maternal aunt of the Emperor Nero.

He was the only son of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina the Younger.

He was a great-nephew of the Emperor Augustus, brother-in-law and first cousin once removed of the Emperor Caligula; maternal cousin of the Emperor Claudius and the biological father to the Emperor Nero.