Emperor Nero : The Murderer

Claudius, as emperor, was told it was politically necessary to have a partner, upon Messalina’s death, to help function and protect the Principate, one of few reasons for his marriage to Agrippina. It was Pallas who presented Agrippina’s case (as she was an eligible woman) convincingly. Claudius could not ignore her ambitious nature, the fact she was politically skilled, and importantly; a woman of the Julian bloodline. Agrippina’s motives were concentrated solely on herself, and her son, Nero. Agrippina married her uncle in hope that Nero would inherit the Principate. She wanted to promote her son to become emperor (Suetonius), and aspired for political power for herself in regards to the Principate and Claudius. The power gave her the ability to dispose of any enemies who got in her way.

Many of Agrippina’s strengths were also her greatest weaknesses. Her political ability and ambition were great strengths of character, as was her determination, but at times she aimed too high and was ultimately brought down by the very traits that had enabled her to achieve positions of power. Agrippina was able to become one of the most significant women of the Ancient Roman World, but at the same time she was considered manipulative, and was despised by many, including eventually her son - the Emperor Nero, who had her killed in the year 59 CE. Despite holding no official political status, and being limited by her gender, Agrippina reached unprecedented heights and helped stabilise the Claudius Regime, demonstrating her strength as a

"Let Nero be ever before your eyes, swollen with the pride of a long line of Caesars… an Emperor condemned by his own people… Nero will always be regretted"

Claudius Caesar had just lost his third wife, Messalina, due to an affair whih led to her suicidal actions. Despite Claudius’s old age and diminishing appearance, Claudius married his seemingly gorgeous and young niece, Agrippina. Agrippina had an adolescent son, Nero, whom she wanted to become king. Agrippina knew she had to kill Claudius in order for her son to be king and allow her to gain power. She turned to Pallas, whom she had an affair with simultaneously with that of Claudius. Agrippina and Pallas began plotting Claudius’s death along with a handful of other people that they could trust. They understood that it would be tricky to kill Claudius because the entirety of Rome loved him. She had to make his death look as natural as possible so they decided on poison. Agrippina went to a woman named Locusta to get the poison which she would put on a mushroom. The royal family was eating dinner together that night and one of the courses consisted of mushrooms. Claudius loved mushrooms! Normally Claudius gets served first but since he had an idea that Agrippina was up to something, he allowed the others to eat first. This made Agrippina nervous because she did not

“the events that led to her downfall, which happened alongside that of her son Nero, are extremely difficult to disentangle and contradictory versions have come down in the sources” Barrett

Nero's other interest included the arts and public interest, which included a "modest" amphitheater in Rome. To inaugurate his amphitheater, Nero held a gladiatorial fight, but never allowed the losers of matches to be killed, something uncommon in Ancient Rome. He also performed as a chariot rider in some contests as an athlete. While gladiator fights may seem to be barbaric in our day, they were a point of interest among both rich and poor and brought the empire together as a means for both entertainment and union. The same amphitheater was also likely used for performance arts and musicals as Nero himself was a noted singer and lyre player that encouraged other nobles to take up lessons. Following the burning of Rome in 64, Nero coordinated the rebuilding of Rome that included the building of his palace that many noted may have been planned as part of the fire.

Nero and Tiberius both started off as great leaders of Rome. Throughout their leadership many events occurred that caused the general publics view to change on both of them. Comparing Nero, the careless leader to Tiberius, the leader with great accomplishments I found that they are complete opposites. Analyzing the accomplishments, treatment of people, and the overall personality of Nero and Tiberius it can be concluded that Tiberius is a better leader than Nero.

First, jealousy leads Commodus and Claudius into a Machiavellian nature to achieve greatness. Previous to Marcus Aurelius’ death, he tells maximus that he wants him to become the next emperor of Rome and that he will bring Rome back to a republic. Marcus’ reasoning for this is, “‘Your faults as a son, is my failure as a father’” (Marcus Aurelius). All Commodus wants from his dad is love and for him to accept him for who he is. Marcus has always been praising Maximus over his own son. When Marcus chooses Maximus over his own son to become Rome’s emperor, Commodus becomes enraged. This drove Commodus to become a vicious villain. This also elicits pathos towards Commodus because his own father does not want him. Commodus begins to realize his father will never love him so he suffocates Marcus before he announced Maximus would be emperor so the throne would be passed down to himself. Commodus is jealous of the amount of love Maximus gets from his father and envy’s him. The

“The Assassination of Julius Caesar” by Michael Parenti goes into details about the events that lead up to the death of Caesar due to class conflicts. In 44 BC, the assassination of Julius Caesar was lead by conspiring members of the Roman senate who wanted to remove the dictator, who was increasingly acquiring power, and to revive the Republic government. Parenti's book protests against the gentlemen historians and the class society that they used to describe the assassination of Julius Caesar. His book also gives us insight about the Late Republic and takes us through the events that were presented in the actions of

Nero was a highly influential Roman leader whose actions where both positive for the Roman Empire and also abused his power by doing negative actions in Rome. Nero was born to Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina, the great granddaughter of Augustus in 37 A.D, with the full name of Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus. He was the last remaining direct male descendant of Augustus. Nero received a good education and was taught by Seneca. He studied Greek, philosophy and rhetoric. After Nero’s father, Gnaeus died in 48 A.D, his mother married her uncle, Claudius who at the time was the emperor. She manipulated Claudius to make Nero his successor instead of his son Britannicus, as well as give Nero his daughter, Octavia's hand in marriage in 50 A.D. In 54 A.D Claudius died, and Agrippina was suspected to have poisoned him. Nero took the throne soon after. Nero claimed that Britannicus had an epileptic seizure which caused his death, but historians believe that Nero poisoned him to get rid of competition.

Agrippina’s relationship to her stepfather had always been problematic, but it got even worse when the latter was suspected of having played a part in Germanicus’ death. The personal animosity and years of bad blood between the emperor and Agrippina becomes evident on two occasions: after Agrippina fell gravely ill in 26 CE, Tiberius visited his stepdaughter, whom she tearfully begged to be allowed to remarry so that she could find some consolation in her loneliness; Tiberius, however, not wanting to demonstrate weakness, forbade her from doing so. Then, under the pretence that the partes were conspiring of murdering the emperor and seizing the throne, Sejanus, under the auspices of the emperor, instigated a number of trials between 24-29

Nero, who took the throne after his mother poisoned Claudius, the current emperor, ruled from 54 to 68 AD. At first, Nero was the picture-perfect emperor. He lowered taxes, allowed more freedom to the Senate, granted permission to slaves who wanted to sue their unfair owners, and rid Rome of capital punishment. Eventually, Nero

Nero’s rise to power was a “long road full of treachery.” (T.V.) It was also full of change such as his name he was not always know as Nero his name was Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus until his dad had died and his mom married her widowed uncle, who was the emperor of the time, and they changed it to Nero Claudius Divi Claudius Filius Caesar Agustus Germanicus. Later she convinced him to name Nero heir to the throne and allow him take his daughter Octavia as his wife. His adopted brother was reaching age to take the throne but he mysteriously died, “Many suspect that Nero poisoned him.” (biograpy.com, 2017) So, as one can see Nero was a very shady character who would stop at nothing to seize and hold the throne.

Centuries after the murder of a rising dictator, students, historians, and linguists alike continue to study the death of Julius Caesar as immortalized by William Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. In this tragedy, Shakespeare examines the days preceding Caesar’s downfall, and the aftermath that ensues. The tragedy describes Marcus Brutus, a character with noble and honorable intentions, influenced by Cassius to support a conspiracy against an ambitious politician, Julius Caesar. Brutus, Cassius, and other conspirators succeed in ending Caesar’s life, but are forced to flee when Rome turns against them. Much controversy has arisen over who is the tragic hero of the play. A tragic hero is a noble character who, despite his greatness, is led to destruction by his own fatal flaw. Although many argue Brutus is the tragic hero due to his prominent role in the play and his heroic, yet flawed, character, Shakespeare remains justified in the naming of his play. In Shakespeare’s accurately titled tragedy, Julius Caesar, rather than Brutus, remains the tragic hero of the play due to his heroic qualities, his fatal flaw, and Brutus’ ineligibility as the tragic hero.

As Emperor Nero continued to rule new speculation formed that his mother was planning to overthrow him with his brother Britannicus who was the actual son of Emperor Claudius. This is because as his mother