Nero and His Lasting Effect on the Roman Empire

Nero and His Lasting Effect on the Roman Empire

Though he’s widely known for his quick temper that wreaked negative effects on the empire, the last emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty (Five Great Emperors), Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, more commonly known as Nero, had a huge impact on the empire in both positive and negative ways. From murdering numerous people, including his mother and wife, to blaming a catastrophe on a whole religion, the list of Nero’s wrong doings goes on, but he did have positive influences on the empire that changed the domain for the better. These include improvement to unjust government laws as well as improvement in the arts.

Even through his childhood, Nero was surround with death which probably the reason for his trauma and hot-headedness. After his father died when he was only two years old, he was adopted by his great-uncle (his mother’s uncle), emperor Claudius, when he was 13. Agrippina the Younger, Nero’s mother supposedly fed his adoptive father poisoned mushrooms and causing his death in 54 A.D., sending him to the throne at the 17.

    During his initial five years as emperor, he was looked upon as unselfish, as he promoted power-sharing with the Senate, amongst other changes that were appreciated by the public. Nero usually took interest in his own endeavors and hobbies and left the work to Seneca, Burrus, and Agrippina. Behind closed doors though, Agrippina was overbearing and attempted to impact her son’s rule, even in his private life. For example, Nero and Octavia, Claudius’ daughter, were arranged to marry each other by Agrippina, although their marriage face troubles. After some time, Seneca, a Roman philosopher and poet, encouraged Nero to take the reigns and step under from his mother’s shadow, to which Agrippina responded with becoming traitor. She became an advocate for her stepson, Britannicus, whom she previously looked over. Britannicus would soon die the day before he would have been declared an adult. It is believed that he was poisoned by Nero.

During 58, Nero had split with his wife Acte and began a new relationship with Poppaea. Three years into their marriage, during a “casual outburst of rage”, Nero killed her and her unborn child by kicking her stomach. He also plotted to drown his mother using a collapsible boat, but after that failed he had her stabbed to death.

    Nero is made out to be an evil man even, he did win the public’s eye. He improved the government by making good natured changes. During his reign, Nero managed to eliminate capital punishment, lower taxes, donate to cities in crisis and allow slaves to complain against unfair masters. The emperor was an advocate to the arts and athletics. Though he is known for his bad actions, he had good intent, even through his naïve ruling.

    One of the most well-known traits of Nero is how many people he had killed. He absolutely hated being disrespected, due to the rumors of treason between him and the senate. Many deaths were caused by his quick fuse: the death of his second wife, Poppaea, and his unborn child, an army commander for bashing him at a party, a politician for writing a book full of bad remarks about the senate, rivals to reduce opposition and inflate his power, as well as the most notable, hundreds of Christians which he blamed for the great-fire of Rome. Historians believe he blamed followers of the then-new religion because they thought of Nero as the antichrist, furthering the point of him hating being defamed.

    Even from the beginning of his rule, Nero never saw pleasure in politics. He left the work to his Seneca, Burrus, and mother while he engaged in his own activities. After the death of his mother, he devoted himself to the arts.

    Nero’s focus on arts wasn’t completely detrimental. He actually played his lyre in public performances and he encouraged upper class members to partake in dancing. Though some say that a happy Nero was playing his lyre atop the Palatine, after the Great Fire he recreated Rome all the while providing help for those made homeless during the fire. During construction, he ordered a 100-acre large palace, called Domus Aurea (Latin for “Golden House”) which held the self-modeled, 100-foot-tall statue made of bronze. Not everything about building the monument caused good. It sent the financial organization of Rome into a frenzy because he took money from whatever source of treasury he could find.

    Not all chaos that was unleashed during Nero’s rule was his fault. When Queen Boudicca, queen of Iceni, rose to the throne in rebellion after her flogging and her were daughters raped by Roman soldiers. King Prasutagus, her husband, made an agreement with Nero’s adoptive father, Claudius, to see him rule as a client-king. When Claudius died, Nero ignored the message passed on to him by the officials,

    Being considered one of the most psychotic and insane emperors of the Roman Empire wouldn’t be easy, though it is not said that he didn’t do things to deserve the label. Matricide, the murder of one’s own mother, appalled Rome, as it would anyone sane, and blaming, torturing, imprisoning, and murdering Christians were just two of the horrible deeds he committed as emperor. A rumor was even spread that he stood on the Palatine watching Rome burn down, playing his fiddle, was proven false by historians (the fiddle didn’t exist at the same time Nero was emperor); some even say that Nero started the fire himself to make way for the supposed idea of rebuilding of the empire.

As soon as the empire snapped out of their daze, the Senate declared Nero as a public enemy, allowing anyone to kill him without having to be punished. This caused him to flee the empire with a few of his slaves. The day after he was declared an enemy, Nero committed suicide. His last words are reported to be “What an artist dies in me!”

The legacy Nero left on the empire wasn’t a very good one. After his death, there was no one in his family to inherit the throne, so the empire went without a leader for some time, 30 years before Trajan succeed him. Caused by his rabble-rousing ways, Nero’s name became synonymous for hot-headedness and violence.