The senate was outraged. And yet still the empire enjoyed moderate and responsible government by the administration. Hence the senate was not yet alienated enough to overcome its fear and do something against the madman whom it knew on the throne. The historian Suetonius describes him singing from the tower of Maecenas, watching as the fire consumed Rome. But Tacitus also takes care to point out that this story was a rumour, not the account of an eye witness. If his singing on the roof tops was true or not, the rumour was enough to make people suspicious that his measures to put out the fire might not have been genuine.
This was a huge area, ranging from the Portico of Livia to the Circus Maximus close to where the fire was said to have started , which now was turned into pleasure gardens for the emperor, even an artificial lake being created in its centre. Judging by the sheer scale of this complex, it was obvious it could never have been built, were it not have been for the fire.
And so quite naturally Romans had their suspicions about who had actually started it. It would be unfair however to omit that Nero did rebuild large residential areas of Rome at his own expense. But people, dazzled by the immensity of the Golden Palace and its parks, nonetheless remained suspicious. Nero, always a man desparate to be popular, therefore looked for scapegoats on whom the fire could be blamed.
He found it in an obscure new religious sect, the Christians. And so many Christians were arrested and thrown to the wild beasts in the circus, or they were crucified. It is this brutal persecution which immortalized Nero as the first Antichrist in the eyes of the Christian church. The second Antichrist being the reformist Luther by edict of the Catholic Church.
Then in AD 65 there was a serious plot against Nero. The plot was uncovered and nineteen executions and suicides followed, and thirteen banishments. Piso and Seneca were among those who died. There was never anything even resembling a trial: people whom Nero suspected or disliked or who merely aroused the jealousy of his advisers were sent a note ordering them to commit suicide.
Nero, leaving Rome in charge of the freedman Helius, went to Greece to display his artistic abilities in the theatres of Greece. He won contests in the Olympic Games, — winning the chariot race although he fell of his chariot as obviously nobody dared to defeat him , collected works of art, and opened a canal, which was never finished.
Read More : Roman Games. Alas, the situation was becoming very serious in Rome. When he burned Rome to the ground in July 64 AD and his heinous act became known, he cast about for a scapegoat to preserve the State—himself.
Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilate, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their center and become popular.
Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all Christians who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.
He also got sick of his wife complaining about his fondness for the games, so kicked her pregnant belly, killing her and her unborn child, but still would complain to him even after death.
Sadly, despite his popularity, he would be the target of a conspiracy led by Gaius Piso , which failed after a freed woman botched a recruitment opportunity and having the conspiracy relayed to Nerva , who relayed it to Nero. As a result, he ordered the freed woman to be tortured, Piso to be executed, and Seneca - an accomplice - to commit suicide. He did marry a nameless woman after executing her husband, but it was not enough, so he went with one of his twink slaves instead: Sporus , who would be dressed and made up like a woman before castration.
Mid-honeymoon, he had heard of a rebellion in Judea after complaints of high taxation by the Jews and the resultant capture of the Jews' illegally-kept wealth. As a result, he sent Vespasian and his son Titus to deal with them, which they would until the Year of the Four Emperors. He had also heard that a Gallic governor - Vindex - was also rebelling due to high taxation, so sent Verginius, a legate, to quash the revolt.
However, the leeches of the Praetorian Guard decided to abandon him in favor of Galba , so he began to flee with his wife, seeking to sail away like Sulla did, but the sailors also betrayed him, quoting Vergil to his face. He then fled to a friend's home and ordered his grave to be dug. As he heard the cavalry arrive, he called out Sporus' name and mourned that a great artist would be lost, plunging a knife into himself afterwards. This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets CSS enabled.
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