BIOGRAPHY
OF NERO
Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus was born in Antium in 37 AD.
His parents were Aggrippina and Cnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus. Lucius,
who later changed his name to Nero Claudius Caesar, was very smart and was
a good student as a child, he used his cleverness to get on the good side
of the senate, which can help him later in his life. His mother, Aggrippina
married a total of three times. The first marriage gave her Nero, the
second gave her money, and the third marriage gave her power, as it enabled
Nero to become emperor. Aggrippina’s third marriage, displayed a lot
of the problems that she had. In the third marriage, when she was married
to Claudius, she first forces Claudius to adopt Nero as his son. Then
she poisons Claudius’ son Britannicus to make sure that Nero will have no
competition for the throne when Claudius is gone. Next she kills Claudius,
in 54 AD, and then Nero becomes emperor. Once Nero becomes emperor
he orders to have his mother killed in 59 AD. In 62 AD Nero divorces
Octavia from his first marriage and remarries to the younger Poppaea.
The next major event
in Nero’s life is the burning of Rome in 64 AD. When this happened there
was a lot of suspicion that Nero had been involved, especially because he
had burned buildings down at other times in his life, but he blamed the burning
of the Christians, and denied any involvement. Although Nero
was never accused of burning Rome, after this point Nero’s rule was on a
fast decline. Nero was no longer popular and there were conspiracies
against him. In 65 AD Seneca, his tutor as a child, and Lucan, a poet,
formed a conspiracy against him and were forced to commit suicide when Nero
found this out. Nero also kicks and beats his wife to death during
this time. By 68 AD Nero had worn out his welcome, and knew he was
soon going to be killed. He fled to the House of Freedom, four miles
away from Rome where he killed himself before the soldiers had the opportunity
to kill him. Nero was the last Julio-Claudian emperor.