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Nero

Type Figure Region Italy Time 37–68 Also known as Nero Claudius、last Julio-Claudian emperor

Nero (37–68 CE) was the fifth emperor of the Roman Empire and the last of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, notorious for the Great Fire of Rome, persecuti…

Timeline

  1. 37–54Antium · LazioBorn at Antium to Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina the Younger. After Claudius married his mother, he adopted Nero and made him heir; when Claudius died in 54 CE, the seventeen-year-old Nero ascended with the support of his mother, the praetorian prefect Burrus, and the philosopher Seneca.
  2. 54–62Rome · LazioIn the early part of his reign, guided by Seneca and Burrus, he pursued moderate policies such as tax cuts and judicial reform, winning some public support. He was also keen on poetry, the lyre, and theatrical performance, and undertook grand building projects such as the Domus Aurea, gradually throwing off the control of his advisers.
  3. 62–64Rome · LazioHe successively murdered his mother Agrippina the Younger, his wives Octavia and Poppaea Sabina. After the Great Fire of Rome in 64 CE he undertook large-scale reconstruction and shifted blame for the fire onto Christians, persecuting them. He executed Seneca and other old ministers, and his autocratic tendencies became increasingly evident.
  4. 64–68outskirts of Rome · LazioIn 68 CE the governor of Gaul, Vindex, and the governor of Spain, Galba, successively rose in revolt, and the Praetorian Guard also defected. Nero fled Rome and, learning at a suburban villa that the Senate had declared him a public enemy, took his own life at the age of thirty-one, ending the Julio-Claudian dynasty.

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