by Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus, December 15, 37-June 9, 68), emperor of the ancient Roman Empire, reigned from 54 to 68. He was the last emperor of the Julia Claudius dynasty of the Roman Empire. There are quite a lot of historical materials and creations about him in later generations, but his image is generally poorly described. Nero is usually listed as one of the tyrants of ancient Rome.

Early years

Nero's paternal lineage came from the branch of Domitius, the Ahenobarbi (literally'bronze beard '), and his father, Domitius Ahenobarbi, died of edema shortly after the death of Emperor Tiberius. Nero's mother came from Octavian's immediate blood relative Agrippina, who had been exiled by Tiberius and Caligula and recalled by Emperor Claudius. Nero was born in Antium, a seaside city south of Rome, and Agrippina named the newborn "Lucius" (that is, the full name is "Lucius Domitius Akhenobalbus"). This Lucius lost his father at the age of three, and his mother was exiled, because he had been raised by his aunt 'Lebida' family all his childhood. In 49 AD, Agrippina married her'uncle ', Emperor Claudius. She adopted her only son as a member of the Claudius family and changed to the clan's name 'Nero'.

ascended the throne

Emperor Claudius and his former wife Messarina had a daughter and a son: the eldest daughter Claudius Octavia and the youngest son Bretanicus. But Nero was twelve years old when he was adopted into the Claudius family, older than Bretanicus, who was eight years old, so Nero became the heir to the throne, Caesar. Agrippina tried her best to cultivate her own son as emperor, hired Seneca, a famous philosopher, as his teacher, and let Nero marry Octavia. At this time, Nero entered politics and held public office, gave several speeches in Latin and Greek to the Senate, and held large-scale competitions and beast fighting performances in his own name.

On October 13, 1954, Emperor Claudius died of food poisoning (it is suspected that Agrippina may have poisoned it), and 17-year-old Nero successfully succeeded to the throne.

The governing process

Early Good Governance

At the beginning of Nero's reign, the state policy was jointly decided by Agrippina, Seneca, Pallas, the former minister of the late emperor, and Sextus Bruce, the governor of the Guards. They cooperated with the Senate class to maintain the stable development policy of the former dynasty, held Greek-style competitions in the capital, and abolished the exorbitant donations of tax collectors and slave auction taxes. At this time, the scene in Rome was very prosperous, and the border situation was roughly flat.

Family contradictions and personal power consolidation

Nero's mother, Agrippina, had a strong desire for power. As Nero became an adult, he became more and more dissatisfied with his mother's meddling in politics. At Seneca's suggestion, Nero, as emperor, prevented his mother from entering the venue during an audience with an Armenian envoy. Agrippina reacted fiercely to this, threatening Nero with the help of his younger brother Bretanicus, who was about to come of age. In 55, Bretanicus died of poisoning after dinner, which later generations speculated was poisoned by Nero.

Later, Nero accused Paras of being involved in a conspiracy and expelled Paras; Paras was Agrippina's close friend in the morning, which indicated that Nero opposed his mother. Bruce retired, and Nero promoted Tiglinus as his new guardian chief. In 1959, Nero suddenly devoted great diligence, inviting his mother to a holiday in the Bay villa on the coast of Campania. Nero specially ordered a gorgeous small boat to transport Agrippina, but on the way the ship disintegrated, and Nero attempted to create an accidental illusion of sinking Agrippina. But Agrippina was skilled in swimming and rescued by the fishing boat that passed through. Agrippina sent her slaves to Nero, and after Nero

In 62, Bruce died.In 65, Seneca was involved in a conspiracy to commit suicide in a way to open blood vessels.

internal affairs

Nero¡¯s measures in domestic affairs were largely inclined toward the masses of civilians. He invented methods to counter false wills, limiting the ceiling of the defence remuneration in litigation cases, to prevent the inequal exploitation imposed by law on civilians. He lowered the taxes on many indirect taxes, and opened the government¡¯s tax records to prevent officials from fraudulent corruption. Nero suppressed food prices and restricted poor Roman citizens to be satisfied.

Nero loved art. He himself was a poet, playwright, singer and harpist. He often holds grand competitive games and participates in the games personally. He sponsored literature, art, architecture, and various engineering inventions. After Octavian's reign, the empire under Nero's reign showed a prosperous scene of literature and art. After the Great Fire of Rome in 64, he built the famous and magnificent Domus Aurea.

But after Nero's monopolization of power, his reverence for the elders and nobles gradually faded. He became fond of accepting people's flattery and cracked down on political forces opposed to him. The most famous is the '65' Conspiracy of Pizzo, a group of Republican politicians intended to overthrow Nero's rule. But they planned to leak beforehand. Nero expanded the scope of attack, purged dissidents, and made the upper class of Rome feel the terror of the emperor at any time.

The Fire of Rome in 64 years

On the night of July 18, 64 AD, the city of Rome suffered an unprecedented fire, which lasted for six days. Of the fourteen urban areas of Rome, three have been burned to vacant land, and the other seven are half or almost completely destroyed.

According to the records, Nero returned to Rome from Antioch, opened his palaces to resettle the victims, and shipped food from Ostia to neighboring towns. But due to the severe losses caused by the fires, it was commonly suspected that this should have been caused by man-made firing. Nero heard that someone suspected that he himself had secretly fired, and in order not to spread the rumor, he declared that the disaster was the fire of a Christian conspiracy. So he ordered the arrest of Christians and publicly tortured them crucified, the skin of the beast to bite the evil dog, and to hang them on the pillars as candles.

External Relationships

The British Uprising.

In 60 AD, as the British Roman legions were busy fighting for the island of Mona, Queen Budicia of the southeastern part of the island led the army to resist Roman rule. British Legion Chief Paulinus returned to the army and settled the rebellion of Budicia in 1961.

Eastern relations

In 55 AD, a coup d'état in the eastern part of Rome, Armenia, eventually entered Armenia by the prince of Patia, Tiridates, and became a new king. Since Rome always regarded Armenia as its protectorate, the exiled Armenian people sought help from Nero.

On the part of Pattaya, Armenia was considered culturally closer to Persia, so it was decided to manage the affairs of Armenia on its own without having to deal with Rome. Pattaya's King Vologis I rejected Rome's demand for the restoration of the old king and appointed his brother Tiridates as king of Armenia. In 58, the Roman army led by Colombo entered the east and waged a series of battles with the Alliance of Pattaya-Armenia. In 59, Colombo invaded the capital of Armenia, expelled the forces of Pattaya, and Tiridates escaped. The Roman side embraced Tiridis for Armenia. King Nero believed the war had ended and Colombo returned to Syria.

In 62, the deposed Tiridates entered Armenia again under the protection of the Parthian army. Nero sent Paitus to lead the Roman legions to fight, but suffered a severe defeat. Parthia regained control of Armenia, and Tiridates ascended the throne again. So Nero reappointed Corbulo in Syria to fight. Because of Korbulo's reputation and considerable influence in the local area, when Korbulo built a bunker on the Euphrates River, it caused great panic among the other party. Not wanting to engage in war with Corbulo, the Parthia sent emissaries to negotiate peace terms with Nero.

In 63 Patty reached an agreement with Rome.. to recognize Tiridates as King of Armenia, but the crown of the king must be conferred by the Roman Emperor. Tiridates entered the camp of Colombo, before the statue of Nero was crowned by the Emperor of Colombo as Tiridates. Later, Tiridates went to Rome, and Nero crowned him again and welcomed him with great celebration. Thus, Neroined a fairly good reputation in the land, and after Nero's suicide, three false Neros appeared, one of whom had been revered by Armenia. On the other hand, after that, the eastern border of Romeined seven decades of peace.

The Jewish Uprising

In 66 AD, the problem of tax arrears in the Jewish province aroused riots among local Jews and Greeks, and the Roman Syrian legion failed to suppress them. So Nero sent Vespa to the local area to quell the chaos. Due to the death of Nero at the end of 68, Rome entered a civil war and the Jewish campaign was interrupted. It was not until 70 that Titus suppressed the uprising.

Marriage is

Nero had three marriages. The first was the younger marriage to Claudius's daughter Davy, but after Nero became emperor, the servant Akkadian, who liked the house of Davy, intended to divorce from the house of Davy, after the conviction of Seneca and Agripina, but the couple's relationship had survived. After Agripina's death, Davy was expelled to the island to live. In 58, Nero liked the wife of Chief Minister Otto, Popeya Sabina, in order to facilitate giving her the title of queen, and Nero in 62 forced the house of Agripina to commit suicide, making Popeya his second wife.

Popeya once gave birth to a daughter for Nero, but was premature. Later, Nero kicked pregnant Popeya during a stroke, causing her to die at age 65.

The object of Nero's third marriage was Statia Mesarina. In order to get the woman Mesalina, Nero forced her husband Vistinus to commit suicide. Mesalina did not give birth to Nero's child.

Suicide to die

Wendex Gaul Uprising

As Nero received several attempts to assassinate him, he became very suspicious, and his attempts to rebel the aristocratic aristocracy were upset. In early 1968, the governor of Lugdunu Gaul, Yulius Wendiks, rallied with the slogan "save mankind", and many cities in the Gulf region responded. Nero ordered the German general Rufus to lead the German army and headed the Gulf Rebellion.

Galba's Rise and the Rome Riots

After Wendy led the uprising, the chief of the province of Tarragona and Spain, Galba, also joined the army in response to anti-Nero operations in Spain, but Galba heard of Wendy's failure to commit suicide, the voice of the uprising was severely hit, the Spanish army's heart gradually failed, and Galba also planned to commit suicide.

But at this time the rumors of the capital Rome were four, and the people heard that the grain was not transported from Alexandria, but the sand used for gladiators to perform, and the crowd revolted. Nero did not know Wendyx had failed, thinking that Gaul and Spain had succeeded in rebellion, and the guard also abandoned him.

When the Senate learned that Nero had left, it immediately decided to call Calba Emperor and to declare Nero ¡°the enemy of the people¡± and anyone could pursue or kill Nero. In his former slave-liberated mansion, he learned that the soldiers who had been pursued had cut off his escape path, and on June 9 only three or four servants remained with Nero, and finally he struck his head in his throat and committed suicide, ending his 14 years of rule.

Evaluation of the future

Historians' evaluation

Because of the compilation and collation of Roman historical materials, most of them are the upper class of the empire. Because Nero's rule over this class in the middle and late period of his reign was quite brutal, the historical materials handed down to later generations mostly viewed all Nero's administration from a negative point of view. For example, in the Rome Fire in 64, Suetonius wrote about Nero's behavior of causing disasters and happiness in considerable space, and clearly pointed out that this fire was ordered by Nero. However, whether this description is consistent with the facts has always been quite controversial among historians. In addition, after Nero's death, he was "erased by memory" by later generations, so most of his deeds left an engraved impression of negative interpretation.

Nero himself loved luxury and was cruel to his relatives and subjects.But his commentary, by experts who studied the history of the early Roman Empire, revealed many different faces of Nero.

Assessment of the Christian Church

The development of the early Christian church was at the time of Nero's reign. Yet Christianity in Rome at the time was a rather discriminated religion, and was therefore rejected and misunderstood by officials and the people. While Nero referred to the culprits of the Fire of Rome in 64 as Christians, public persecution and murder of the religious, so the church records saw Nero as the antichrist, and the apostles Paul and Peter were also killed in his hands. Nero was the first tyrant to oppress Christianity.