Oh, young Tiberius! Nero, a depraved first-century emperor, married at least two men. For more details, see our Privacy Policy. You fall in love? His nocturnal rioting in the streets was a scandal as early as 56, but the emergence of real brutality in Nero can be fixed in the 35-month period between the putting to death of his mother at his orders in 59 and his similar treatment of his wife Octavia in June 62. From that time until 62, Burrus and Seneca were the effective rulers of the empire. According to the Annals of the Roman historian Tacitus and to the Nero of the Roman biographer Suetonius, Nero in response tried to shift responsibility for the fire to the Christians, who were popularly thought to engage in many wicked practices. Poppaea Sabina was the mistress and second wife of the Roman emperor Nero. But his early promise gave way to wild extravagance and murder. Tacitus, for instance, asserts that Poppaea engineered her marriage with Otho specifically to get closer to, and eventually marry, Nero. Although this might sound quite nice, this was far from being something to envy. You can opt-out at any time. Poppaea was married first to Rufrius Crispinus of the Preaetorian Guard, and they had a son. An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors. Wikimedia Commons Emperor Nero took the young boy Sporus as his bride in 67 A.D. As Nero was older than Claudius’ natural son by a previous marriage, Britannicus, he now had a superb claim to the imperial purple. According to the stories told of her, Poppaea had urged Nero to kill his mother, Agrippina the Younger, and to divorce and later murder his first wife, Octavia. Nero married Poppaea, and Poppaea was given the title Augusta when they had a daughter, Claudia. Agrippina followed in 59BC, and finally, in 62 AD, Nero murdered first wife Octavia and her elder sister. Nero’s father, Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, died about 40 ce, and Nero was brought up by his mother, Julia Agrippina, a great-granddaughter of the emperor Augustus. Nero is considered as one of best known for the worst list of Roman emperors ever existed and also having allowed his wife and also his mother to rule for him and then stepped out from their Shadows and in the result of having them and reportedly kicking his wife to death. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Artistic pretensions and irresponsibility, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nero-Roman-emperor, JewishEncyclopedia.com - Biography of Nero, Jewish Virtual Library - Biography of Nero, Public Broadcasting Service - Biography of Nero, Nero - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Nero burned Rome and blamed it on the Christians! In reality, Agrippina detested Poppaea Sabina and forced Nero to marry Octavia. The image of a crazed and capricious Emperor Nero is immortalised in popular culture: from fiddling while Rome burns to having a sexual relationship with his mother. It was then that the infamous same-sex marriage took place. Most of the accounts we have of Nero are hostile; ancient writers loved to … Nero’s rule would have its share of bloodshed in places throughout the empire. Britannica now has a site just for parents! Nero appointed Otho to an important post as governor of Lusitai (Lusitania). Claudius proved to be a relatively successful emperor, but his greatest fatal mistake was marrying his niece Agrippina in later life, and adopting her son Nero as his own in order to secure the alliance. She then married her uncle, the emperor Claudius. Poppaea and Nero’s child died after her birth, while Pappaea’s next pregnancy ended in tr… Nero himself pardoned writers of epigrams against him and even those who plotted against him, and secret trials were few. So Nero had him castrated and took him as his bride. wife Poppaea Sabina. She is a former faculty member of the Humanist Institute. Sensitive and handsome, Nero (37 – 68 AD / reigned 54 – 68 AD) started out well as emperor. Please select which sections you would like to print: Corrections? In 56 Agrippina was forced into retirement. Agrippina was the daughter of Germanicus Caesar and Vipsania Agrippina, sister of the emperor Gaius, or Caligula (reigned 37–41), and wife of the emperor Claudius (41–54). In Britain, in A.D. 60, the Iceni Queen Boudicca (also spelled Boudica or Boudicea) rose in rebellion after she was flogged and her daughters raped by Roman soldiers. Biographies >> Ancient Rome. Cassius Dio identifies Sporus as a freedman. In the second instance, a different delegation won Poppaea's influence in its cause to keep standing a wall at the temple that would keep the emperor from seeing the Temple's proceedings. She also advocated for her home town of Pompeii, and helped it gain considerable autonomy from the Empire's rule. Nero’s marriages and affairs also proved to be troublesome. The opera focuses on the replacement of Nero's wife Octavia by Poppaea. This caused a rift with his mother, Agrippina the Younger. He wed Pythagoras in a formal same-sex wedding by first putting on a bridal veil that made Nero the "bride" and Pythagoras the "groom." Your stepfather is none other than Emperor Augustus, so his wish is your command. He was led to the murder of Agrippina by her insanity and her fury at seeing her son slip out of her control, to the murder of Octavia by his having fallen in love with Poppaea Sabina, the young wife of the senator (and later emperor) Otho, and by his fear that his repudiated wife was fomenting disaffection at court and among the populace. Sporus became emperor Nero’s formal wife in the eyes of everyone, and he had to be addressed as “empress.” He would wear all the luxurious attires worthy of the Roman aristocracy and had an entourage of servants at his disposal. AKA Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus. Nero gave her a public funeral and proclaimed her virtues. Nero (/ ˈ n ɪər oʊ / NEER-oh; Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus; 15 December 37 – 9 June 68 AD) was the fifth Roman emperor, ruling from 54 to 68.His infamous reign is usually associated with tyranny, extravagance and debauchery. In 65 AD, Nero is believed to have kicked his wife Poppaea to death. Nero built a palace, the Golden House, which was apparently magnificent, but it was so resented by the public and by his successors that it was almost completely dismantled. After poisoning her second husband, Agrippina incestuously became the wife of her uncle, the emperor Claudius, and persuaded him to favour Nero for the succession, over the rightful claim of Claudius’s own son, Britannicus, and to marry his daughter, Octavia, to Nero. Nero. Nero reportedly kicked her during an argument when she was pregnant in 65 C.E., resulting in her death, possibly from the effects of the subsequent miscarriage. Statue in the Golden House of Nero, Rome. After Emperor Nero allegedly kicked his second wife Sabina to death in 65 A.D., he met a slave boy named Sporus who looked like her. He may have been a puer delicatus, who were sometimes castrated in an effort to preserve their youthful qualities. Poppaea Sabina was born the daughter of a woman with the same name who committed suicide. Birthplace: Antium, Latium Location of death: Rome, Italy Cause of death: Suicide. In 53 AD, Nero married Claudia Octavia, his stepsister and daughter of Claudius with Messali… She was born in early 40 at the latest, but perhaps a year or two earlier, because her younger brother Britannicus was born in February of 41. ! Agrippina, the Empress Who Scandalized Rome, A Look at the Lives of the First 12 Roman Emperors, Five Roman Empresses You Shouldn't Invite to Dinner, Biography of Tiberius, 1st Century Roman Emperor, Marcus Fabius Quintilianus, Better Known as Quintilian, M.Div., Meadville/Lombard Theological School. His new wife was Statilia Messallina. Otho, Poppaea's first husband, helped in Galba's successful revolt against Nero, and made himself emperor after Galba was killed. They encouraged Nero to act independently of her, and a growing coolness resulted in Nero’s relations with his mother. Nero was born in 37 A.D., the nephew of the emperor. His government forbade contests in the circus involving bloodshed, banned capital punishment, reduced taxes, and accorded permission to slaves to bring civil complaints against unjust masters. This Roman historian also villified Poppaea in his writing about her. Almost by accident, Nero initiated the later Roman policy of halfhearted persecution of the Christians, in the process earning himself the reputation of Antichrist in the early Christian tradition. She being his favorite, Nero impregnated her and then married her in 63. But our most detailed images of homosexual marriages come from the descriptions of Roman emperors. OCTÁVIA) (late AD 39 or early AD 40 – 8 June AD 62) was an empress of Rome. Upon the death of Claudius, she at once had Nero proclaimed emperor by the Praetorian Guard, whose prefect, Sextus Afranius Burrus, was her partisan; the Senate thus had to accept a fait accompli. During the fire, Nero was at his villa at Antium 35 miles (56 km) from Rome and therefore cannot be held responsible for the burning of the city. Rome burned while he was emperor, and the eagerness with which he rebuilt led many to believe that he was responsible for the fire. Taking advantage of the fire’s destruction, Nero had the city reconstructed in the Greek style and began building a prodigious palace—the Golden House—which, had it been finished, would have covered a third of Rome. He tried to shift the blame to the Christians, beginning the Roman persecution of that young religion. His armies put down rebellions in Britain and Judaea, he was an enthusiastic patron of the arts, and he was lenient toward his enemies. The puer delicatus generally was a child-slave chosen by his master for his beauty and sexual attractiveness. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. The Jewish historian Josephus (who also died in 65 BCE) tells us that Poppaea Sabina interceded on behalf of Jews twice. Poppaea's next husband was Otho, a childhood friend of Nero. Octavia was the daughter of the Roman Emperor Claudius and his wife Messalina. The conflagration lasted … Shortly after Nero allegedly killed Poppaea, he remarried … This caused a rift with his mother, Agrippina the Younger. This caused a rift with his mother, Agrippina the Younger. Nero was a Roman emperor who ruled from 54 to 68 AD. The first time was to free priests; Josephus went to Rome to plead their case, meeting with Poppaea and then receiving many gifts from her. Her birth year is unknown, but we know she died in 65 C.E. He married Poppaea in 62, but she died in 65, and he subsequently married the patrician… In archaeological study of the city of Pompeii, where volcanic tragedy preserved the city within 15 years of Poppaea's death, scholars have found evidence that during her lifetime, she was considered a virtuous woman, with many statues in her honor. Even still some argue that she died as a result of childbirth or miscarriage. Up to the year 59, Nero’s biographers cite only acts of generosity and clemency on his account. Your father was forced to divorce your pregnant mother, marrying your stepfather instead. The legend that Nero fiddled during the 64 CE fire in Rome is false because bowed stringed instruments would not reach Europe for almost another millennia. Then in 64 AD, the Great Fire of Rome broke out. He was married to the very popular Octavia, the daughter of Claudius and Messalina (a marriage made at his mother’s urging) but also having an affair with the very pregnant Poppaea Sabina (his mother detested her). Occupation: Emperor of Rome Born: December 15, 37 AD in Antium, Italy Died: June 9, 68 AD outside Rome, Italy Reign: October 13, 54 AD to June 9, 68 AD Best known for: One of the worst Emperors of Rome, legend has it he played the fiddle while Rome burned Biography: Nero ruled Rome from 54 AD to 68 AD. Nero was married to Octavia, the daughter of Claudius and Messalina, but had affair with Poppaea Sabina. In 52 AD, at the age of twelve, she married her step-brother Nero. Her family was wealthy, and Poppaea herself owned a villa outside Pompeii. Nero's second wife. After the murder of Poppaea Sabina, Nero was introduced to a male look-alike of his murdered wife named Sporus. He was even said to have dressed one of his enslaved males as Poppaea so he could believe she had not died. Nero’s second wife is the beautiful Poppaea Sabina. Jone Johnson Lewis is a women's history writer who has been involved with the women's movement since the late 1960s. Being older than his stepbrother Britannicus, Nero became heir to the throne. Nero appointed Otho to an important post as governor of Lusitai (Lusitania). He became infamous for his personal debaucheries and extravagances and, on doubtful evidence, for his burning of Rome and persecutions of Christians. In order to marry her, he accused Octavia of adultery and exiled her, later to be murdered (but made to look like a suicide). Others suggest Nero poisoned her. The main source for information about Poppaea is the Roman writer Tacitus. The great fire that ravaged Rome in 64 illustrates how low Nero’s reputation had sunk by this time. Following his divorce, Nero was quickly seduced by Sabina, who became his favorite mistress. Claudia did not live long. Your stepfather gleefully divorced his wife, who was pregnant, too. Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. But the Roman populace mistakenly believed that he himself had started the fire in Rome in order to indulge his aesthetic tastes in the city’s subsequent reconstruction. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Nero, portrait bust; in the Roman National Museum, Rome. She hoped to control the government, but Burrus and Nero’s old tutor, the Stoic philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca, though they owed their influence to Agrippina, were not content to remain her tools. Her paternal grandfather, Poppaeus Sabinus, was a Roman Consul and a friend of several emperors. She dies in 65 AD as a result of being kicked to death while pregnant by Nero, some claim. Born as the son of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina the Younger, he lost his father at an early age. The Senate condemned him to death by crucifixion, and his household guard abandoned him. His next wife was Statilia Messalina, whose first husband Nero had executed. Nero married Poppaea, and Poppaea was given the title Augusta when they had a daughter, Claudia. He later adopted her son Nero as his political heir. For the first time, absolute power in the Roman Empire was vested in a mere boy, who was not yet 17. She embarked on her third marriage, to the Emperor Claudius, in AD 49, and although he already had a son, Britannicus, by another wife, manipulated him into adopting Nero as his heir. Nero, in full Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, also called (50–54 ce) Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus, original name Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, (born December 15, 37 ce, Antium, Latium—died June 9, 68, Rome), fifth Roman emperor (54–68 ce), stepson and heir of the emperor Claudius. And he had your father executed. While directing the government themselves, Burrus and Seneca had largely left Nero uncontrolled to pursue his own tastes and pleasures. Three ancient writers, Tacitus, Suetonius, … To the Romans these antics seemed to be scandalous breaches of civic dignity and decorum. He had Poppaea's son by her first marriage killed. By now Seneca felt that he had lost all influence over Nero, and he retired after Burrus’s death in 62. She is also reported to have persuaded Nero to kill the philosopher Seneca, who had supported Nero's previous mistress, Acte Claudia. Moreover, the daughter of Claudius was murdered soon, but Nero made it look like a suicide. Hitherto the government had not clearly distinguished Christians from Jews. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Little is known about Sporus' background except that he was a young man to whom Nero took a liking. It’s true that Nero out-did his predecessors when building his palace in Rome – but outdoing his predecessors was exactly what a Roman emperor was meant to do. Nero proclaimed her divine. Two Sides to Every Story. He does not depict kind acts, such as those reported by Josephus, but instead depicts her as corrupt. If only your troubles ended there. Her husband, King Prasutagus, had made a deal with Claudius that would see him rule as a client-king. The opera was first performed in Venice in 1642. Nero, Roman emperor from 54 to 68 AD, was born at Antium on the 15th of December 37. He castrated a boy so he could marry him. 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