Thread 17977189

>never wanted to be an emperor, forced there by his mother
>tries to enjoys his hobbies and build cool things instead
>senate starts to hate him because having fun at chariot races is apparently shameful for elites
>brother dies by some unknown condition
>they say Nero gave him poison that instantaneously killed him and caused horrifying blisters, even if that would be incredibly suspicious (and a poison like that was unknown to the romans)
>mother keeps conspiring around and eventually dies too
>they say he also killed his own mother while at the same time accusing him of incest
>they try to kill him, so he kills the conspirators
>he wasn't supposed to do that even if they wanted him to get serious
>rome catches fire
>he helps on firefighting, rebuilds a lot of things, including a massive golden house
>this was bad because that's not frugal and greek philosophy enough
>punishes an anti-humanity cult as possible perpetrators of the fire
>we also hate them but you were supposed to kill and torture WITHOUT spectacle and fun involved
>seeing things were getting bad he flees
>liked by the people so much he spawns a legend where he never died and also many imposters

>considered the bad guy by modern people

>>17977189 (OP)
>helps with firefighting.
What about the saying Nero fiddled while Rome burned?
This is interesting though. The accepted narrative is he ruled extremely well for a year or two then went full "Nero".
Are you saying the others in power were afraid he was the peoples Emperor?

>>17977199
Fiddles didn't exist in his era, and the rumor he was playing the lyre came from Suetonius (who wrote about roman gossip)
Tacitus who were anti-Nero but more serious wrote that he was away from Rome when it happened

>The accepted narrative is he ruled extremely well for a year or two then went full "Nero"
The years where he ruled well he was being coached by Seneca, things went bad when he started enjoying his hobbies more and play less a part in politics, also in love with an woman that infuriated Agrippina

>Are you saying the others in power were afraid he was the peoples Emperor?
That's exactly what happened to Julius Caesar
The senate didn't care about what he did until he started to participate in spectacles and also favor freedmen, thing they also hated about Claudius

>>17977222
>helps with firefighting.
I forgot to expand on this
According to Tacitus, Nero was at Antium, but immediately returned to Rome to help, opening public buildings and his own gardens to shelter refugees of the fire, also organized grain shipments
Nero's personality doesn't really match planning the fire then doing this, it's more something that Octavius would do

>>17977189 (OP)
>considered the bad guy by modern people
Only really Christians still seethe about Nero. Most historians recognize that he wasn't nearly as bad as the propaganda surrounding him makes him out to be. Speaking of Christians though, they seethed so hard over him that he's basically the main antagonist of the Book of Revelation.

>Judea was occupied by Rome during the advent of Christianity in the 1st century.
>Those Jews who resisted Roman rule were killed while those who gave in where spared.
>Slaves were marked on the hands and condemned men were marked on the head by Roman authorities - which is where the idea of the "Mark of the Beast (Nero)" comes from.

Nero is the Beast (Satan) of Revelation.
>When you actually look at the original text, you'll see that in this passage, the letters of 666 are actually written in Hebrew, which places a higher significance on numbers meaning words and words meaning numbers than ancient Greek. The writer was very clearly trying to tell us something.
>And sure enough, if you translate the Hebrew spelling of 666, you actually spell out Neron Kesar - the Hebrew spelling of Nero Caesar.
>Even if you take the alternative spelling of the number of the beast, which has been found in several early Biblical texts as being written 616, you can translate that out as being Nero Cesar.
It could only be a coincidence if just 666 or 616 could be translated out to Nero's name, but not both.

>>17977189 (OP)
>kills his pregnant wife in a rage
>kidnapped a kid, had his balls cut off and treated him like a woman to cope with the guilt
He was a horrible, twisted person.

>>17977264
According to Suetonius, who mostly wrote gossip

>>17977264
additionally arranged for an elaborate murder for his own mother that would look like an accident, when she survived he just had her arrested and executed on trumped up sedition charges

>>17977189 (OP)
>liked by the people so much he spawns a legend where he never died and also many imposters
He was only liked by "the people" in Greece where he had given extravagant tax holidays paid for by everyone else. All of the imposters were Greeks who were trying to maintain their welfare queen status.

>>17977264
Why was he like that? Evil uncle?

>>17977296
There's no welfare in this period of story, don't go mixing it with your dislike of the modern welfare state
Nero declared Greece free so they didn't have to pay provincial tribute like other regions, this wasn't "paid for by everyone else" like modern welfare since Rome and other Italian cities didn't have to pay it, only occupied provinces