Finding Nero:
Personality, Relationship with the State and Contributions to the Empire.
Abstract:
This paper will detail the positive effects of Emperor Nero – covering both the benefits to the city itself, and to any people within. It shall look at: Nero’s building works; his foreign policy; and his early reign where Burrus and Seneca ruled through him. Furthermore it shall examine whether Nero himself was actually the monster which so many writers have made him out to be. It shall look at Nero’s popularity with the common people – with the mourning caused by his suicide as well as the slew of false Neroes which sprung up after his death. Finally it shall examine the unfortunate great fire of 64AD which not only lead to the destruction of large portions of the city, but also to the identification of Nero as the antichrist by some later Christian scholars.
Contents:
- Introduction
- Nero’s Personality:
- The Good
- The Bad
- The Insane
- Nero the Artist
- Relationship with the State:
- The Senate
- The Common Man
- Establishing and Preserving his Powerbase
- Positive Benefits of his Reign:
- Building Projects
- Foreign Policy
- Seneca & Burrus
- Otho
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
