Building Projects:
Throughout his period as Emperor Nero embarked on several (usually exceptionally ambitious) building projects; however it would be wrong to think these were all grandiose palaces, opulent manors, or monuments to his ego. Instead many of the buildings he created were of real import to the population at large:
Supplying Rome with enough grain to feed itself was a logistical nightmare, the coast of Italy could be treacherous and storms causing loss of grain supply were common. To combat this Julius Caesar: “intended also to divert the Tiber just below the city into a deep channel, give it a bend towards Circeium, and make it empty into the sea at Terracina” however Caesar was murdered before he could put his plan into action. Not only did Nero wish to complete the port at Ostia started by Claudius, he also sought to not only emulate Caesar’s idea, but to expand the canal further. With the acquisition of Egypt corn supplies from the east had greatly increased, ships from here would put in at the harbour in Puteoli (near Naples). A canal network linking Rome with both these harbours would save over 120 miles of costal transportation. Work was begun in 64 however it was abandoned shortly after Nero’s death.
After Rome’s great fire in 64 Nero, regardless of his involvement in the fire itself, not only implemented new building regulations, but also began to enforce old ones which had been laid down by Augustus but ignored. These served to significantly increase fire safety in the rebuilt zones. Firstly he set a restriction on the maximum house height and the minimum street width; secondly he prescribed the use of a particularly fire-resistant stone and he appointed officers to guard against illegal siphoning of water from the aqueducts; thirdly he paid himself for porches and colonnades to be placed along the outside of tenement blocks to restrict the spread of future fires; finally to finance the rebuilding he both offered privileges to anyone who offered economic aid and made ships available for free to transport construction materials. However Nero’s most infamous project after the fire was his ‘Domus Aurea’ – ‘Golden House’; the problem with the palace was not its cost per se, but the issue taken was the massive amount of ground it covered: “[reconstruction took place] In parts of Rome unfilled by Nero’s palace”. However wasteful the historians of Nero’s day called it, from what few remains we have of it today there can be no doubt that the artists and architects involved in its construction were masters of their trade: “the vaulted stone structure of the octagonal room at the centre, or instance, was something totally new, having no known precursor in Roman architecture”.
Nero made two other great constructional undertakings: during his visit to Greece he announced that he would cut a channel through the isthmus at Corinth that Julius Caesar had planned before his untimely death: “he formed more projects and more extensive ones every day: … to cut a canal through the Isthmus [at Corinth]”, once more seeking to finish his forebear’s unfinished work. This canal would have been of great benefit for the Greeks and those that traded with them, however it was started extremely late in Nero’s reign and work had barely started before Vespasian cancelled the project. The final building which deserves mention was actually one of the first Nero completed, whereas his other works were generally criticized for being too large or not commercially viable; this structure was universally loved by seemingly everyone who wrote about it: “Who was ever worse than Nero? Yet what can be better than Nero's warm baths?”.
Foreign Policy
Armenia had been the focus of a lot of Roman foreign policy since Tiberius; this was due to its location as a buffer state between the Roman and Parthian Empires. Gnaeus Corbulo had enjoyed great victories in a war between the two empires over Armenia in 58-63, however his successes were undone by his colleague Lucius Paetus and Armenia fell under Parthian control, a treaty was drawn up and both sides withdrew their forces from Armenia until a Parthian delegation could be sent to Rome. Unfortunately it turned out that Paetus had been less than honest about the situation in Armenia in his reports to Rome: “It was hard to reconcile this message [that the Roman army had been defeated and spared due to Parthian clemency] with Paetus’ report that the position was inconclusive”; this lead to a good deal of surprise in the capital when the Parthian delegation arrived. Eventually, after the Roman army in that area had been placed back under the sole control of Corbulo – a general whom the Parthians feared, they agreed that their candidate (Tiridates) would remain in control of Armenia; however he would receive his crown and right to rule from Rome. Nero used this visitation not only to increase his own standing in the eyes of the Roman people, but also to disguise from the populace the fact that Rome’s position in the east had been weakened by the war. Following the arrival of Tiridates a huge celebration took place, as well as a public display of Nero symbolically crowning him, allowing him to rule Armenia with Rome’s blessing. The Parthians saw these events as both fair and just and Nero gained huge popularity in the east, he even considered fleeing there while Galba was marching on Rome; so there is little surprise therefore in the level of popularity ‘False Neroes’ enjoyed in the region after the death of the true emperor.
Nero’s two other major foreign concerns came from Boadicea’s rebellion in Britain (which has been discussed while talking about Polyclitus) and from his own visit to Greece in 66. Unfortunately for Nero the two men he had left in charge of Rome (the freedmen Polyclites and Helius) proved to be inadequate to the task of running the capital; Helius in particular is viewed as a monstrous figure by most historians of the time, know not only for his use of intimidation but also for executing citizens at the slightest provocation:
“he put to death one of the foremost men, Sulpicius Camerinus, together with his son, the complaint against them being that they would not give up their title of Pythicus, received from some of their ancestors, but showed irreverence toward Nero's Pythian victories by their use of this same title.”
Furthermore there were reports of military wages going unpaid and grain ships not arriving; all this lead to Nero having to cut his tour short and return to Rome in 67. Despite this he still considered the trip a magnificent success and awarded himself a triumph: returning to the capital in the guise of a conquering ruler. He also won great favour with the Greeks, not only for promising to build the canal through the Isthmus of Corinth, but also for passing laws which meant: “All those inhabiting Achaea and what was until now the Peloponnese, are to receive a freedom free from taxes, which you did not all enjoy even in your most prosperous periods”. Such legislature meant that the Greeks were no longer obligated to pay taxes to Rome, and also that they were no longer ruled by a provincial governor. This state of affairs began by Nero continued until (like so much of Nero’s work) Vespasian put a stop to it. Possibly it was also this too-short glimpse of freedom from Rome which lead to Nero’s extreme popularity in the region after his death as Greece enjoyed a similar number of Neronic impersonators as they did in Parthia.
Seneca & Burrus:
Between the two of them Seneca and Burrus managed effectively rule through Nero during the early years of his reign; they were in many ways the perfect partners: Burrus was competent and straightforward and therefore would advise the emperor on matters of the military or his own persona security; whereas Seneca wise and learned, he would write the emperor’s speeches and design his political guidelines. The pair was also a notable foil for many of Agrippina’s plots; here Cassius Dio praises them both before giving us an example of them in action:
“Seneca and Burrus, who were at once the most sensible and the most influential of the men at Nero's court ... An embassy of the Armenians had arrived and Agrippina wished to mount the tribunal from which Nero was talking with them. The two men, seeing her approach, persuaded the young man to descend and meet his mother before she could get there.”
The two of them here showed considerable forethought in handling the situation with subtlety and therefore not revealing to the Armenian ambassadors the level of influence Agrippina had over the young emperor – which could be construed as a sign of weakness. After this event the two of them attempted to minimise her influence on Nero: for example she only appeared on coins from the first year of his reign, until Burrus and Seneca managed to alter matters. According to Tacitus it was also Seneca who called in Nero’s former love and ex-slave girl Acte: “she was instructed to warn Nero that Agrippina was boasting of her intimacy with her son” to try and estrange the two.
However we should not take their successes to mean that the two could not function without each other. Early in Nero’s life before his rise to become emperor he appeared (at Seneca’s urging no doubt) as a benefactor for communities that were struggling or deep in debt: the town of Bononia (modern day Bologna) received a grant after a large fire; the people of Rhodes gained their freedom; and finally Apamea in Syria received a five year tax remission from the princes petitions. Furthermore it was Burrus who calms the young Emperor when he learns that his mother is being accused of treason, when he first hears he wants her executed without trial.
Unfortunately for Nero his later advisor’s failed to live up to the high standards first set by these two, Polyclitus did at least make competent decisions when Nero sent him to Britain, however when he was later put in charge of Rome he could not stop the capital’s troubles without Nero’s aid. As to Burrus’ replacements the way Tigellinus is described by historians he seemed nothing more than a sycophantic thug, constantly hanging around Nero, until that is when Galba marches on Rome whereupon his is mysteriously absent from all records, until he resurfaces in Cassius Dio after Nero’s death where he is spared execution by Galba – perhaps he was ill? Tigellinus also reportedly scared his counterpart Faenius Rufus so badly that the latter joined the Pisonian rebellion just to be rid of him. The final Praetorian member was Nymphidius Sabinus, who not only betrayed Nero but also named himself emperor after Nero’s suicide; his soldiers executed him when they decided they would rather back Galba.
In conclusion to the benefits of Nero’s rule: During his first years on the throne Seneca and Burrus were able to rule through him effectively after having separated him from his mother, although after her death it got more and more difficult to control Nero until the death of Burrus (reportedly by Nero’s hand from Suetonius) in 62 and the retirement of Seneca (possibly due to fears over his own life) in the same year. His later advisors were nowhere near the same calibre however Nero still achieved some magnificent works of construction after the fire and set in motion many others which would have been great had Vespasian not put a stop to them after Nero’s death. Furthermore Nero made peace with the Parthians and enjoyed great popularity both there and in Greece by his actions. However there is one small decision Nero made at the beginning of his reign, which would change the entire Roman world.
Otho
It seems strange to think of Otho as a major player in the history of Rome he did after all only rule for three months, however it can be argued that without his presence the list of Roman emperor’s would have been very different. Otho started his life as a young crony of Nero, until they both fell in love with Poppaea at which point Nero essentially exiled him to be the governor of Lusitania; it is here that we find our first surprise, by the way authors depicted the emperor and his entourage you would expect a colleague of Nero’s to be greedy and debauched; however according to Suetonius: “With the rank of Quaestor Otho governed the province for ten years with remarkable moderation and integrity”. In these 10 years almost nothing is known about Otho’s rule save that one line, however he suddenly resurfaces just before Nero’s death and throws his support behind Galba, after being promised to rule after Galba as he had no sons. They did of course succeed in their plan and Galba was instated as Emperor, however shortly afterwards Galba adopted Piso Licinianus as his heir instead, incensed by this Otho used Galba’s unpopularity due to his austerity measures to will over the praetorians and assassinate him. After being named emperor Otho readied his forces to fight Vitellius (who had begun marching down from Germany while Galba was still in power), unfortunately Otho proved he was no military man, allowing his army to be engaged in a pitched battle before all his forces had arrived. Here was when Otho took the second act which surprises many people who associate him with Nero: “the gentle Otho had still a chance of gaining the day, he looked with horror on a contest which would cost great bloodshed, and with resolute hand plunged the sword into his breast”; by committing suicide Otho saved a multitude of Roman lives and with a single blow stopped the civil war, many Romans came to respect Otho for this such as Martial (mentioned above).
This is enough to make Otho famous and respected but how is he historically important? Well if we speculate on what would have happened had Nero not sent Otho away: Firstly Nero would have had both a friend and advisor in his life that proved himself to be a fair and later even selfless man; the ramifications for this are of course pure speculation and it is almost impossible to know what might have happened to Nero’s rule. However what could be predicted is the effect on Galba. Otho’s support was important to Galba’s ascension to the throne however it was not essential, there is no reason to think that Nero’s suicide would have played out differently had Otho not been at Galba’s side. However without Otho’s assassination plan it would have been Galba marching to fight Vitellius; the same Galba that: “made such a good impression, that out of the great body of troops assembled from all the provinces none received greater commendation or richer rewards. Galba particularly distinguished himself, while directing the military manoeuvres”. Vitellius managed to defeat one part of Otho’s force when Otho himself had no military experience, even after the defeat he and the remainder of his army were seen as a credible threat; it seems unlikely therefore that Vitellius would have been able to defeat Galba. After this the year of the four emperors has turned into the year of the two. Considering Suetonius’ account: “Two thousand soldiers of the three legions that made up the army in Moesia had been sent to help Otho [against Vitellius]” it was these men who, after they found out Otho had committed suicide, took it upon themselves to make a new emperor out of Vespasian; without Otho they would have been going to aid Galba, who would have won the battle against Vitellius. Therefore there would have been no Emperor Vespasian; no Titus and no Domitian. All this based on Otho’s banishment from Rome. Of course this entire theory is pure speculation, however considering the personalities and military abilities of these men it is entirely plausible.
No comments:
Post a Comment