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Julio-Claudian Emperors

Nero

Nero was sixteen years old when he became emperor. He had had the best education Rome could offer, counting among his tutors Petronius and Seneca. His mother adored him and lavished attention upon him. Yet, for all that, he was vain and weak-willed and insecure -- qualities that do not make for good Roman emperors.

Nero fancied himself an artist of some accomplishment. He wrote poetry and performed music and greatly admired Greek culture. During his reign he would enter the dramatic competitions at the public games -- he usually won. He was so pleased with his success that he entered Greek competitions as well. He won those, too, greatly irritating the Greeks.

When he did turn his attention to affairs of state, he was capable of being effective, as his plans for construction in Rome evidence, but he seldom paid attention. He preferred his social life and his poetry and his lyre.

He was capable of murderous cruelty when angered. Within five years of becoming emperor he murdered his own mother. He later forced his tutor and one-time friend Seneca to commit suicide, while Petronius prudently retired from the capitol and public life. Nero was a danger to those around him.

None of this behavior won the favor of the army. The emperor was an embarassment. His lavish expeditions and building programs were bankrupting the treasury. But his careful paranoia kept him in office longer than Caligula had managed.