70 Fun Facts About Nero

What was Nero's birth name?

He was born at Antium, modern Anzio, in December AD 37.

Who was Nero's mother?

His father reportedly said any child of theirs would have a detestable nature and become a public danger.

Nero's maternal uncle was which reigning emperor?

That uncle exiled Nero's mother to an island and seized the boy's paternal inheritance.

Which emperor married Nero's mother and adopted Nero as his heir in AD 50?

Gold coins were struck to mark the adoption; Nero was eleven when his mother remarried.

How old was Nero when he became emperor in AD 54?

His first speech to the Senate, promising to follow the Augustan model, was written by his tutor.

Which Stoic philosopher was Nero's tutor and early adviser?

He wrote very positively of his pupil, and prepared Nero's first speech to the Senate.

Which praetorian prefect guided Nero alongside his tutor in the early reign?

After his death in AD 62 Nero appointed Faenius Rufus and Ofonius Tigellinus in his place.

According to Tacitus, which poison-maker prepared the toxin that killed Nero's adoptive father in AD 54?

The servant Halotus reportedly served it, and the doctor Xenophon stood by in case the emperor survived.

Which stepbrother of Nero was poisoned in AD 55 after Agrippina threatened to side with him?

He had been more prominent than Nero on provincial coins in the early 50s.

Whom did the 16-year-old Nero marry, his own step-sister?

He later divorced her for infertility, then had her executed on a charge of adultery.

According to Suetonius, Nero's first attempt to kill his mother in AD 59 involved what?

She swam ashore, and the freedman Anicetus then had her executed and reported it as suicide.

According to Tacitus, Nero's affair with which woman led to the conflict that ended in his mother's murder?

Modern historians note he did not marry her until AD 62, three years after the matricide.

Which later emperor described Nero's first five years as a model of good government?

Those years saw fiscal reforms that put tax collectors under stricter local supervision.

What well-meant but incompetent initiative did Nero propose in AD 58?

He also allowed slaves to file complaints about their treatment after the Pedanius Secundus affair.

At which villa near Rome did Nero have three artificial lakes built, with waterfalls and bridges?

He also rebuilt his birthplace villa at Antium on an imperial scale with its own theatre.

During the Saturnalia of AD 64, Nero is said to have gone through a marriage with which freedman?

Three years later he married the castrated boy Sporus with dowry and bridal veil.

On what date did the Great Fire of Rome begin?

It burned for over seven days, died down, then flared up for three more.

The Great Fire probably started in merchant shops beside which structure?

The shops were timber-framed and sold flammable goods, and the Circus's outer seating was wooden.

How many of Rome's 14 districts did the fire destroy outright?

Seven more were severely damaged.

According to Suetonius, why did Nero start the fire?

Tacitus, by contrast, records that Nero was away at Antium when it began and paid for relief from his own funds.

Suetonius and Cassius Dio claim Nero sang which piece, in stage costume, while the city burned?

The story that he played while Rome burned is at least partly Flavian propaganda.

According to the popular legend, which instrument did Nero play while Rome burned?

The fiddle of later versions did not exist; Nero played the cithara, a type of lyre.

How tall was the Colossus of Nero, the statue planned for his new palace grounds?

The site of the statue later gave its name, misapplied, to the Flavian Amphitheatre.

The Colossus of Nero eventually gave its name to which famous building?

Posterity misappropriated the word for the Flavian Amphitheatre built nearby.

According to Tacitus, Nero deflected suspicion for the fire onto which group?

Tacitus says they were thrown to beasts, crucified and burned alive, out of cruelty rather than justice.

According to Tacitus, what did Nero do for the homeless after the fire?

He also organised food supplies to prevent starvation among survivors.

What was the name of the vast palace complex Nero built in the area cleared by the fire?

The Domus Transitoria was his earlier palace project, begun around AD 60 to link the imperial estates.

To help pay for rebuilding Rome, Nero did what to the currency, an imperial first?

The move increased inflationary pressure, and heavy tribute was imposed on the provinces.

Who organised the AD 65 conspiracy against Nero with the help of a Praetorian tribune and centurion?

The freedman Milichus betrayed the plot to Nero's secretary and the conspirators were executed.

Which poet was executed for his part in the AD 65 conspiracy?

Ironically he had written one of the kindest surviving accounts of Nero's rule.

How did Nero's former tutor die in AD 65?

He denied any part in the conspiracy but had long since fallen from favour.

Ancient sources say Nero killed his pregnant second wife in AD 65 how?

Modern historians suspect she died in miscarriage or childbirth; she was embalmed Egyptian-style and given divine honours.

In AD 66 Nero funded a lavish African expedition to find buried gold left by which legendary queen?

The informant Cesellius Bassus was a charlatan or deluded, and no gold was found.

Whom did Nero marry in AD 67 with all the usual ceremonies, including a dowry and a bridal veil?

The boy was said to resemble his dead wife, and the marriage is thought to reflect his regret.

Which queen of the Iceni led the great revolt in Britain during Nero's reign?

Her husband Prasutagus had left his kingdom to his daughters; Rome denied the will and flogged her.

The Iceni revolt burned Londinium, Verulamium and which other town?

A substantial body of Roman legionary infantry was also wiped out.

Which governor of Britain defeated the Iceni rebels?

He kept punishing the Britons after the war, so Nero replaced him with a more lenient governor.

After the Iceni revolt, what did Nero reportedly consider doing with Britain?

Order was restored, but the province remained a costly commitment.

Which general captured the Armenian capital Artaxata for Nero around AD 58?

The city was briefly renamed Neroneia after peace with Parthia.

Under the AD 63 settlement with Parthia, Rome recognised Tiridates as king of which country?

The condition was that he receive his diadem from Nero, which he did at a coronation in Italy in AD 66.

According to Dio, the Parthian prince crowned by Nero in AD 66 worshipped him as which god?

Easterners also styled Nero the New Apollo and the New Sun.

In AD 67 Nero dispatched which future emperor to put down the Jewish revolt in Judea?

The war ended in AD 70, after Nero's death, with the destruction of the Second Temple.

At the Olympic Games of AD 67, Nero won a ten-horse chariot race despite what?

Judges ruled he would have won had he finished; his name was struck from the list after his death.

How did Nero manage to compete in the Olympic Games of AD 67, which were not due that year?

Artistic competitions were added, and he won every contest he entered.

Which governor of Gallia Lugdunensis rebelled against Nero's tax policies in March AD 68?

He was crushed at Vesontio and killed himself, but the revolt he had asked Galba to join brought Nero down.

Which governor of Hispania Tarraconensis was urged to declare himself emperor in opposition to Nero?

He was declared a public enemy, yet the Praetorian prefect Nymphidius Sabinus swung the guard behind him.

When Nero fled Rome and asked officers to flee with him, one refused by quoting which work?

The line was Turnus's: Is it so dreadful a thing, then, to die?

Nero died at a villa four miles outside Rome belonging to which imperial freedman?

He ordered his four loyal freedmen to dig his grave while he paced and muttered about the artist the world was losing.

What did Nero mutter as he prepared for suicide, in the famous phrase Qualis artifex pereo?

He lost his nerve and begged a companion to kill himself first to set an example.

How did Nero die on 9 June AD 68?

His private secretary Epaphroditus helped him; his last words were Too late! This is fidelity!

Nero died on the anniversary of whose death?

He was buried in the Mausoleum of the Domitii Ahenobarbi, in what is now the Villa Borghese area.

Which pope destroyed Nero's family mausoleum in the 12th century and had the ashes thrown in the Tiber?

A legend held that the Antichrist would be a reconstituted Nero; Santa Maria del Popolo stands nearby.

Nero's death sparked a period of civil war known as what?

Galba, Otho and Vitellius all rose and fell before Vespasian took the throne.

Which short-lived successor was hailed as Nero himself, used 'Nero' as a surname and re-erected his statues?

Vitellius in turn gave Nero a huge funeral complete with songs Nero had written.

The eastern belief that Nero had not died and would return was known as what?

Augustine still described it as a popular belief in AD 422.

How many impostors claiming to be Nero led rebellions after his death?

The third, twenty years on, was backed by the Parthians and nearly caused a war.

Per a Talmudic aggadah, what did Nero do after hearing a child recite Ezekiel near Jerusalem?

The Talmud adds that the sage Rabbi Meir was his descendant; Roman sources record no such trip.

Which bishop was the first to report that Paul was beheaded and Peter crucified in Rome under Nero?

Tertullian had earlier called Nero the first persecutor of the doctrine.

Some biblical scholars argue that which figure in the Book of Revelation is a code for Nero?

In the same reading, the Babylon of Revelation 17 stands for Rome.

Which scholar's 1562 Encomium Neronis was one of the first modern works to portray Nero positively?

It was published in Basel.

Nero was the final emperor of which dynasty?

His only recorded child, Claudia Augusta, died at four months, leaving no heir.

In which coastal town, now called Anzio, was Nero born in AD 37?

He later razed the villa there and rebuilt it on a grand imperial scale, complete with a theatre.

Nero was the great-great-grandson of which emperor, through his only daughter Julia?

The Julio-Claudian bloodline gave Nero a legitimacy later emperors lacked, which Tacitus saw as a root of the civil war that followed his death.

With which aunt did the young Nero live after Caligula seized his inheritance around AD 40?

Domitia Lepida was the mother of Messalina, the third wife of the future emperor Claudius.

In what year did Nero establish the Neronian games, modelled on Greek contests?

The games included musical, gymnastic and equestrian events; Suetonius says the gymnastics were held in the Saepta on the Campus Martius.

What happened to Nero's name on the list of Olympic winners after his death?

He had won every contest he entered in AD 67, including a chariot race he never finished, and died about a year later.

At which battle in May AD 68 did Verginius Rufus's legions defeat the rebel Vindex?

Vindex committed suicide after the defeat, but the victorious legions tried to proclaim Verginius emperor, which boded ill for Nero.

Which Praetorian prefect abandoned Nero and came out in support of Galba in AD 68?

Galba later executed him; Nymphidius had claimed to be the son of the emperor Caligula.

Roughly how many reworked portraits of Nero survive, according to Eric Varner?

Damaged Nero portraits, often with hammer blows to the face, have turned up across the empire, including three identified in the United Kingdom.

Which emperor began his reign with a large funeral for Nero, complete with songs Nero had written?

Both Otho and Vitellius courted Nero's enduring popularity among ordinary Romans, who were said to be loyal 'to the end and beyond'.