Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus

5th Roman Emperor, last of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty, history's greatest alleged pyromaniac, and modern genderbent anime character

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CONCLUDING POST

As a huge fan of fictional works that have an emphasis on medieval or ancient history (e.g. Game of Thrones television series and the Assassin’s Creed video game franchise), I had hoped to focus on a storyworld that possessed two key qualities: a strong foundation in history and creative interpretation that still respected historical accuracy. My initial choice was the Assassin’s Creed gaming franchise because of its ingenious retelling of major historical events, but after seeing Steven Spielberg’s television epic Band of Brothers that contains elements of a docudrama, I was reminded of the Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire “Nero” I had seen in Latin class during high school. The purpose of my storyworld was to really explore the history and actual life of an incredibly misunderstood and misrepresented historical figure. My goal was to help inform the public about this dark period of Roman history and the man behind it all. Indeed, the 5th Roman Emperor Nero did commit many atrocities, and I do not condone nor try to excuse his actions. In fact, he would most likely rank in the bottom tier of Roman Emperors in terms of the effectiveness of their rule. 

But it is vital to understand that Nero was not always a bad ruler or the monster history turned him out to be. His early reign was marked with a remarkable era of growth and peace, and Emperor Nero was beloved by his people. After surviving hundreds of assassination attempts as a teen even from his own mother and later constantly having to worry about the Roman Senate and his own Praetorian Guard, it is no wonder Nero became increasingly erratic and paranoid even without his psychological problems. What we have historically referred to as Nero’s “Descent into Madness” shows signs of psychological illness such as late onset bipolar disorder and schizophrenia as modern-day scholars now point out. I take great care to also ensure that the myths about his legend are dispelled: in the caption for the Tumblr page I made sure to include in his description “history’s greatest alleged pyromaniac,” since after all, his infamous legend is untrue. 

The psychotic despot who has been portrayed as laughing and singing as his city burned was in fact a heroic leader who took charge to defend his people and fight to protect his city from an existential threat. Overall, separating fact from fiction was extremely difficult, and the fact that our sources of Nero and the Roman Empire often come from ancient writings does not make this job of discernment easy. Moreover, trying to research Nero ended up being more of a “how do I separate the fandom of Fate’s Nero Claudius” spilling into any research. Seriously, try it. Type in Nero Claudius (as this was the 5th Emperor’s shortened actual name) and you’ll get FLOODED with images of the anime, gender bent Nero Claudius and texts of “UMU!”

Reddit has even so graciously created a meme to commemorate the two famous Neros:

Still, I am grateful to Type-Moon, despite its incessant commercialization of historical figures to pander to its male fan base, for promoting interest in ancient history and maintain an impressive degree of historical accuracy and adding in their own creativity. BBC docudramas like Ancient Rome can only do so much with a much more limited viewership, since its focus is on scholarship first rather than entertainment. In my opinion, looking through both perhaps is the best way to approach learning about the tale of Nero, the last Emperor of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty. Through my storyworld project, I believe I was successful in both my goal of shedding light on a very complicated period in Roman history, helping uncover the true life of Nero, and encouraging individual learning of ancient history. Without doing a project on Nero, I would have also never have realized how popular “Nero Claudius,” or the Fate series by Type-Moon that actively promotes history with creative interpretations and entertainment. Though I do not see myself actively engaging in any fandom, I have already planned out some time to go watch Type-Moon’s Nero Claudius television anime series on Netflix!          

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Nero Claudius Fandom – The Fanatical Alternate Universe of “UMU” Continued

Despite Type-Moon’s pandering to a largely male (age 18-40) audience and attributing the Japanese phrase “Umu!” as Nero’s go-to word, their character backstory of the female Nero Claudius is largely in line with the actual historical Nero. I would like to highlight one key creative difference. In the Fate franchise Netflix television series: Fate/Extra Last Encore, Nero Claudius’ madness is actually because of the years of poisoning inflicted on the young female Emperor during childhood by her mother Agrippina in a bid to control Nero and later take over the throne herself:

In reality, Nero was never poisoned by his mother, however, his mother did rebel against him several times (they reconciled the same amount) and eventually Nero was forced to execute his mother. Despite its historical inaccuracy, Fate’s storytelling of Nero’s childhood is a very creative explanation for Nero’s madness that makes sense given the actual antagonistic relationship between Nero and his mother. At the same time however, it is also a blatant strategy of Type-Moon in making a historical villain as more sympathetic and lovable for its fan base. Still, there are some impressive examples of the Fate series demonstrating the nuances of Nero’s reign in its character Nero Claudius. In Type-Moon phone game spinoff canon and fandom, Nero Claudius is seen to have an extremely negative relationship with any British characters, which is brilliant given Nero’s orchestration of brutal military campaigns in Brittania (modern-day England). Nero Claudius also refers to the Type-Moon character Julius Caesar as uncle and family, which makes sense given Nero as a member of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty that began with Augustus, the adopted heir of Julius Caesar.    

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Nero Claudius Fandom – The Fanatical Alternate Universe of “UMU”

Of all the fandoms that come from the history of Nero, none surpass that of the Fate series’ Nero Claudius! For the sake of simplicity in this post I will be referring to the Type-Moon-created Japanese genderbent version of Nero as Nero Claudius and the actual historical Roman Emperor as Nero. Though it is reassuring that ancient historical figures can gain such a fan base, Nero Claudius is more of a commercial product than anything else. Firstly, a female form of Nero is in line with Type-Moon’s gender bending of famous historical/mythical figures to appease and attract a largely male fan base (e.g. their first hit character was a gender bent King Arthur to “Saber: Arturia Pendragon”). I could probably create thousands of Tumblrs just to cover Type-Moon’s obsession with cranking out “new” female protagonists with the exact same design as “Saber” with a few differences. See for yourself the similar character designs between Type-Moon’s Nero Claudius (top) and Saber (bottom):

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Other Popular Portrayals of Nero

2013 video game Ryse: Son of Rome by Microsoft

1976 British TV series I, Claudius played by Christopher Biggins

And perhaps the most famous and recent depiction: Nero Claudius “aka Red Saber” from the popular Fate series by Japanese game company Type-Moon (there are MULTIPLE and I mean MULTIPLE game and anime versions of this genderbent Nero!!!). Here are just a few:

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Direct Spinoffs – Book (Canon) and Video Game (Non-canon)

On September 14, 2006, BBC Books published a companion book: Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire for their docudrama series by historian and author Simon Baker to increase viewership and attract fans who would prefer a novel version of the docudrama.

To promote the docudrama and Roman history for males aged 16-25, BBC also released an incredibly ambitious online (computer) multi-episode mystery game: CDX as a non-canon spinoff to Ancient Rome (see game description below).

Unfortunately, the game’s run was a bit too ambitious for the BBC and ultimately short-lived as BBC quickly shut it down because there were too many glitches and bugs that made the game virtually inoperable and the design team decided to focus on other ventures. In the end, since gameplay was not actually possible, we only have a trailer promotional launched by the BBC: 

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The Life of Nero and Historical Accuracy

The life, rise, and fall of Nero is well-represented in other forms of media and literature. For the most part these depictions stay true to history though with some obvious artistic changes or exaggerations. For example, in many historical fiction books like The Blood of Gods: A Novel of Rome by Conn Iggulden and media representations such as the video game franchise such as the video game franchises Ryse: Son of Rome and Assassin’s Creed, Nero is depicted as the instigator of the Great Fire of Rome, playing his fiddle/lyre as he watched Rome burn. These types of depictions have cemented Nero as history’s most infamous pyromaniac; however, the only Roman historian that claimed this scene was Tacitus who had a personal vendetta against the Emperor for killing Seneca. In fact, most other modern historians now agree with the information provided by Greek and other Roman historians that Nero actually worked to help stop the fires, saving lives by opening up the Imperial Palace as a place of refuge. Most likely, Nero simply saw the fire as an opportunity to enact his grand reconstruction project rather than starting the Great Fire himself and playing his lyre as Rome burned. These other portrayals also often grossly exaggerate Nero’s cruelty, lust, and megalomania by attributing gruesome actions of other Roman Emperors to Nero: e.g. Ryse shows Nero naming his horse a magistrate – Nero never actually did this; it is based on the true historical event of Emperor Caligula naming his horse a Roman consul. Being one of the most feared and despised ruler in Roman history, it is no surprise that Nero has gotten such a negative reputation, but it is nonetheless important to be aware of the historical truth of Nero’s life.  

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The End of an Emperor and Era - Nero

Of course, no one honestly believed that Nero did not orchestrate the string of suicides of Rome’s nobility. Most of the Roman Senators who had not been forced to commit suicide were terrified that they were next. Outside of Rome, tales of Nero’s increasing madness and hand in the assisted suicides of Rome’s most prestigious families spread to the various military commanders of Rome’s legions. As the Emperor began his trip back to Rome from Greece, the Roman Senate and Tigellinus, who was terrified that the insane Nero would eventually have him executed as well, collaborated with Vindex, governor of Gaul, and Galba, governor of Hispania (see earlier video post about my favorite scene that goes more into the detail of the rebellion). In 68 AD as Nero was near Rome, he was forced to flee the city upon learning that he had been tried in absentia and sentenced to death as a traitor and enemy of Rome. Arriving at a cave-like structure in his Antium villa, an exhausted and troubled Nero orders the rest of his loyal retinue and guards away. However, some of his servants and allies still remained with him as the rest ran away to escape the seemingly inevitable fate of Nero. Knowing that his life and reign were essentially over, Nero ordered one of his bodyguards to give him a sword so that he could commit suicide. However, the scene cuts away to the Roman Senate, in which the Senators send a courier and several Praetorian Guardsmen to Nero’s villa as they feared Vindex and Galba’s increasing power. The courier carried a message that would inform Nero of the Senate’s plan to reconcile Nero with the rebellion’s leaders, so that he might keep his life and resume his reign as Emperor. 

Of course, Nero is completely unaware of all that is going on and the scene returns to a hysterical Nero saying over and over again, “What an artist dies in me.” However, every time Nero raises the sword to commit suicide, he cannot do it. He orders one of his remaining retinue to kill himself first and later begs him, but of course the man does not do so. Nero then hears the approaching hoof steps of the courier and Praetorians’ horses and begins to panic, losing his nerve as he mistakenly believes they had come to bring him back to Rome to be tortured and executed. But Nero still cannot stab himself with the sword, so he grabs the garments of his court secretary and orders the man to kill him, who eventually relents, and pierces Nero’s chest. As former Emperor lies bleeding out on the floor of the cave, the courier and the accompanying Praetorians reach the fallen Nero and attempt to treat his wound. Still thinking they were there to kill him, Nero cries out one last time, “Too late! This is fidelity!” before finally dying, marking the end of the reign of the Mad Emperor. With the death of Nero, the docudrama comes to a close.

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One of my favorite moments from Ancient Rome. Note how Nero starts off strong in his speech and the senators’ clear support that all quickly descend into absurdity. The progression of his speech is quite representative of Nero’s own descent as a ruler from popular and charismatic to insane and despised. This is a clip of Nero speaking before the Roman Senate during his last year (68AD) as emperor and before his death. In the scene, Nero attempts to assuage the Senate’s fears by talking about how he will solve the crisis in Gaul all by himself and with his “art and tears” to the displeasure and incredulity of the senators. To provide some historical background, in 68AD the integral Roman provinces of Gaul (France) and Hispania (Spain) revolted against Nero insane rule under the leadership of Vindex and Galba. What made matters worse for Rome was that these two leaders were not only accomplished battlefield commanders, which Nero most definitely was not, but also the governors of these major territories with significant political and military clout. And here on the Senate floor was Nero bragging to the Roman Senate that he would end this calamitous rebellion not with massive military campaigns or superiority but with his “art and tears.” Nero stated that his sobs would make Vindex, Galba, and their armies realize their grave mistake of basically hurting the emperor’s feelings and lay down their arms. Realizing that Nero was simply incapable of protecting Rome (and more importantly to the senators: their lives, properties and interests), the political and military elite in Rome ultimately plotted the removal of Nero (before he got rid of them!) in the culmination of years of fear and distrust of the emperor. The discontented Roman elites would eventually ally themselves with Vindex and Galba and declare Galba as the new emperor even when Nero was still alive (though he had fled the city of Rome at this point).    

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All Alone & The Emperor’s World Tour

After the attempt at his life, a new Nero begins to emerge as his psychopathic tendencies seem to go out of control. The episode starts with Nero standing over the corpse of his wife Poppea who is bloody and badly beaten. In a series of flashback scenes, it is revealed that the perpetrator was Nero himself who had murdered Poppea in a fit of megalomania and rage, kicking her in the stomach until she died (below image: Nero after having murdered his own wife). 

Apparently Poppea had argued with Nero over his increasingly lavish parties and focus on enjoying himself rather than being a effective Emperor, which led to Nero’s fury. To viewers’ unease, in the immediate aftermath of Poppea’s death, a grief-stricken Nero is seen mourning her death, seemingly completely unaware that he was the one who had killed her as Nero whispers to his wife’s corpse that he “would find the man who did this.” He later orders his Praetorian Guard to arrest a Roman courtier Petronius and has him executed as the murder of Poppea. With all the people close to him, save for Tigellinus, gone, Nero decides to travel throughout the Empire in an unbelievable series of orgies and parties as the Roman Empire continued to decline due to the reconstruction’s costs.

With another major time skip, viewers see Nero and Tigellinus arrive in Greece as the Emperor continues to enjoy himself in a seemingly endless parade of debauchery. However, Nero is forced to cut his fun short as he receives word from Rome that the construction project was halted because the Roman treasury was completely dry once the stolen temple wealth was used up. At this point fully deranged and enraged at the reconstruction’s failure, Nero order Tigellinus to return to Rome and with his fellow guardsman, force the richest families in Rome to commit suicide and have them write false wills that bequeath all their wealth and properties to their “beloved and honorable Emperor.”

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Nero celebrating in the Roman Forum after his victory over the Pisonian Conspiracy.  

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Kill The Emperor! - The Pisonian Conspiracy

The next episode opens up to a near riot in the Senate house, as the conservative Roman Senators and upper class are outraged with Nero’s desecration of Rome’s temples. Enraged with their questioning of his actions, Nero cries out that “he is a god…” and “a god can take from those who share in his divinity.” Many Senators appear shocked at Nero’s clear belief that he is actually a god and are cowed by the Emperor’s outburst. Believing that to be the end of the matter, Nero decides to go visit his villa estate in Antium outside of Rome. With another time skip to 65 AD during the Emperor’s time in Antium, it becomes clear to viewers that several Senators have been planning a coup of Nero. The conspirators, consisting of many Senators (including Seneca!), equestrians/patricians (“nobility/upper class”), and several military commanders (including Tigellinus – though he quickly backs out – and his fellow Praetorian prefect), are led by Senator Gaius Calpurnius Piso who plans on declaring himself Emperor once Nero is killed. However, Nero discovers the assassination plot after a lover of one of the conspirators reveals to Nero’s admiral of the plot. Furious at such betrayal, Nero sends word to Tigellinus, whom Nero is unaware initially plotted with the conspirators, to gather the loyal Praetorian Guardsmen and nearby legions stations in the Fields of Mars (Roman legion battalion camps outside of Rome) and arrest the conspirators. 

Over a period of several days, all the conspirators, including Seneca, are arrested or killed during the arrest attempts and brought before Nero who had returned to the city to deal with the traitors. He has Piso, the other Praetorian prefect, and the conspirators brutally tortured before his execution (both off-screen) and leaves Seneca for last. Telling his Praetorians to unchain his former advisor and friend. Reciting his own poem of the tragic betrayal of Julius Caesar by his most loyal friend Junius Brutus, Nero expresses his deep sadness and how much Seneca’s betrayal wounded him. He tells Seneca that his [Seneca’s] wife, who earlier during the arrest scene had tried to kill herself with a dagger, was saved from her wounds at the order of Nero himself, telling Seneca “even in betrayal, a god can be merciful.” Instead of having Seneca tortured and killed like the others, Nero gives his former friend and mentor a vial of poison, which Seneca takes, killing himself. The episode ends with Nero a few weeks later in Roman Forum as part of the grandest arts and music festival in Roman memory (thrown in celebration for his victory over the conspiracy) performing as the main act to the clear displeasure of the Roman crowds as he reenacts his triumph over the would-be-assassins. Despite Nero’s belief in his incredible artistic ability, Roman historians note that Nero was not particularly skilled though he was indeed passionate.

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Nero’s Sacrilege

After a time skip of several months of the emperor’s reconstruction project of Rome, the docudrama takes viewers to a heated meeting within the Roman Senate house as the Senators voice their alarm at the costs of Nero’s actions. Because of Nero’s “love for the plebians” (“common people”), or at the very least his love for being seen as the great hero/benefactor of the common people, taxes in the Roman Empire were not raised to sustain the costs of rebuilding the city to the grandiose image in Nero’s dream. With Nero’s refusal to increase taxes or wage any military campaigns to help supplement Roman diminishing wealth, Seneca, the great Roman orator and writer, explains that the Roman treasury will be bled dry in a few years if this project is not immediately halted. With an incredibly bored expression on Nero’s face as he listens to the Senators’ concerns, Nero affably attempts to ease their concerns saying that “there is a simple solution.” When Seneca demands Nero to explain his plan, Nero with a disturbing grin tells the Senate “a god shall deliver.” Analysis of this long episode of interactions between Nero and the Senate shows that Nero is clearly referring to himself as the “god [that] shall deliver.” This would be the case not only because Roman emperors were historically deified at the end of their reign, but also Nero has clearly been influenced by Seneca’s earlier claim that “great emperors rule as gods.”   

  Near the end of the episode, in the cover of darkness Tigellinus and dozens of his fellow Praetorian Guardsman are seen sneaking into the numerous Roman temples: Jupiter, Neptune, Mars, etc. of the Roman gods, incapacitating any Roman pontifex (“priest”) that got in the way, and robbing the temples of all its valuables. This part of the documentary is significant as it is quite clear that the solution Nero had in mind to solve the Empire’s financial woes was stealing the incredible wealth from the religious temples to fund his project, ordering Tigellinus and the Praetorians to carry out this sacrilegious deed. Nero celebrates the success of this endeavor with another orgy.  

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Top Image: Praetorian Guardsmen as depicted in Roman effigies

Bottom Image: Two Praetorian Guardsmen (seen with silver armor to denote their martial prowess and white cloaks with royal purple to symbolize direct loyalty to the Emperor) as depicted in Ancient Rome

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But if we start again, we can become truly civilized.

Michael Sheen as Nero about his plan to remake Rome

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Nero’s Grand Plan After the Great Fire of Rome

Seneca would later learn the utter folly of his words to Nero. In the aftermath of a burnt and devastated Rome, Emperor Nero quite literally stands over the ashes of his beloved city. After walking with his chief advisor Rufus through the ruins of the lower quarters, Nero heads back to his bedchambers in the Imperial Palace and confides in his second wife Poppea of Seneca’s words and his concern for the future of the Roman Empire. In an interesting artistic choice, Nero speaks with his Poppea behind the veil of his bed, and the Nero that speaks to his wife acts differently from the Nero who bravely fought the fires just a few days before. With a hushed, raspy, and almost conspiratorial voice, Nero shows signs of paranoia as he tells Poppea of his grand vision for the Roman Empire. He views the Rome before the fire as barbaric and in need of the Emperor’s saving in order to become “magnificent.” Already, the Emperor shows signs of psychological degradation and his drastic shift in personality is perhaps why many historians believed Nero suffered from late onset bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. At the same time however, in another scene with Rufus, the chief advisor for Nero, and several imperial spymasters and generals, viewers see that perhaps Nero’s paranoia is warranted as the men discuss how Rome’s foreign enemies viewed the Great Fire as a weakness to exploit, while the Roman people saw the disaster as a sign of the gods’ displeasure with the rule of Nero. Faced with these intense political pressures, it might be no surprise that Nero with his weakened mental state could have buckled under the pressure and come up with absurd notions/beliefs about the state of the empire. 

Despite his status as emperor, Nero was far from safe or all-powerful. He would have faced the potential of deposal or assassination from foreign enemies as well as internal rivals from the Senate or even the Roman legions. In an interaction with the prefect Tigellinus (military equivalent: captain or commander) of his Praetorian Guard – the elite infantry usually 500 strong that guarded the emperor and the palace, Nero asks the man if the Praetorians are still “with your Emperor?” Even after the prefect’s affirmations, a few scenes later during a banquet scene, Nero again asks the exact same question, showing his psychological dependence on being safe and secure in the hands of the Praetorians. After hosting and participating in several orgies in the palace to calm his nerves and fueled in a drunken stupor, Nero has an epiphany as he sees a dream of anew Rome: one of “white marble” and grander than ever before. Calling his magistrates the following day, Nero swears to the gods (not to be taken lightly) that he will fulfill his vision, ordering all builders, suppliers, etc. to rebuild the lower quarters in its new form and upgrade the rest of the city – even if those buildings were untouched by the fire to the disgruntlement of his magistrates who recognized the exorbitant costs of the emperor’s project.

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In a crisis great emperors rule as gods.

Hugh Dixon as Seneca to Michael Sheen as Nero

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Popular depiction of Nero singing with a lyre as Rome burned during the Great Fire in 64AD. Incidentally, this scenario most likely never happened according to modern historians and was most likely influenced by later accounts/portrayals by Christian writers and political opponents of the late emperor.