The Twelve Caesars

Nero’s father belonged to an old and wealthy aristocratic family, the Domitians. When Nero’s mother Agrippina married her uncle Claudius, Claudius adopted Nero as his son and heir.

As emperor, Nero initially promised to imitate Augustus’s model of rule. However, he had more interest in poetry, music, and theater than in politics or military expansion; he even held his own musical performances. Nero had numerous sexual affairs with married women and young men, nearly marrying a freedwoman named Acte and supposedly marrying a eunuch named Sporus. It was even claimed that he wanted to sleep with his mother. Meanwhile, Nero squandered tax revenue on luxuries, especially a massive new palace, the Golden House.

Suetonius alleges that Nero murdered his stepbrother and cousin Britannicus, as well as his own mother, who kept trying to exercise her influence over him. He divorced his stepsister and wife Octavia, then had her exiled and murdered. He next married Poppaea Sabina, then killed her too by attacking her while she was pregnant. Nero was no more merciful to other relatives or to people outside his family.