Time as Emperor

In the beginning Agrippina the Younger became regent as Nero had not yet come of age. But this postion didn't last for long. Burrus and Seneca, Nero's tutors encouraged him to leave Agrippina and seize his rightful place. Agrippina moved to a separate residence, which was away from the palace. From then on, Burrus and Seneca were the rulers of Rome.

However in the start of his reign there was peace. The government was at more or less at peace with itself. The senate was treated with respect, and had more freedom. Reforms were made, understanding legislation was made to improve public order, and Nero had more liberal ideas, with ending gladiator fights, and having criminals be condemned in public spectacles. These refroms made Nero a very understanding and humane ruler in the beginning towards the Romans. Yet, because Seneca and Burrus ruled the empire, they let Nero indulge in his own tastes. Seneca did try to persuade Nero to learn and work more on government administration, but these calls fell deaf to Nero's ears. In the beginning of his reign he hated signing death sentences which may have pushed him to avoid his governmental postion even more.

Slowly Nero began to tumble into the tyrant we know him as today. In the year 59 he ordered his soldiers to murder his mother Agrippina as she slowly went to rage at having her son leave her control. He then killed his wife Octavia in June of 62 as he had his eyes on another women Poppaea Sabina, and the fear of Octavia planting the roots of disaffection in Rome. From then on when he saw that he could do anything he liked without any punishment he started to let himself do what ever he pleased.

He became a poet, charioteer, and a lyre player. In either 59 or 60 he started to give public performances, and later appeared on stage and the theatre let him play every role. This behavoir were seen as breaches of Roman diginty, and were frowned upon by the public. It is said that Nero even dreamed of leaving the throne to pursue his poetical and musical gifts. Though he never did such a thing, and by 63 he started to develop religious enthusiasms, and became interested in different cults. Seneca felt as if he had no influence over Nero, and reitred after Burru's death in 62.

By 64 AD Nero's reputation had sunk to the bottom, and the great fire of Rome proved that beyond a doubt. After the fire burning for six days, and burning ten out of the fourteen districts of Rome Nero had the city to be reconstructed in the Greek style and would be called the Golden House. This place would have covered a third of Rome, if finished. From this, rumors spread that Nero himself started the fire of Rome to build his place, and that he watched Rome burn while playing the fiddle. During the fire, Nero is said to be at his villa some 35 miles away from Rome and at the time the fiddle had not yet been invented. In response to this Nero shifted the blame at the Christians who were though to take part in many unerving rituals. Despite this the government had not yet distinguished Christians from Jews. Later on almost by accident, Nero put in place a Roman policy whcih was the halfhearted persecution of the Christians, which gave him the reputation of Anichrist in early Christianity.