ROME'S MOST-HATED TYRANT? NERO

Discover the real story behind one of the ancient world's most notorious emperors

- Dr Emma Southon

On 9 June 68 CE, Emperor Nero cowered in a villa outside Rome watching his companions build his pyre and prepared to take his own life. Observing them bustle about with wood and water, he wept and sighed: "What a great artist dies with me!" With Nero died not just an artist but also an emperor and his entire dynasty, and he left behind a reputation as the very worst of a bad bunch of rulers. He had all the hallmarks of a terrible emperor: he killed indiscriminately, he lived extravagantly, he was profligate with money and sex, and refused to engage in any proper Roman activities. But his worst crime, as far as the Romans were concerned, was to get on stage and sing. In this, he insulted their honour and their masculinity and made them pay homage to an actor. For this they could never forgive him.

Nero ascended to the Roman throne in October 54 CE aged 17. To get him there his mother, Agrippina, had married her uncle Claudius, persuaded him to disinherit his biological son and adopt hers, taken control of his reign and then murdered him with a poisoned mushroom. As happened with every new emperor, the Senate and people of Rome received the change of regime from Claudius to Nero with great rejoicing, hoping as ever that this time they might get a good one. And Nero's early years were promising. Still effectively a child, he left the hard work of government to his grown-up advisors and focused himself on punishing his family for existing. Most of the first five years of Nero's reign were taken up with the announcement of very popular policies in public, like publishing taxes for the first time so people knew what they owed, punctuated with high drama in private.

The first sign that all would not be well under Nero came just a year into his rule, when he poisoned his adopted brother - and presumed heir - Britannicus at a dinner party in front of dozens of witnesses.