Nero, the last of the Cæsars and the mystic antichrist of primitive Christian tradition, Roman emperor from 54 to 68 A.D., was born at Antium, on the coast of Latium, 15th December 37, and was the son of Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus and of the younger Agrippina, the daughter of Germanicus Cæsar, and sister of Caligula. His mother became the wife of the Emperor Claudius, who adopted him (50), his name, originally L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, being changed to Nero Claudius Cæsar Drusus Germanicus. After the death of Claudius (54) the Prætorian Guards, at the instigation of Afranius Burrus, their prefect, declared him emperor, instead of Claudius's son Britannicus, and their choice was acknowledged both by the senate and by the provinces. His reign began with the semblance of moderation and good promise, under the guidance of Burrus and his tutor Seneca the philosopher; but the baleful influence of his mother, together with his own moral weakness and sensuality, frustrated their efforts, and he soon plunged headlong into debauchery, extravagance, and tyranny. He caused the young Britannicus, the son of Claudius, to be treacherously poisoned, and afterwards (59) his own mother Agrippina to be murdered, in order to please his infamous and ambitious mistress Poppæa Sabina. To marry her he divorced and put to death his neglected wife Octavia, the sister of Britannicus. The Roman senate showed the depth of its degradation by presenting an address congratulating the hateful matricide on the death of Agrippina, but Nero himself was ever haunted by the ghost of a murdered mother. The affairs of the empire were at this time far from tranquil. In 61 an insurrection broke out in Britain under Queen Boadicea, which was suppressed by Suetonius Paulinus. Next year saw an unsuccessful war against the Parthians in Armenia. At home the emperor was lampooned in verse; Burrus, a valuable friend, died; and even Seneca, though no rigid moralist out of his books, thought it only decent to remove from court. In July 64 occurred a great conflagration in Rome, by which two-thirds of the city was reduced to ashes. Nero himself is stated by all authorities later than Tacitus to have been the incendiary; and we are told that he admired the spectacle from a distance, reciting verses about the burning of Troy. But he found a convenient scapegoat in the mysterious sect of the Christians, many of whom were put to death with unheard-of cruelties, such as being wrapped in cloth steeped with pitch, and set on fire in the imperial gardens. Moreover, he rebuilt the city with great magnificence, and reared for himself on the Palatine Hill a splendid palace, the famous 'golden house,' and in order to provide for this expenditure and for the gratification of the Roman populace by spectacles and distributions of corn Italy and the provinces were plundered without ruth. A conspiracy against Nero in the year 65 failed, and Seneca and the poet Lucan fell victims to his vengeance. In a fit of passion he murdered his wife Poppæa, by kicking her when she was pregnant. He then offered his hand to Antonia, the daughter of Claudius, but was refused, whereupon he caused the too fastidious lady to be put to death, and married Statilia Messallina, after putting her husband to death. He also executed or banished many persons highly distinguished for integrity and virtue. His undignified vanity led him to seek distinction as a poet, a philosopher, an actor, a musician, and even a charioteer, and he received sycophantic applause, not only in Italy, but in Greece, to which, upon invitation of the Greek cities, he made a visit in 67. But in 68 the Gallic and Spanish legions, and after them the Prætorian Guards, rose against him to make Galba emperor, and Nero fled from Rome to the house of a freedman, Phaon, about four miles distant. The senate now declared him an enemy of his country, and the trembling tyrant saved himself from execution by suicide, 11th June 68.
His last words throw light on his pitiful vanity and on the cruel irony of fate that placed him on a throne—'What an artist is lost in me.' See the articles ROME, SENECA, ANTICHRIST, APOCALYPTIC NUMBER, &c.; W. Wolfe Capes, Early Roman Empire, and Merivale's History of the Romans under the Empire.