Latest / Nero: Mad Tyrant or Misunderstood Emperor? — Fexingo History / Nero's Posthumous Cult: The Otho Revolt and the Emperor's Ghost
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about Nero's life — the fire, the Golden House, the Greek tour. But there's this strange afterlife to his story that I think gets overlooked. Luna: Afterlife — like, posthumous reputation? Lucas: Exactly. And I don't just mean how historians judged him. I mean actual, literal people claiming to be Nero resurrected. For years after his death, impostors popped up across the eastern Mediterranean, and some of them sparked real revolts. Luna: Wait — people thought Nero was still alive? Lucas: They did. And it's not as crazy as it sounds. When Nero died in June of 68, his body wasn't displayed publicly for very long. Suetonius tells us his cremation was arranged by his nurses, Acte and Ecloge, and his ashes were sealed in the family tomb of the Domitii on the Pincian Hill. That ambiguity — the lack of a grand state funeral — left room for rumors. Lucas: On top of that, Nero had been wildly popular with the common people in Rome, especially the plebs and the Praetorian Guard. He threw massive games, distributed grain, kept the city entertained. So when the Senate declared him a public enemy and Galba took over, there was real resentment. Luna: So the people didn't buy the official story. Lucas: Not at all. And that resentment boiled over almost immediately. Within a month of Nero's death, a soldier named Nymphidius Sabinus — who had been Praetorian prefect under Nero — tried to seize power claiming he was Caligula's son. That failed. But then, in January of 69, the Praetorians murdered Galba and elevated Otho. Luna: Otho was Nero's friend, right? He'd been married to Poppaea before Nero took her. Lucas: Exactly. Otho had been a close companion, and he used that connection. Once he was emperor, he immediately restored Nero's statues and allowed people to celebrate Nero's memory openly. He even took the name 'Nero' as part of his imperial title — officially, he was Imperator Otho Nero. Cassius Dio says he accepted acclamations from the crowd as 'Nero Otho'. Luna: So he was basically running as a Neronian candidate. Lucas: Pretty much. And it worked in the short term. But Otho only lasted three months — he was defeated by Vitellius's legions at Bedriacum and committed suicide. Still, even after Otho's fall, the Neronian faction didn't disappear. Lucas: And then came the first pseudo-Nero. In early 69, while Otho was still fighting Vitellius, a man appeared in Greece — Achaia — claiming to be Nero. Tacitus says he was either a slave from Pontus or a freedman from Italy, but he had a striking resemblance to Nero and could play the lyre and sing. Luna: He could sing — that's a detail that would sell the impersonation. Lucas: Exactly. He gathered followers quickly, and when a storm scattered a ship he was on to the island of Cythnus, he recruited more supporters, including some discharged soldiers. Tacitus says he began arming them and intercepting merchant ships. For a moment, he was a real threat — he even attracted the attention of Sisenna, a Roman officer traveling to Syria, who barely escaped. Luna: What happened to him? Lucas: He was eventually captured and executed — but the fact that he got as far as he did shows how much lingering support Nero had. And it didn't end there. A second pseudo-Nero appeared a few years later, during the reign of Titus, around 80 AD. This one was Asian — from the province of Asia — and he also gathered followers, though he was quickly suppressed. Luna: And a third? Lucas: A third appeared in 88 AD, under Domitian. This one came from Parthia, which is key. The Parthian king Vologases I had actually sent an embassy to the Roman Senate after Nero's death, asking them to honor Nero's memory. Tacitus records that Vologases almost went to war over it — he had a personal respect for Nero from the earlier negotiations about Armenia. Luna: So the Parthians were pro-Nero? That's surprising. Lucas: It is, but it makes sense. Nero had negotiated a peaceful settlement with Tiridates, the Parthian-backed king of Armenia, and crowned him in Rome. That was a huge diplomatic success for both sides. So when the third pseudo-Nero turned up among the Parthians, Vologases gave him support — though reluctantly, and eventually handed him over to Rome. Suetonius and Cassius Dio both mention this episode. Lucas: So for nearly twenty years after his death, Nero's ghost kept appearing. And even after the impostors were gone, his name carried weight. We know from inscriptions that some people in Greece and Asia Minor continued to celebrate his birthday and his accession day into the second century. Luna: There's something about that — the way a disgraced emperor could still be beloved on the ground. Lucas: Absolutely. And I think it speaks to a real divide in the empire. The senatorial class hated Nero for his extravagance and his disregard for their prestige — they wrote the histories that condemn him. But the provinces, especially the Greek East, remembered him as a benefactor. He'd granted freedom to Greece, sponsored games, built public works. That memory didn't die with him. Luna: It's almost like there were two Neros — the Senate's monster and the people's champion. Lucas: And that tension is what made the pseudo-Neros possible. They weren't just random con men — they were tapping into a real political current. In fact, some scholars argue that the Neronian movement was a genuine popular uprising against the senatorial aristocracy, not just a cult of personality. Luna: Which makes me wonder — if Otho had held on, would we remember Nero differently? Lucas: If Otho had won, he would have cemented the Neronian legacy. But Vitellius crushed that, and then Vespasian, who founded the Flavian dynasty, had no interest in rehabilitating Nero. So the damnatio memoriae stuck — at least officially. Lucas: But unofficially, Nero never really went away. Even in the second century, the emperor Domitian was compared to Nero — and not favorably. Suetonius says Domitian's critics called him 'a bald Nero.' And later, in the third century, there was a false rumor that Nero had survived and would return — the Nero Redivivus legend. Early Christian writers even picked it up, casting Nero as the Antichrist. Luna: So Nero became this mythic figure, almost larger than history. Lucas: Exactly. And to wrap up, I think that's the real legacy of Nero — not just the tyrant or the artist, but the emperor who refused to stay dead. His story forces us to ask: who gets to decide what history remembers? Luna: That's a powerful note to end on. And speaking of support for history —