Latest / Nero: Mad Tyrant or Misunderstood Emperor? — Fexingo History / Nero and the Freedom of the Greeks 67 AD
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about Nero's building projects, his artistic ambitions, the fire, the conspiracies — but one of the most dramatic moments of his reign actually happened outside Italy, in Greece, in 67 AD. Luna: Oh right, his Grand Tour of Greece. Lucas: Exactly. Nero spent about fifteen months touring the province of Achaia — that's what the Romans called Greece proper — performing at every major festival, collecting over 1,800 crowns from various contests. But the real bombshell came at the Isthmian Games in Corinth. Luna: The same games where Flamininus declared Greek freedom back in 196 BC? Lucas: Same venue, same symbolism. Nero stood before the crowd and proclaimed that Greece was now free and autonomous, remitted all provincial taxes, and granted the Greeks rights they hadn't held since before the Roman conquest. Suetonius tells us the crowd went wild — they hailed him as 'the new Zeus' and 'Apollo incarnate.' Some even demanded he drive a chariot through the Peloponnese. Luna: Wait, did he actually drive a chariot? Lucas: He did — and famously fell out and nearly got killed, but he still won the prize because the judges were terrified of him. But let's back up. Why would Nero, of all emperors, do this? He'd been obsessed with Greek culture since childhood — his tutor Seneca had steeped him in Greek rhetoric and poetry. But there's also a political angle. Luna: What's the political calculus? Lucas: Greece had been a senatorial province — meaning the Senate appointed its governors — but Nero transferred it to imperial control, then promptly announced its freedom. On one level, it was a huge tax break: all the revenue that had flowed to Rome now stayed in Greece. But it also undercut the senatorial aristocracy, who had been exploiting the province. And it made Nero look like a liberator, not just a tax collector. Luna: So it's part of his ongoing feud with the Senate. Lucas: Absolutely. He's positioning himself as a populist emperor who cares about the provinces more than the old Roman elite. There's also the matter of his freedman Acratus — he was sent to Greece to secure statues and artworks for the Domus Aurea, which didn't exactly endear Nero to Greek aristocrats. But the declaration itself was genuinely popular. The historian Pausanias, writing a century later, still remembered the edict and praised Nero's 'philhellenism.' Luna: Did it last? I mean, after Nero died. Lucas: No, it didn't. Vespasian reversed the policy almost immediately after he took power in 70 AD. He restored Achaia to senatorial status and reimposed taxes. The official reason was that the Greeks had abused their freedom — they were quarreling among themselves, he claimed. But really, Vespasian needed the money after the civil wars. So Nero's gesture became a brief, shining moment that lasted about three years. Luna: Three years of freedom — and then back to business as usual. Lucas: Exactly. But it's fascinating because it reveals a side of Nero that often gets buried under the fire and the murders. He genuinely loved Greek culture, spoke Greek fluently, and saw himself as an artist-king in the Hellenistic tradition. When he performed at the Olympic Games — which had been moved to 67 AD just for him — he entered a chariot race with ten horses, fell out, and still 'won.' The Greeks knew it was a farce, but they played along because the benefits were real. Luna: It sounds like a mutual performance — Nero gets his adulation, Greece gets tax relief. Lucas: Exactly. And it's a window into how the empire worked: the emperor could, with a single speech, reshape provincial administration. The declaration itself was inscribed on a stele at Corinth — fragments survive, and it's one of the few direct documents we have of Nero's own words. The language is grandiose: 'Nero, the lord of the whole world, has given freedom to Greece.' Luna: So is there any truth to the idea that Nero was genuinely trying to be a good emperor, or was it all just theater? Lucas: I think it's both. He clearly craved applause and validation — he wept when the Greeks cheered him. But he also took concrete steps: he lowered taxes, he personally inspected the construction of the Corinth Canal — dig a canal through the Isthmus of Corinth — though he abandoned it after a few miles. And he gave gifts to the sanctuaries at Delphi and Olympia. The historian Philostratus even says that the philosopher Apollonius of Tyana criticized Nero's love of Greece as excessive. Luna: So the Greeks themselves had mixed feelings? Lucas: Probably. The elites who lost statues to Acratus were furious. But the common people? They got a tax holiday and a spectacle. And it's worth noting that Nero's 'freedom' didn't mean democracy — it meant autonomy under the emperor. No Roman garrisons in most cities, local courts could handle their own cases, and the Greeks could elect their own magistrates again. It was a restoration of something like the old league system. Luna: So it wasn't full independence, but it was a big deal. Lucas: A huge deal. The Greek city-states had been under Roman hegemony for nearly two centuries by then — first as allies, then as subjects. Nero's gesture was unprecedented. No other emperor had done anything like it. And when Vespasian reversed it, he made sure to frame it as a correction of Nero's excess. He even said, 'The Greeks have forgotten how to be free.' Luna: That's a harsh line. Lucas: It is. But it shows how Nero's philhellenism became part of his damnatio memoriae — everything he did had to be undone. Still, the memory of that day at the Isthmian Games lingered. Pausanias mentions it with nostalgia. And even today, the 'Freedom of the Greeks' declaration is one of the few acts of Nero that historians cite as genuinely progressive. Luna: You know, if today was actually useful to you, the way these stay ad-free is listener support — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Lucas: Yeah, it really makes a difference. A small contribution keeps us going and lets us keep digging into stories like this. Luna: And we appreciate it a lot. Anyway, back to Greece — what happened to the Corinth Canal project? Lucas: Nero actually broke ground with a golden pickaxe, and prisoners from the Jewish War were put to work. But the project was abandoned after a few kilometers — the terrain was too hard, and Nero's financial situation was deteriorating. It wasn't until 1893 that the canal was finally completed. Luna: So Nero was an early visionary, just not a successful one. Lucas: Exactly. And that sums up a lot of his reign — grand ambitions, flawed execution, and a legacy that's been filtered through hostile sources. But the freedom declaration really was a genuine gift, even if it didn't last.