Latest / Nero: Mad Tyrant or Misunderstood Emperor? — Fexingo History / Nero's Public Works and the Neronian Saepta
Transcript
- Lucas: When we think of Nero, we usually think of the fire, the golden house, the scandals. But there's another side to his reign that gets overshadowed — his public works. Today I want to look at the buildings he actually put up for the people of Rome, not just for himself. Luna: Like what? I mean, aside from the Domus Aurea, what did Nero actually build? Lucas: Quite a lot, actually. And some of it was genuinely useful. Take the Saepta Julia, for instance. It was an ancient voting enclosure in the Campus Martius, originally built by Julius Caesar but left unfinished. Augustus finished a basic version, but it was still pretty plain. Nero had it rebuilt in marble, with porticoes and a roof. By his time, it wasn't really used for voting anymore — it had become a kind of grand public space, like a mall or a gallery. Luna: So he turned a voting hall into a shopping center? That's a bit on the nose for an emperor who didn't care much for elections. Lucas: Ha, you could say that. But actually, the Saepta was already being used for exhibitions and gladiatorial shows even before Nero. What he did was give it a facelift that made it one of the most impressive spaces in Rome. Pliny the Elder praises it. And it wasn't just about looks — the porticoes provided shade and shelter for people strolling through the Campus Martius. It was a civic amenity as much as a monument. Lucas: And then there were the markets. Nero built a huge market hall called the Macellum Magnum, probably on the Caelian Hill. This was a serious piece of infrastructure — a place where people could buy food, maybe with a central courtyard and shops. It wasn't just for the elite; it served the common folk. So when we talk about Nero's building program, it's not all golden palaces and colossal statues. Luna: That's interesting, because we often hear about Nero's extravagance, but these sound pretty practical. Lucas: Exactly. And that's a side of Nero that gets lost. He inherited a city that was already crowded and prone to fires and diseases. He actually tried to do something about urban planning, especially after the great fire. But even before that, he was investing in public amenities. The baths — the Thermae Neronianae — were another example. They were built on the Campus Martius, and they were luxurious, but they were open to the public. You didn't have to be a senator to enjoy them. Luna: So Nero was a builder of baths and markets. That seems... almost civic-minded. Lucas: He was, in his own way. And that's what makes him so complex. The same emperor who torched his own city also rebuilt it with wider streets and porticoes to protect against fire. He had the architects Severus and Celer — the same ones who designed the Domus Aurea — working on these practical projects too. So there's this tension between the self-indulgent artist and the civic benefactor. Lucas: You know, this reminds me of something. A lot of what we know about Nero's public works comes from inscriptions and archaeological fragments, because later emperors like Vespasian and Trajan were eager to claim credit for rebuilding Rome. They deliberately erased Nero's name from buildings. So sometimes we have to piece together what he actually did from indirect sources, like coins that show the Saepta or the Macellum. Luna: That's frustrating. So we can't even see his name on his own buildings? Lucas: Right. That's the damnatio memoriae in action. But the buildings themselves survived, even if they were attributed to someone else. And that's kind of fitting for Nero — his legacy was literally scrubbed, but the stones remain. Speaking of which, if you've been enjoying our deep dives into Roman history, you might be interested to know that listener support is what keeps this show ad-free. If you'd like to help us keep exploring stories like this, you can buy us a coffee at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Every little bit helps us with research and recording time. Luna: Yeah, it's a small way to keep history alive, and it really does make a difference for us. Lucas: Anyway, back to Nero's building spree. One of the most striking things is how he approached the Campus Martius. He didn't just rebuild the Saepta; he also constructed a new bridge over the Tiber, and he planned a grand entrance to the Campus Martius from the river. He had a vision for Rome as a monumental city, not just a crowded mess. That was part of his philhellenic aesthetic — he wanted Rome to rival Alexandria and Athens in grandeur. Luna: So he was basically doing urban renewal on a massive scale, before it was cool. Lucas: Exactly. And his building program wasn't just about beauty — it had economic and social benefits. The baths and markets provided jobs and stimulated trade. The porticoes gave people places to gather, do business, gossip. It was a way of winning popular support. Of course, the Senate resented him for spending so much on public works, because it made them look stingy. But the people loved him for it, at least for a while. Lucas: There's a story that when Nero dedicated the Macellum Magnum, he distributed gifts to the crowd. And he was known to mingle with the people at the baths and markets. He wanted to be seen as one of them, not just a distant emperor. That's a far cry from the tyrant who fiddled while Rome burned — which, by the way, is a myth. Nero wasn't even in the city when the fire started. Luna: Right, I remember that from the episode on the fire. He came back quickly and organized relief efforts. Lucas: Yes, he opened his palaces to the homeless and brought in grain from Ostia. So his response to the fire was actually quite effective. And then he implemented building codes — no more shared walls, height limits, and using non-flammable materials like tufa and brick. That was a huge reform. But again, the sources are biased, so we have to read between the lines. Lucas: Take the baths again. Suetonius says they were so luxurious that they were criticized as a waste. But they were free to the public, and they included libraries and gardens. That's a pretty enlightened concept. The later Baths of Trajan were built on the same site, and Trajan got the credit. Nero's baths were basically the prototype. Luna: So he was ahead of his time, but he didn't get the credit. Lucas: Exactly. And that's also true of his coinage reform. We did a whole episode on that, but the building program is similar — it was innovative, and it was deliberately erased by his successors. The irony is that Vespasian, who started the Flavian dynasty, used the profits from Nero's reforms to build the Colosseum. So in a way, we're still walking around Nero's legacy every time we visit Rome. Luna: It's almost like he was a shadow emperor, always there but never credited. Lucas: That's a great way to put it. And when you look at the actual remains — like the Neronian bath foundations or the layout of the Campus Martius — you see a coherent vision. He wanted Rome to be a city that impressed visitors and served its citizens. That doesn't sound like a mad tyrant to me. It sounds like an ambitious urban planner. Lucas: There's also the matter of the Porticus of Nero, which he built to connect the Domus Aurea to the Forum. That was seen as a power grab — he was physically imposing his palace on public space. But even that had a practical side: it provided a shaded walkway for people going between the Palatine and the Forum. But the symbolism was too much for the Senate. Luna: So his biggest problem was that he didn't respect the boundaries between public and private. Lucas: Exactly. The Domus Aurea was the ultimate expression of that — his private villa sprawling over the heart of the city. But even that, if we look past the luxury, was an architectural marvel. The use of concrete, the octagonal room, the rotating ceiling — that was revolutionary. And his architects, Severus and Celer, were geniuses. They were the ones who designed that golden house, but they also worked on his public projects. Lucas: So here's the thing—when we separate the man from the myth, when we look at his actual policies and constructions, we see a ruler who was deeply engaged with his city. He wasn't just an artist and a hedonist; he was also an administrator who tried to solve real problems. The fire gave him a chance to rebuild Rome in a more orderly, safer way, and he took it. His building codes were still in effect centuries later. Luna: It's a different picture from the one we get in the movies. Lucas: It is. And it's more complicated and more human. So next time you hear about Nero, remember the Saepta Julia and the Macellum Magnum. Remember the baths and the markets. He wasn't just the emperor who fiddled while Rome burned — he was the emperor who rebuilt it, for better or worse. Luna: That's a nice way to end, I think. Lucas: Glad you think so. And if you want to explore more of these hidden corners of Roman history, we'll be back next time with another story. Until then, keep walking the ancient streets with us.