Latest / Nero: Mad Tyrant or Misunderstood Emperor? — Fexingo History / Nero's Grand Tour: The Emperor Who Conquered Greece
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about Nero in Rome — the fire, the Golden House, the persecution. But there's one episode that really shows his personality, his ambition, and his ultimate detachment from reality all at once: his grand tour of Greece in 66 and 67 AD. Luna: He actually went to Greece? I thought emperors mostly stayed in Rome. Lucas: Most did. But Nero was obsessed with Greek culture — he saw himself as a true artist, a musician, a competitor. And he wanted to prove it on the biggest stages of the Greek world. So he sailed to Achaia, as the Romans called Greece, and spent nearly two years touring the great centers of Hellenic civilization. Lucas: For anyone coming with us through these conversations — about Mediterranean history, about the strange twists of empire — we're only able to do this deeply researched, ad-free because of listener support. If today was actually useful to you, the way these stay ad-free is listener support — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, it really helps keep the show going. And it's a small thing that makes a big difference. Lucas: So back to Greece. Nero didn't go as a conqueror — he went as a performer. He competed in the Olympic Games, the Pythian Games at Delphi, the Isthmian Games at Corinth, and the Nemean Games. He even entered events like the chariot race, the synoris and tethrippon, and the musical contests for citharodes — that's lyre players. Luna: Did he actually win? Lucas: Officially, yes. He won something like 1,808 crowns, according to one source. But it's widely believed that many of these were fixed. At Olympia, he fell from his chariot and didn't finish, but the Hellanodikai — the judges — awarded him the crown anyway because they said he would have won if he'd finished. It's a classic Nero moment: he wanted the glory, but he wasn't willing to accept the rules. Lucas: And he didn't just compete — he also performed as a citharode, singing and playing the lyre. In Rome, that was scandalous for an emperor, but in Greece, it was more accepted. Still, he brought his own entourage of judges and officials to make sure he was treated well. Luna: It sounds like a rock star tour, but with more political overtones. Lucas: Exactly. And there was a political side. At the Isthmian Games in Corinth, he made a dramatic announcement: he granted freedom to the province of Achaia, freeing it from provincial taxation and Roman oversight. It was a huge gesture, evoking the memory of Titus Quinctius Flamininus who had proclaimed Greek freedom at the same games over two centuries earlier. But it was also a way to win popularity and secure his image as a philhellene. Luna: Did that freedom last? Lucas: No. It was reversed by Vespasian after Nero's death. But at the time, it was a massive propaganda coup. Lucas: He also plundered Greece on a grand scale. His freedman Acratus was sent to strip temples and sanctuaries of their finest artworks. The oracle at Delphi was looted, and the famous bronze charioteer from Olympia was taken to Rome. Nero was both a benefactor and a thief. Luna: So he gave freedom with one hand and took treasures with the other. Lucas: Precisely. And his relationship with the Greek cities was complex. They flattered him, built statues, and celebrated him as a new Apollo. But after his death, many of those statues were toppled and destroyed in the damnatio memoriae — the official erasure of his memory. In Athens alone, dozens of statues of Nero were demolished. Lucas: The tour also had a practical side: Nero had been planning an expedition to the Caspian Gates and even an invasion of Ethiopia, but he scrapped those plans to focus on Greece. His interest was purely cultural, not military. Luna: That seems so unlike other emperors who wanted to expand the empire. Lucas: It was. Nero was more interested in art than in war. But that also alienated the Roman elite, who saw his behavior as un-Roman, weak, and decadent. His Greek tour was the final straw for many senators. While he was in Greece, the conspiracy of Gaius Calpurnius Piso was discovered in Rome — actually, that was earlier, in 65 AD — but the tour itself deepened the resentment. Lucas: And when he returned to Rome in 68 AD, he brought back thousands of artists and performers, planning a grand triumphal entry modeled on Greek festivals. He actually entered Rome in a chariot wearing a Greek cloak and Olympic victor's crown, followed by his artistic entourage. It was completely alien to Roman tradition. Luna: That must have looked bizarre to the Roman populace. Lucas: It did. And it didn't help that he then appointed a former citharode, Menecrates, as a kind of cultural advisor. Many Romans saw this as the emperor going native. Luna: So the Greek tour was a factor in his downfall? Lucas: Absolutely. It cemented his image as a tyrant who cared more about personal glory and Greek arts than about Roman values. When the revolts broke out in 68 AD, the Greek tour was cited as evidence of his unfitness to rule. The coup that ended the Julio-Claudian dynasty was, in part, a reaction to Nero's cultural excesses. Lucas: But there's a legacy beyond politics. Nero's philhellenism did promote Greek culture in Rome. The Domus Aurea was decorated with Greek-inspired frescoes, and his patronage of the arts inspired later emperors like Hadrian, who also loved Greece. So in a way, Nero's Greek tour was both a personal indulgence and a cultural turning point. Luna: It's ironic that the emperor who wanted to be remembered as an artist is mostly remembered as a monster. Lucas: It is. And his Greek tour shows the gap between his self-image and his reputation. He thought he was bringing civilization and freedom to Greece. Instead, he was looting and manipulating. But the Greeks themselves? Many genuinely admired him. In Corinth, they built a temple to Nero as the 'new Apollo'. So maybe he wasn't entirely wrong. Lucas: Ultimately, Nero's Greek tour is a story of contradictions: a liberator who was also a thief, a performer who rigged his own victories, an emperor who loved Greece but alienated Rome. And it all ended with his suicide in 68 AD, just months after returning from the tour. Luna: That's a pretty complex legacy for a two-year trip. Lucas: It is. And it's a reminder that history's verdict on Nero is still being debated. Was he a mad tyrant or a misunderstood artist? The truth, as always, is somewhere in between.