Latest / Nero: Mad Tyrant or Misunderstood Emperor? — Fexingo History
Nero and the Alexandrian Grain Fleet
The annona—Rome's grain supply—was the empire's lifeline, and Nero faced one of its greatest crises: a famine in 68 AD that nearly starved the capital. This episode traces the perilous journey of grain ships from Alexandria to Puteoli, the role of the Classis Alexandrina, and Nero's response to the crisis. We meet the shipowners (navicularii), the merchants who risked winter storms, and the emperor who ordered the construction of a massive harbor at Ostia—begun by Claudius but finished under Nero. Drawing on Suetonius, Tacitus, and the legal code Digesta, we explore how the…
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