Latest / Nero: Mad Tyrant or Misunderstood Emperor? — Fexingo History / Nero's Olympic Fix: The 67 AD Games That He Rigged
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about Nero as an artist — his cithara playing, his stage performances, the Neronia he founded. But there's one episode that really takes it to another level: the Olympic Games of 67 AD. Luna: Wait — he actually competed in the Olympics? Lucas: He did. And not only that — he basically bent the entire Olympic institution to his will. The games that year became a showcase of imperial ego, and the way he went about it was so flagrant that even ancient sources who usually cut him some slack were appalled. Lucas: Now, a few of you have been following along with these conversations about Roman history, and if you've gotten something out of them, you know how much work goes into digging up these stories from Tacitus, Suetonius, Cassius Dio. A couple of dollars a month at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo is genuinely what keeps these going — it means we can keep doing research instead of running ads. Luna: Yeah, it really does make a difference. So back to the Olympics — what exactly did Nero do? Lucas: Well, first of all, the Olympics were supposed to happen every four years, on a fixed cycle. Nero was in Greece in 66 and 67 AD, touring the provinces, and he decided he wanted to compete. But the next scheduled games weren't until 69 AD. So he simply ordered the games to be moved up by two years — a blatant disruption of the sacred Olympic calendar that had been observed for centuries. Lucas: And it wasn't just the Olympics. He also forced the Isthmian Games, the Pythian Games, the Nemean Games — all the major Panhellenic festivals — to be rescheduled so he could participate in them all in one grand tour. The Greeks were expected to be honored by his presence. Luna: I imagine the priestly officials at Olympia weren't thrilled. Lucas: Probably not. But they had no choice. Nero also introduced new events that were totally alien to the Olympic tradition. He added musical contests — singing and cithara playing — which had never been part of the games. They were held in a specially built odeon, not in the stadium. The traditionalists must have been horrified. Lucas: And then there's the most infamous incident: Nero competed in a chariot race. He entered a ten-horse chariot — which was unheard of, normally it was two or four horses. He was thrown from the chariot and didn't finish the race. But the judges still declared him the winner. They awarded him the olive wreath. Luna: So he just bought the judges off? Lucas: Essentially, yes. According to Suetonius, the judges were well-rewarded. And in a later incident, when the Greek city of Elis — which administered the games — hesitated to record Nero's name in the list of Olympic victors, Nero threatened to remove the Olympic Games from Elis permanently. They caved. Lucas: But it gets even stranger. Nero also had himself declared winner of every event he entered, including ones he didn't actually compete in. For example, he won the chariot race for two-horse chariots and four-horse chariots, and also the race for apobates — a kind of chariot dismounting competition. All without breaking a sweat. Luna: Did he actually do anything athletic at all, or was it all just theater? Lucas: According to Cassius Dio, the only physical effort he made was to stand in a chariot for a moment and then pretend to fall. Other sources say he actually drove, but poorly. Either way, the results were predetermined. Nero also awarded himself first prize in the herald's competition — for announcing his own entrance. Lucas: But here's what's interesting: Nero wasn't just being vain. He had a political strategy. By dominating the Olympic Games, he was sending a message to the Greek world that he was their champion — a philhellene emperor who understood and valued Greek culture. Earlier, in 66 AD, he had proclaimed the freedom of the Greek provinces at the Isthmian Games, just like Flamininus had done centuries before. Luna: So the Olympics were part of that propaganda campaign — winning Greek loyalty through culture. Lucas: Exactly. The Greeks had been restive under Roman rule, and Nero was trying to co-opt their heritage. He even planned to dig a canal through the Isthmus of Corinth — a massive engineering project that would have linked the Ionian and Aegean seas. That never happened, but it shows how serious he was about integrating Greece. Lucas: The problem is that his methods were so heavy-handed. The Greeks may have appreciated the gestures, but they also saw through the corruption. The Olympic Games were supposed to be a sacred competition, not a tool of imperial vanity. When Nero died in 68 AD, the next Olympic officials quietly erased his victories from the records. Luna: So his wins were literally written out of history. Lucas: Pretty much. Pausanias, writing a century later, mentions that Nero's name was omitted from the official lists of Olympic victors. The only reason we know about it is because writers like Suetonius and Cassius Dio recorded the scandal. So in a sense, Nero's Olympic triumph was a complete failure — it didn't change his legacy at all. Lucas: But it does tell us something about his character. He wasn't content to be a patron of the arts or a builder of palaces. He wanted to be an actual participant — to be seen as a true Greek champion. And he was willing to break every rule to get that recognition. Luna: It reminds me of how he wanted to be remembered as an artist, not an emperor. The Olympics were just another stage. Lucas: Exactly. And like his stage performances, the Olympic episode backfired. Instead of winning glory, he became a symbol of imperial overreach. The Greeks may have accepted his bribes, but they didn't respect him for it. In the end, the only crown that mattered was the one he couldn't buy: the memory of posterity. Lucas: So when we ask whether Nero was a madman or a misunderstood emperor, the Olympic Games of 67 AD give us a mixed answer. He was certainly capable of grand vision — philhellenism, cultural integration. But his methods were so corrupt and self-serving that they undermined his own goals. Luna: I wonder what the athletes who trained their whole lives thought, seeing the emperor waltz in and take their prizes. Lucas: They probably felt the same way the Roman senators did when he forced them to applaud his singing. Power doesn't like to be upstaged. And in Nero's world, there was only room for one star.