Latest / Nero: Mad Tyrant or Misunderstood Emperor? — Fexingo History / Nero and the Year of the Four Emperors: The Coup That Ended the Julio-Claudians
Transcript
- Luna: We've talked a lot about Nero's reign, but I've always wondered—what actually happened right after he died? Lucas: That's the perfect question, because the immediate aftermath was absolute chaos. Nero died on June 9th, 68 AD, and by the end of 69 AD, Rome had seen four different emperors. Historians call it the Year of the Four Emperors. It was the first major civil war since Augustus founded the principate, and it showed how fragile the whole system really was. Luna: Four emperors in one year—that's insane. Lucas: It really was. And it all started with Nero's fall. By June 68, Nero had lost almost all support. The Praetorian Guard abandoned him, the Senate declared him a public enemy, and his own freedmen urged him to flee. He famously said 'Qualis artifex pereo'—'What an artist dies in me.' Then he stabbed himself in the throat with help from his secretary Epaphroditus. Luna: So who took over? Lucas: The first successor was Galba, the governor of Hispania Tarraconensis. He was already in his seventies, a stern old-school aristocrat from a noble family. He had been plotting rebellion for months, and when Nero died, the Senate recognized him as emperor. But Galba made a series of terrible mistakes. He was incredibly stingy—he refused to pay the Praetorians the donative they expected, and he alienated the legions on the frontier by being harsh and suspicious. Luna: Not a great way to keep power. Lucas: Exactly. Within seven months, Galba was murdered by the Praetorians, who then proclaimed Otho as emperor. Otho had been a friend of Nero and a governor of Lusitania, and he was popular with the Praetorians. But he faced a serious challenger: Vitellius, the commander of the legions in Germania Inferior, whose troops had already declared him emperor. Otho marched north to face Vitellius, and the two armies met at a place called Bedriacum, near Cremona in northern Italy. Luna: That's the battle you mentioned earlier. Lucas: Right. The Battle of Bedriacum in April 69 was a disaster for Otho. His forces were outmaneuvered by Vitellius's veteran legions, and Otho, rather than prolong the civil war, chose to commit suicide. He was emperor for only about three months. Vitellius then marched on Rome and was recognized by the Senate. But Vitellius was a glutton and a spendthrift—he threw enormous feasts and drained the treasury. He also purged potential rivals, which made him deeply unpopular. Luna: So he didn't last long either. Lucas: No, he didn't. Meanwhile, the legions in the east had declared their own commander, Vespasian, as emperor. Vespasian was a seasoned general who had distinguished himself in the Jewish War. He left his son Titus to finish the siege of Jerusalem and moved to secure Egypt and the grain supply. His troops marched on Italy, and in December 69, they met Vitellius's forces in a second battle near Cremona—another brutal fight. Vitellius was captured and killed, and the Senate proclaimed Vespasian emperor. Luna: And Vespasian actually held onto power, right? He started the Flavian dynasty. Lucas: Exactly. Vespasian was the one who stabilized the empire. He restored discipline to the armies, replenished the treasury through new taxes, and began construction of the Colosseum on the site of Nero's artificial lake. The Year of the Four Emperors showed that the principate was only as strong as the loyalty of the legions. From now on, emperors would be made by the army, not by the Senate. Luna: It's wild to think that Nero's death set off a chain reaction that nearly tore the empire apart. Lucas: It really did. And one of the most fascinating figures in this whole story is a man named Nymphidius Sabinus. He was the Praetorian prefect who betrayed Nero. He claimed to be the illegitimate son of Caligula, and after Nero's death, he tried to seize power himself, but the Praetorians killed him before Galba even reached Rome. Luna: So even before the four emperors, there was almost a fifth? Lucas: Exactly. And there were also revolts on the frontiers—like the Batavian revolt led by Gaius Julius Civilis, which started in 69 and was only put down by Vespasian's generals. The whole empire was in flux. It's a testament to how fragile the Augustan settlement really was. Luna: It makes you wonder if Nero's reign was really as bad as we think, or if the civil war just made everything look worse in retrospect. Lucas: That's a great point. In fact, there's a tradition called the 'Neroniani'—supporters of Nero who continued to agitate for his memory after his death. Several false Neros appeared in the east, claiming he had escaped and would return. The idea of Nero redivivus was so persistent that it even appears in the Book of Revelation as a symbol of the Antichrist. So the civil war didn't erase Nero's legacy—it actually made it more complicated. Luna: Huh. So he was this haunting figure even after he was gone. Lucas: Absolutely. And if you've been stepping into history with us episode by episode, you know we try to go beyond the simple 'mad tyrant' narrative. We dig into the evidence from Tacitus, Suetonius, Cassius Dio, and the archaeological record. And that kind of work takes time and resources. Luna: Yeah, I know our listeners really appreciate the depth we bring. Lucas: So if you've been getting something out of these conversations, and you want to help keep Fexingo History ad-free and independent, you can support us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. That's buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Just a small gesture helps us keep digging into stories like this one. Luna: Absolutely. And now, back to the chaos of 69 AD—what happened to Nero's body? Did he get a proper burial? Lucas: That's actually a fascinating detail. After Nero's suicide, his nurse and his mistresses Acte and Claudia Augusta buried him in the family tomb of the Domitii on the Pincian Hill. But later, when Galba came to power, he ordered Nero's statues to be smashed and his name erased—what we call damnatio memoriae. However, the tomb was left undisturbed, and for years, people continued to leave flowers there on the anniversary of his death. It shows how divided public opinion really was. Luna: So even after the civil war, people still had a soft spot for him. Lucas: Yes. And that ambivalence is key to understanding the Year of the Four Emperors. It wasn't just about power struggles—it was about what kind of emperor Rome wanted. Galba represented the old aristocracy, Otho the Neronian nostalgia, Vitellius the military might of the Rhine, and Vespasian the pragmatic stability of the east. Each candidate embodied a different vision of the principate. Luna: And Vespasian's vision won out in the end. Lucas: It did. And he was smart about it. He immediately started building a new image—distancing himself from Nero's excesses but also co-opting some of his popular policies. He restored the Capitolium, which had burned down during the civil war, and he started the Colosseum, which was a gift to the people. He also reformed the army and the finances. By the time he died in 79 AD, the empire was stable again. Luna: So the Year of the Four Emperors was really a turning point—it ended the Julio-Claudian dynasty and started the Flavian one. Lucas: Exactly. And it set a precedent: from now on, emperors could be made anywhere, by any legion. The civil war of 68-69 AD showed that the empire's center of gravity was shifting away from Rome itself. The legions in the provinces, especially on the Rhine and the Danube, now had the power to make or break emperors. That would shape Roman history for centuries. Luna: So in a way, Nero's death wasn't just the end of a reign—it was the end of an era. Lucas: Absolutely. The Julio-Claudian dynasty had ruled for almost a hundred years, from Augustus to Nero. After the civil war, the Flavian dynasty took over, and they were a very different kind of family. Vespasian was a self-made man from the equestrian class, not a patrician. His reign marked a shift from hereditary monarchy to a system where military merit could put you on the throne. That's a huge change. Luna: And it all started with Nero's lonely death in that villa outside Rome. Lucas: Exactly. He died on June 9th, 68 AD, at a villa about four miles from Rome, owned by his freedman Phaon. He was only 30 years old. According to Suetonius, his last words were 'Qualis artifex pereo'—'What an artist dies in me.' And then, within a year, the empire had been through four emperors, countless deaths, and a near-total collapse. It's a reminder that the Roman imperial system was always a little fragile, no matter how strong it looked. Luna: Well, that definitely gives me a lot to think about. Thanks for walking through all that. Lucas: My pleasure. And if you want to read more, the main sources are Tacitus's Histories—which sadly only survive for the first part of 69 AD—and Suetonius's Lives of the Caesars. Both give vivid, if biased, accounts of the chaos. And of course, Cassius Dio's Roman History covers it too, though later. There's also a great modern book by Gwyn Morgan called '69 AD: The Year of the Four Emperors' that pieces it all together. Luna: I might have to check that out. Thanks, Lucas. Lucas: You're welcome. And we'll be back next time with another deep dive into the ancient world.