Latest / Nero: Mad Tyrant or Misunderstood Emperor? — Fexingo History / Nero's Assassination by the Senate: The Death of a Dynasty
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about Nero's life — his art, his building projects, his relationship with Greece, even the murder of his mother. But we haven't really covered how it all ended. The last few weeks of Nero's rule, June 68 AD, were chaotic and bloody, and they set the stage for a whole new era. Luna: The Year of the Four Emperors, right? That starts right after Nero? Lucas: Exactly. But first, the dominoes had to fall. It began in Gaul, with a governor named Gaius Julius Vindex. He was of Aquitanian royal descent, a Roman senator, but he raised a revolt in March 68 AD — not to claim the throne himself, but to rally support for a new emperor. He sent letters to other provincial governors, urging them to join him. Lucas: Vindex's rebellion wasn't huge militarily. He had maybe 100,000 men, but they were mostly untrained Gauls. The real threat came when the governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, Servius Sulpicius Galba, declared for the rebellion. Galba was a respected old-school senator, and he had the legions in Spain behind him. Luna: So Nero suddenly had two provinces in open revolt. Lucas: Yes, and it got worse. Nero sent his commander Lucius Verginius Rufus, who commanded the legions in Upper Germany, to crush Vindex. Verginius defeated Vindex at the Battle of Vesontio in May 68. Vindex committed suicide. But Verginius's own troops offered to make him emperor — he refused — and then the real blow hit Nero. Lucas: Back in Rome, the Praetorian Guard was the key. Nero's praetorian prefect, Nymphidius Sabinus, saw which way the wind was blowing. He convinced the guard to switch allegiance to Galba, promising them a huge donative — 30,000 sesterces per man, out of Galba's pocket. But Galba hadn't agreed to that. Luna: A donative they never got, I think I've heard that. Lucas: Exactly. That broken promise would come back to haunt Galba later. But for Nero, it was the end. When he heard that the Praetorians had abandoned him, he seems to have completely fallen apart. He supposedly wandered the palace, crying, asking for a cup of poison — but no one would bring it. Lucas: Nero fled Rome with just a few loyal servants. He made for the port of Ostia, maybe hoping to escape to Egypt. But he couldn't get a ship. He ended up at a country villa owned by his freedman Phaon, about four miles from Rome. It was a squalid place, hidden away. Lucas: Meanwhile, the Senate had declared Nero a public enemy. They sentenced him to death by whipping — the old punishment for patricide. So Nero was cornered. According to Suetonius, he kept muttering, 'What an artist dies in me.' He tried to stab himself in the throat, but he couldn't do it. His secretary, Epaphroditus, helped him finish the job. Luna: So he didn't actually die alone — someone was with him at the end. Lucas: Right. Epaphroditus was a freedman who had served Nero for years. He pushed the dagger home when Nero hesitated. Then a centurion arrived, pretending to have come to rescue him, but found Nero already dead. The centurion tried to staunch the wound, but it was too late. Lucas: Nero's body was cremated by his old nurses, Acte and a couple of other women, on a pyre made from whatever wood they could find. His ashes were placed in the tomb of the Domitii, on the Pincian Hill — the family crypt of his father's line. That was the end of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Luna: And then the damnatio memoriae kicked in — they tried to erase his memory. Lucas: Yes. The Senate ordered the destruction of his statues, the erasure of his name from inscriptions, and the demolition of some of his buildings, though the Domus Aurea mostly survived because it was so massive. But ironically, Nero remained popular with the common people of Rome, especially in the east. For decades after, false Neros kept appearing — claimants who said they were him and that he hadn't really died. Lucas: There were at least three or four false Neros over the next twenty years. One showed up in Greece during the reign of Titus, another in Asia during Domitian's rule. They attracted followers, which shows that Nero's memory wasn't universally hated. Some people really did love him. Luna: It's fascinating how complex his legacy is. I mean, we've done all these episodes on different aspects of his reign, and still there's more to say. Lucas: Well, if today's deep dive into Nero's final days made you think — or if you've been coming along with us through this whole series — we've got a link that's honestly just a nice way to say the show's worth a small coffee to you. It's buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure, just a little gesture if it feels right. Luna: Yeah, every bit helps keep this ad-free and going deep into these topics. Lucas: So Nero's death wasn't just the end of a man — it was the end of a dynasty that had ruled Rome since Augustus. The civil wars that followed, the Year of the Four Emperors, saw Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and finally Vespasian all fighting for the throne. And that's a whole other story. Luna: We should definitely cover that. But first, I want to go back to something you mentioned — Nymphidius Sabinus. He was the one who turned the Praetorians against Nero, right? What happened to him? Lucas: Great question. Nymphidius Sabinus thought he'd be rewarded by Galba, but Galba had him assassinated within weeks. The Praetorians never got their donative either, which is why they later turned on Galba and supported Otho. So Nymphidius's betrayal set off a chain reaction that destabilized the entire empire. Luna: So in a way, Nero's downfall was really about the Praetorian Guard's loyalty being for sale. Lucas: Exactly. The guard had been bought by previous emperors, but Nero took their loyalty for granted. When they saw a better offer — even a fake one — they switched sides. That became a pattern for the next few years. It's a lesson in how fragile imperial power really is when it depends on money and promises. Lucas: And Nero's own indecision didn't help. He could have fled to Egypt, raised an army, and fought back. But he hesitated, and that hesitation cost him everything. In the end, he died more like a character in one of his own theatrical performances than a Roman emperor. Luna: 'What an artist dies in me' — that line really sums him up, doesn't it? Lucas: It does. He saw himself as an artist first, an emperor second. And that's probably why his legacy is so contested. Was he a monster? A showman? A populist ahead of his time? The truth is, he was all of those things, and the way he died — alone, in a hidden villa, with only a freedman for company — feels almost poetic. Lucas: So next time, we'll jump into the chaos that followed: Galba's short reign, Otho's coup, Vitellius's march on Rome, and finally Vespasian's victory. But for now, let's leave Nero in that dusty tomb on the Pincian Hill, a dynasty buried with him. Luna: And the empire forever changed.