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Gaius “Caligula” (reigns 37-‐41 AD)
• Son of popular Germanicus and Elder Agrippina
• Direct descendant of Livia, Aug., Agrippa & Antony • Sources tell of catastrophic reign marked by unrestrained shows of autocraNc power and humiliaNon of senate
Caligula supposedly insane, but take w/grain of salt:
– Young & inexperienced (sickly) – Executes Tiberius’ grandson, Tiberius Gemellus – Sings, performs, races chariots, & fights in spectacles
– Conquers Neptune during non-‐invasion of Britain?? – Race-‐horse as consul? – Dresses as gods & goddesses; living god! – Drives chariot over Bay of Naples – Alexander the Great breastplate – Shuts granaries for no reason?
Goodbye Caligula, Hello Claudius!
• Jan. 4 of 41 AD: praetorian guards kill Caligula, his wife, & baby daughter
• Senate meets and debates – Restore Republic? Name another princeps?
• But real power lies with Praetorian Guard, who proclaim Claudius princeps (41-‐54 AD) – DonaNve to the praetorian guard secures power – Claudius the fool vs. Claudius the genius?
Claudius
• treats senate with respect (a`er purges) – but adds Gauls
• centralizes imperial administraNon: – new treasury – revamped courts – Restructured grain supply – adds imperial offices for freedmen as bureaucrats
• conquest of Britain (AD 43-‐4)
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• wives and kids: – Messalina (takes 2nd husband) – 2 kids: Octavia & Brieanicus – Marries niece Younger Agrippina (mother of Nero) – Claudius’ step-‐son Nero becomes son-‐in-‐law: Once Nero designated successor, Claudius dies…
– Poisoned mushrooms (food of the gods)?
• Seneca's Apocolocyntosis: PumpkinificaNon of Divine Claudius
A new “New Golden Age”? • 16 year old Nero succeeds Claudius as princeps in 54 AD
• promises a new “Augustan” age of peace, prosperity, & culture
• $$ to senators • lowers taxes • Bread and Circuses • Agrippina, Seneca, & Burrus
Nero and Seneca, Eduardo Barrón, 1904 Supposedly: Extravagance growing out of control
• Sumptuous banquets last night (someNmes on floaNng EgypNan barges with noblewomen posing as prosNtutes along shore??)
• Bankrupts Roman Empire with his spending • Rumored sexual escapades break all norms: – Incest with mother Agrippina – Both acNve and passive in the bedroom – defiling Vestals – Worse than adultery: while married to his various wives, stages two different marriage ceremonies to freedmen (one as bride; one as groom)
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Notable Murders and execuNons:
• Brieanicus 54 AD • His mother, Agrippina 59 AD
• First wife, Octavia 62 AD • Second wife, Poppaea Sabina and his stepson • Burrus 63 AD • Seneca, Lucan, Petronius et al. forced to commit suicide in wake of Pisonian conspiracy 65 AD
Nero’s theatrical obsession: confusion of reality and role-‐play
Nero is poet, singer, actor, lyre-‐player, charioteer, dancer – Neronia 60 & 65 (Greek style art and sport compeNNon) – Senate upset at emperor’s display; but public delighted!
– Acts in tragedies of Orestes, Oedipus, AnNgone, & Thyestes (mask w/his own face or Poppea’s)!
– Goes to Greece: wins all fesNvals, incl. Olympics, 66-‐67AD
– triumph at Rome for his “victories” in Greek fesNvals; uses Augustus’ triumphal chariot!
– Anxiety about singing voice = refusal to address troops, even in last days when truly in danger -‐-‐ Qualis ar5fex pereo!
Great Fire of Rome: July 19, 64 AD • Did Nero do it? Praetorian guard accuses him of arson – All 3 ancient sources (Dio, Suetonius, Tacitus) report the current rumor that Nero had burned Rome. Only Tacitus qualifies it as rumor.
– Coincidence? July 19 = sack of Rome by the Gauls in 390 BC (418 days, months, and years have gone by)
– Wanted to rename city Neropolis (Hellenizing) – Builds Domus Aurea: Golden Palace, taking up most of downtown Rome, which had burned
– What do we make of the rumor that Nero sang of Troy while Rome burned?
– Scapegoat? The ChrisNans are persecuted (inc. Peter and Paul)
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Domus Aurea Golden Palace
The end for Nero • SNll, Nero loved by many people (though hated by senate)
• The loss of the army’s support is last straw – Revolts in Gaul and Judea while Nero on Greek tour; Nero ignores it. Revolt spreads to Spain; Nero ignores it & refuses to address soldiers or senate
– When he finally convenes leaders and senate, it is to test out sound of new water-‐organ
– Eventually, senate feels secure enough to declare him a public enemy; Nero’s slave helps him commit suicide
– BUT: SighNngs of Nero conNnue and men claiming to be Nero turned up now and then for next 20 years
Nero as anN-‐Christ • In apocalypNc RevelaNon of John, Nero is the “second
beast”: “Let him that hath understanding count the number of the [second] beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six” (13:18)
• “Neron Caesar” in Hebrew is wrieen in leeers whose numerical values equal 666
(nrwn qsr, 50 + 200 + 6 + 50 + 100 + 60 + 200) • If the LaNn (rather than the Greek) spelling "Nero Caesar"
is transliterated into Hebrew (nrw qsr), the final "n" in Neron being omieed (and its value of 50), the name = 616, which is number indicated in oldest surviving copy of the New Testament
QuesNon to Think About: • Legends of bad emperors become powerful myth.
• When we cannot determine the exact reality behind the myth, we can sNll ask how the story itself makes sense and works in the cultural discourse – analyze it as though it were myth
• What aspects keep turning up in the “myth” of every bad emperor? Do any of them surprise you?
