Nero

by Michael Grant

Book Overview

A historical account of one of Rome's worst emperors. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 088029311X
• ISBN13: 9780880293112
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: Dorset Press
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 1.02 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Arch-Villian of Early Christianity

Poor Emperor Nero, he has suffered much at the hands of historians. The fact that he killed his mother, Agrippina, has often been held against him; as has his murder of his infant nephew, as has his supposed sexual deviancy, as has the fact that he initiated the first full-blooded Christian persecution - e.g., feeding them to the lions and such. Add to that his bizarre avocation as a part time actor and his love of Greek culture - both of which annoyed his contemporaries far more than anything else - and you begin wondering how someone so silly and inept could have sustained power in first century rome for so many years (13 years being a huge tally in those days). Grant's book goes some considerable way towards divorcing from the Nero myth the large body of invention and after-the-fact spin, particularly at the hands of early Christian historians. He explains the way the Roman system of government worked, how Nero operated within that system (often with the help of very able civil servants) and how he sustained a power base despite his many personal failings. A solid work, probably the best non-academic read on the subject.