Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
Audiobook13 hours
Nero: Matricide, Music, and Murder in Imperial Rome
Written by Anthony Everitt and Roddy Ashworth
Narrated by Greg Patmore
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this audiobook
A striking, nuanced biography of Nero—the controversial populist ruler and last of the Caesars—and a vivid portrait of ancient Rome
“Exciting and provocative . . . Nero is a pleasure to read.”—Barry Strauss, author of The War That Made the Roman Empire: Antony, Cleopatra, and Octavian at Actium
The Roman emperor Nero’s name has long been a byword for cruelty, decadence, and despotism. As the stories go, he set fire to Rome and thrummed his lyre as it burned. He then cleared the charred ruins and built a vast palace. He committed incest with his mother, who had schemed and killed to place him on the throne, and later murdered her.
But these stories, left behind by contemporary historians who hated him, are hardly the full picture, and in this nuanced biography, celebrated historian Anthony Everitt and investigative journalist Roddy Ashworth reveal the contradictions inherent in Nero and offer a reappraisal of his life. Contrary to popular memory, the empire was well managed during his reign. He presided over diplomatic triumphs, and his legions overcame the fiery British queen Boudica who led one of the greatest revolts Rome had ever had to face. He loved art, culture, and music, and he won the loyalty of the lower classes with fantastic spectacles. He did not set fire to Rome.
In Nero, ancient Rome comes to life: the fire-prone streets, the deadly political intrigues, and the ongoing architectural projects. In this teeming, politically unstable world, Nero was vulnerable to fierce reproach from the nobility and relatives who would gladly usurp him, and he was often too ready to murder rivals. He had a vision for Rome, but, racked by insecurity, he perhaps lacked the stomach to govern it.
This is the bloodstained story of one of Rome’s most notorious emperors: but in Everitt and Ashworth’s hands, Nero’s life is also a complicated, cautionary tale about the mettle required to rule.
“Exciting and provocative . . . Nero is a pleasure to read.”—Barry Strauss, author of The War That Made the Roman Empire: Antony, Cleopatra, and Octavian at Actium
The Roman emperor Nero’s name has long been a byword for cruelty, decadence, and despotism. As the stories go, he set fire to Rome and thrummed his lyre as it burned. He then cleared the charred ruins and built a vast palace. He committed incest with his mother, who had schemed and killed to place him on the throne, and later murdered her.
But these stories, left behind by contemporary historians who hated him, are hardly the full picture, and in this nuanced biography, celebrated historian Anthony Everitt and investigative journalist Roddy Ashworth reveal the contradictions inherent in Nero and offer a reappraisal of his life. Contrary to popular memory, the empire was well managed during his reign. He presided over diplomatic triumphs, and his legions overcame the fiery British queen Boudica who led one of the greatest revolts Rome had ever had to face. He loved art, culture, and music, and he won the loyalty of the lower classes with fantastic spectacles. He did not set fire to Rome.
In Nero, ancient Rome comes to life: the fire-prone streets, the deadly political intrigues, and the ongoing architectural projects. In this teeming, politically unstable world, Nero was vulnerable to fierce reproach from the nobility and relatives who would gladly usurp him, and he was often too ready to murder rivals. He had a vision for Rome, but, racked by insecurity, he perhaps lacked the stomach to govern it.
This is the bloodstained story of one of Rome’s most notorious emperors: but in Everitt and Ashworth’s hands, Nero’s life is also a complicated, cautionary tale about the mettle required to rule.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateNov 8, 2022
ISBN9780593632918
Author
Anthony Everitt
Anthony Everitt is a former visiting professor in the visual and performing arts at Nottingham Trent University and previously served as secretary general of the Arts Council of Great Britain. He has written extensively on European culture and history, and is the author of Cicero, Augustus, Hadrian and the Triumph of Rome, The Rise of Rome, and The Rise of Athens. Everitt lives near Colchester, England's first recorded town, founded by the Romans.
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Reviews for Nero
Rating: 4.041666666666667 out of 5 stars
4/5
12 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Excellent presentation biography on the strange Roman emperor who muddled his way to his eventual demise leaving a legacy of not much. The book covers every aspect of Nero's rise primarily through his mother Agrippina. He was fortunate to have Seneca as his tutor as a young man and into his ascendency to rule. But as with most things Nero he squandered the wise counsel of this important Stoic. And yes Rome burned under his rule but he did not seem to fiddle but played some sort of harp. He really was a performer at heart yearning for the stage and the chariot but even with this he underperformed. A good and entertaining read for those interested in Rome at its power pinnacle and the failings of its leadership to maintain such.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Very thorough autobiography, a substantial section of which discusses aspects of previous emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula and Claudius for context. In fact, there is actually a good discussion of Caesar's brief campaigns in Britain which serves as an introduction into Nero's later involvement.
Two minor complaints are that (1) the author unnecessarily uses foreign phrases presumably to impress the reader with his knowledge of French, and (2) has an off-putting obsession with needless references to alleged sexual deviances.