ÿþ<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"> <html><head> <title>Julio-Claudian Genealogy - Nero</title></head> <body background="Augustus_bkgd_1.bmp" onLoad="window.moveTo(20,20); window.resizeTo(650,750);"> <!-- DYNASTY TITLE --> <div style="text-align:left; background-color:transparent; position:absolute; left:00px; top:20px; width:300px; height:40px; padding:0px;"> <table style="text-align:center; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: auto; background-color:yellow;" border="2" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2"><colgroup span="2"><col span="1" width=300></col></colgroup> <tbody> <tr> <td style="background-color: rgb(127, 0, 255); "> <b><div style="color:yellow; text-align:center;">&#160;· The Julio-Claudian Dynasty ·&#160;</div></b> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </div> <!-- CLOSE-WINDOW CODE --> <div style="text-align:center; background-color:transparent; position:absolute; left:80%; top:20px; width:50px; height:25px; padding:0px;"> <a tabindex=1 href="JavaScript:window.close()">Close</a> </div> <!-- PAGE TITLE --> <div style="text-align:left; background-color:transparent; position:absolute; left:15px; top:60px; width:400px; height:60px; padding:00px;"> <p><span style="color:darkgreen"><span style="font-size:larger;">Nero</span><br> Great-great-grandson of Augustus<br> Fifth emperor, 54 - 68 <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">a.d.</span></span></p> </div> <div style="text-align:left; background-color:transparent; position:absolute; left:00px; top:150px; width:auto; height:360px; margin-left:10px; margin-right:10px; padding:00px;"> <!-- START OF PAGE CONTENT --> <p>The similarities  at least in the historical record  between Nero and uncle, Gaius (Caligula), are striking&#160;:&#160; he was extravagant and vain.</p> <p>Unfortunately the sources we have paint him uniformly in a bad light and it is not possible to tell how true they are to the reality.</p> <p>It is generally accepted that his mother, <a tabindex=10 href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrippina_the_Younger" target="_blank" title="Wikipedia article on Agrippina Minor">Agrippina Minor</a>, poisoned his predecessor, Claudius&#160;;&#160; his involvement in the murder, however, is uncertain.</p> <p>He acceded to the throne at the age of just sixteen and devoted himself to being popular.&#160; Just as in the case of Caligula, he seems to have conducted himself quite well at the start of his reign, with many equitable measures in respect of slaves and the lower orders being passed at his behest.</p> <p>His public works extended to all sorts of things, even a canal across the Isthmus of Corinth (abandoned).</p> <p>Most strange about him was his conviction that he was a great artiste&#160;:&#160; actor, poet, musician.&#160; As the emperor he naturally won any competition he cared to enter.</p> <p><span style="text-align:center">~ · ~</span></p> <p>Nero s first wife, whom he married whilst still only fifteen, was Claudia Octavia, his cousin once removed and  his mother being married to Claudius  his step-sister&#160;;&#160; in around eight years of marriage they had no children.</p> <p>Meanwhile <a tabindex=20 href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poppaea_Sabina" target="_blank" title="Wikipedia article on Nero's wife Poppaea">Poppaea Sabina</a>, about seven years his senior, had become his mistress&#160;;&#160; when she became pregnant by him, he divorced Octavia and, within a few days, married Poppaea.&#160; The child was a daughter but she did not survive.&#160; She was pregnant a second time when she died&#160;;&#160; it is not known whether, as the sources say, Nero brutalized her and thereby killed her or she simply suffered a fatal miscarriage.&#160; In any event, this child too did not survive.</p> <p>Again Nero had already entered in to an adulterous affair, now with Statilia Messalina, herself already married to the consul M. Vestinus Atticus.&#160; When Poppaea died, he forced Atticus to commit suicide  don t you just love Roman emperors&#160;?  so that he could marry Messalina.&#160; They had no children and, in 68&#160;<span style="font-variant:small-caps;">a.d.</span>, she survived his suicide and the end of the dynasty.</p> <!-- END OF PAGE CONTENT --> </div> </body> </html>