Nero and his follies

1
Nero and his follies

• Dr David W.J. Gill

University of Wales Swansea
2
Introduction

• The follies of Nero
• Music
• Horse-racing
• Games

3
Follies (probra)

• Suetonius, Nero 2025

4
Music

• Suet. Ner. 20
• to improve his voice
• he would lie on his back with a slab of lead on
  his chest, use enemas and emetics to keep down
  his weight, and refrain from eating apples and
  every other food considered deleterious to the
  vocal chords
• sang through an earthquake in the theatre at
  Naples

5
Praise for Nero

• Suet. Ner. 20
• Alexandrian sailors applauded
• so he sent for more
• equestrians and 5000 youths to applaud at
  appropriate moments
• the equestrians who led them earned four gold
  pieces a performance
• also mentioned by Tactius Ann. 14.15.8-9
  Augustiani, maintained a din of applause day
  and night, showering divine epithets on Neros
  beauty and voice

6
Captive audience

• Suet. Ner. 23
• nobody allowed to leave theatre during a
  performance
• women giving birth
• men being so bored with the music and applause
  that they furtively dropped down from the wall at
  the rear, or shammed dead and were carried away
  for burial

7
Captive audience

• Tac. Ann. 16.5
• same story
• for absence was even more dangerous than
  attendance, since there were many spies
  unconcealedly (and more still secretly) noting
  who was there - and noting whether their
  expressions were pleased or dissatisfied

8
No competition

• Suet. Nero 24
• To destroy every trace of previous winners in
  these contests he ordered all their statues and
  busts to be taken down, dragged away with hooks,
  and hurled into public privies

9
Introduction of Greek style games

• to be held every five years
• but the Neronia had to be held more frequently as
  he couldnt wait! (Suet. Ner. 21)
• he himself sang so there was no time for others!
• prize postponed so it gave him more opportunities
• 61 gymnasia established

10
Nero and horse-racing

• Suet. Nero 22
• desired to race his own team
• trial run in the palace gardens!
• Tac. Ann. 14.4
• private race track by the Vatican hill

11
Appreciation of the Greeks

• Suet. Ner. 22
• Nero The Greeks alone are worthy of my genius
  they really listen to music

12
The Great Fire of Rome

• Tacitus, Annals 15.3844 LR ii.13840

13
Fire of Rome

• 19 June 64
• totally destroyed 3 of 14 districts
• only 4 districts untouched
• rumour that at the very time when the city was
  burning he had mounted his private stage and sung
  the fall of Troy, making present evils like
  ancient disasters (Tac. Ann. 15.39)

14
Persecution of the Christians

• Suet. Ner. 16
• Punishments were also inflicted on the
  Christians, a sect professing a new and
  mischievous religious belief

15
The Greek tour

• 66 (originally projected for 64) set out 25
  September
• arrived at Cassiope on Kerkyra
• Re-arranged games (Suet. Nero 23)
• Olympic due 69 65
• Pythian due 67 63
• Nemean due 68 66
• Isthmian due 67 65
• therefore repeated Olympic and Nemean games
• introduced musical contest to Olympic games

16
The chariot race at Olympia

• Suet. Nero 24
• ten-horse team
• fell from chariot and had to be helped in
• though he failed to stay the course and retired
  before the finish, the judges nevertheless
  awarded him the prize

17
The Greek tour

• 28 November 67 speech at Isthmia
• Suet. Ner. 19
• While in Greece he tried to have a canal cut
  through the Isthmus of Corinth, and addressed a
  gathering of Praetorian Guards, urging them to
  undertake the task. Nero took a mattock himself
  and, at a trumpet blast, broke the ground and
  carried off the first basket of earth on his back

18
The Liberation of Greece

• Suet. Nero 24
• On the eve of his departure, he presented the
  whole province with its freedom and conferred
  Roman citizenship as well as large cash rewards
  on the judges. It was during the Isthmian Games
  at Corinth that he stood in the middle of the
  stadium and personally announced these benefits

19
The Liberation of Greece

• The speech on an inscription from Acraephiae in
  Boeotia LR ii.31314
• Grant removed by Vespasian (Suet. Vesp. 8)

20
Neros return

• Suet. Nero 25
• arrived at Naples
• ordered part of the city wall to be razed -
  which is the Greek custom whenever the victor in
  any of the Sacred Games comes home. He repeated
  the same performance at Antium, at Alba Longa,
  and finally at Rome
• used Augustus chariot
• wore a Greek mantle spangled with gold stars
  over a purple robe
• set up several statues of himself playing the lyre

21
Crimes (scelera)

• Suetonius, Nero 2638

22
Creation of the Golden House

• colossal statue of Nero
• size equivalent of Hyde Park in London

23
Building projects

• new style of architecture introduced Suet. Ner.
  16
• considered extending the city wall to Ostia
  Suet. Ner. 16
• considered building a canal to Rome Suet. Ner. 16