Nero Ceasar Augustus
06 Aug 08

Probably the most notorious of all the Roman emperors, Nero’s fourteen year reign was marked by paranoia, murder and persecution. 

We think we know Nero. He was the monster who fiddled whilst Rome burnt, who threw Christians to the lions, murdered his mother and brother and, in a fit of rage, kicked his pregnant wife in the belly until she too expired.

Yet, as this fascinating new book shows, it is all too easy to write Nero off as mad. In actual fact his reign began with high hopes.  Generous, young and attractive he made a refreshing change from his stepfather, Claudius.

But he was also wholly inadequate to the task of ruling Rome on his own.  His addiction to popular approval and fear of potential rivals drove a wedge between him and Rome’s senators. 

As the quality of his government deteriorated he retreated more and more into his own cultural and artistic interests.  Self-indulgent and paranoid to the point of criminality, he created a vicious circle which detached him from his subjects and encouraged the very conspiracies he feared.

This new account views afresh the known facts about Nero, dispels a few myths perpetrated as propaganda after his death and offers a more balanced exploration of the many contradictory faces of Nero

	Nero Caesar Augustus
	Author	David Shotter
	Pub Date	5 Sep 2008
	Price	£21.99
	Publisher	Longman
	ISBN10	1405824573
	ISBN13	9781405824576
		Click here for further information or to purchase Nero Caesar Augustus.

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