Nero

Introduction

From almost the first sentence we know that author::Suetonius is not going to write a positive biography of Nero when he says

It appears to me proper to give a short account of several of the family, to show that Nero so far degenerated from the noble qualities of his ancestors, that he retained only their vices; as if those alone had been transmitted to him by his descent

Nero - Sex and Sexual Perversions

See also Caligula - Sex and Sexual Perversions

• He would banquet in public in the Naumachia, waited on by prostitutes, and for his boat parties, he would have booths set up with

prostitutes, including noble women.

• It was rumored that he and his mother Agrippina had an incestuous relationship When they rode in a litter together, they would get out with their clothing stained.

• Nero also married three men (Cass. Dio. 62.13.1–2; Orosius, Hist. 7.7.2). In 64, as the

“wife” to a certain Pythagoras, Nero wore a bridal veil, took the auspices, gave a dowry, and, after a torch-lit procession, had a special wedding bed prepared (Tacitus, Ann. 15.37.4).

• Nero castrated a boy, Sporus, had

him don the bridal veil and provide a dowry, and married him as his husband, giving rise to a popular joke: “it would have been better for us all had Nero’s father taken a similar wife.” Another man he married as his “wife” was a freedman Doryphorus; on their wedding night Nero imitated the screams of a maiden being deflowered

Nero - Atrocities and Tortures

See also Caligula - Atrocities and Tortures

• Nero’s first wife was Octavia, whom he divorced for barrenness, banished, and finally had put to death for adultery by bribing his praetorian prefect to confess to raping her

• He then married Poppaea Sabina, but kicked her when she was

pregnant; she and the daughter she bore both died. He then proposed to Antonia, daughter of Caludius, but she refused, and he had her killed. Finally, he married [[roman::Statilia Messalina, whose husband he had killed