I just finished reading this lengthy but interesting article on Nero, from the Smithsonian Magazine & felt a need to share it. See the link below & enjoy . https://www.smithsonianmag.com/hist...pJobID=1842141938&spReportId=MTg0MjE0MTkzOAS2
...Didn't someone post just lately, airing specific reservations about this? Couldn't find the thread....
...very good!...i know here, @TIF & i were always critical of the history of Nero left by his, well, enemies...i think his coins are some of the most purdiest struck in the empire..we only know what we've read or been told...and we must consider the source and their sources...and remember the truest history is full of fiction Nero Ae As
ominus1, Ditto everything you posted . Nero's sestertii are some of the most artistic coins struck at the Rome Mint, & I'm sure he had a watchful eye on the coins produced there .
Regardless of how he was in reality, still Ustinov was great in that role...really made the movie worth watching.
Fascinating read. One wonders if that was the story passed through history would we have reason to doubt it. I say this only because I imagine people would cast a questionable eye on it only because of two millennium of bad opinions on Nero, thus it could be considered revisionism versus reality. I’ve always had a soft spot for Nero, and having visited the Domus Aurea and his original palace last year his building contributions to Rome are magnificent!
The 3D goggles in the Domus Aurea were hands-down my favorite use of augmented/virtual reality. It was really incredible to see a rendering of what it might have looked like while sitting in the middle of it!
I'm so glad I got to visit the Domus Aurea two years ago when I was in Rome. Like @AncientJoe said, the VR feature of the tour is incredible. I'm surprised it isn't a more popular attraction...Given the present state of affairs, not quite sure when I'll be going to Europe, or leaving Canada for that matter....
Great flick. Thanks for the article, @Al Kowsky ... NERO RI Poppea-Nero BI tetradrachm of Alexandria LI yr10 63-64 CE Milne 217 RPC 5275
The revisionists (nothing wrong with trying to set the record straight), while possibly correct in painting Nero as a young man trust into a position of power he did not want and was not up to the task and not really in control...does not really redeem him from his actions. Of course there are serious problems trying to pin him as a persecutor of Christians...mostly because of the timeline and how unlikely it is that many Christians were in Rome; or that he would know much if anything about them. He does come off as a spoiled brat, vain, frivolous, hungry for adoration and attention....little interest in food governance. I also agree that, just like many emperors, there is often little one can say for sure and to analyze the sources one can certainly find or detect possible bias. However I believe that his reputation was not built on the fire and Christian persecution alone and while it is good to humanize him, being thrown into the deep end is not an excuse....he may have been out of his league but he reacted to it in a spectacularly negative way. I think a lot of what is said about the so called bad (or even good like Pius) emperors are often 75 percent heresay but where there is smoke there is often at least a spark of truth. I read a great biography of Caligula some time ago which analyzed every source including statues and coins and concluded much the same thing. Young man from a shockingly disfunctional family, thrust into the highest position of power only to go off the rails....not evil but weak willed, vain, immature all too human and flawed...never should have been put in that situation and probably not as bad as the sources paint him ..but in the end...a bad emperor all the same. Of course like any good historian, he did not speak of him in such terms as bad or good but lets you conclude what you will from the information he minded from the sources and his objective analysis of those sources..