Bust of Nero

Was the Roman Emperor Nero Insane?

This painting represents a bust of Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (37-68 AD), located in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Nero became Emperor of Rome in 54 AD at the age of 17. He was known for his cruelty, he murdered his wife, his mother, his tutor Seneca, Lucan the Poet and he executed leading Roman citizens. He finally committed suicide at the age of 31.

The face of the Roman Emperor, Nero.  During his reign were the great fire of Rome which he blamed the Christians for, Paul and Peter were martyred at this time. Nero initiated the attack on Jerusalem which ended in the destruction of the city and Temple under Vespasian and finally Titus in 70 AD. Titus became Emperor of Rome in 79 AD when his father Vespasian died and he completed and dedicated the Flavian Amphitheatre (the Colosseum). The bust of Nero is important in the study of Biblical Archaeology, it reveals the image of the Emperor who heavily persecuted the Christians and originally ordered the destruction of Jerusalem in 68 AD just before his suicide. The destruction of Jerusalem was dreadfully foreseen and predicted by Jesus.

It reveals the image of the Roman Emperor who gave the original order to destroy Jerusalem which resulted in her destruction in 70 AD. The destruction of Jerusalem was dreadfully foreseen and predicted by Jesus 40 years prior:

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'" - Matthew 23:37-39

Josephus described the horror:

"As the flames shot up, a cry, as poignant as the tragedy, arose from the Jews, who flock to the rescue," - Josephus

Josephus also added:

"lost to all thought of self-preservation, all husbanding of strength, now that the object of all their past vigilance was vanishing." - Josephus

Title: Marble Bust of Nero
Description: Marble Bust of the Emperor Nero
Location / Provenance: Palazzo Nuovo, Capitoline Museum, Rome
Date: 62-65 AD (Depicted as Emperor)
Object Type: Ancient Sculptured Bust
Commentary: This bust shows the facial expression of the insane Emperor of Rome

Nero Chief Events. Son of Agrippina, Claudius' second wife. Murder of his mother. The burning of Rome, attributed to Nero, by him charged to the Christians ; inhuman slaughter of Christians, including the apostles, Peter and Paul. Oppression, confiscations, proscriptions. Murder of Seneca, the philosopher, of lyucian, the poet, of Octavia and Poppaea, Nero's wives. Revolt of Spain, Gaul, Germany, Judaea. Conspiracy of Galba and the soldiers against Nero. Suicide of Nero. Character: " His life divided between frivolity and heartless butchery." "His thirst for blood was insatiable." [Julian Emperors]

Reign: October 13, 54 AD – June 9, 68 AD
Predecessor: Claudius
Grandfather: Germanicus
Great Grandfather: Marc Antony
Successor: Galba
Spouses: Claudia Octavia, Poppaea Sabina
Issue: Claudia Augusta
Dynasty; Julio-Claudian Dynasty (end of dynasty)
Father: Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus (first century AD)
Mother: Agrippina the Younger
Born: December 15, 37 AD, at Antium
Died: June 9, 68 AD
Consulships: 51 AD, proconsul

Nero (5468), whose name became opprobrious, seemed for a short time, while he remained under the wise tutorship of the philosopher Seneca and the Praetor Burrhus, to be an ideal prince. His prodigality, exhausting his resources, was perhaps the principal cause of the terrible change which came over him. All at once the monster was revealed in all his ferocity his life became one tissue of debauchery and crime. Besides being a fratricide and parricide, he was the first persecutor of the Christians (No. 193), and enlivened one of his feats by burning down the city of Home. Jealous of the comedians, he dragged the imperial dignity on to the boards of the theatre, and on being condemned to death by the Senate, he found only this ridiculous complaint, " What an artist the world is about to lose ! " (68). With him the family of Augustus became extinct. The Praetorians recognised G-albx, elected by the legions of Spain ; but the provincial troops, proud of their number and strength, soon began to neglect seeking the concurrence of the Praetorian cohort. This Imperial body-guard, which had assassinated Galba and proclaimed Otho, beheld the latter give place to Bedriac ( 5 9), and essayed in vain to defend a new emperor, Vitellius ; who appeared only on the throne to render his gluttony celebrated, and to leave to posterity an atrocious souvenir of a sanguinary and oppressive government. After this vile tyrant, the Praetorians submitted to the domination of Vespasian, who was supported by the Eastern legions. The military anarchy lasted two years. [INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE EMPIRE]

Christian persecution began under Nero. This tyrant, who was accused of the incendiarism of Rome (No. 183), imputed his crime to the Christians, and the new religion was proscribed (64). Fresh torments were invented to punish such an offence as that of which they were pronounced guilty. Repeatedly told that they were odious to mankind, the Christians were clothed in the skins of beasts and thrown to dogs ; or, steeped in resin, they served as torches to illuminate Nero's gardens. Saint Peter was crucified on the Janiculum,1 Saint Paul was beheaded. [Ancient History]

Nero. A dish of poisoned mushrooms proved fatal to the weak Claudius, a. d. 54 ; it was prepared by order of his wife Agrippi'na, who had previously secured the succession for Nero, her son by a former husband. This young prince, the grandson of Germanicus, for five years ruled with justice and clemency. He is even said, when required to sign the death-warrant of a malefactor, to have expressed regret that he had ever learned to write. As Nero increased in years, however, he began to show the stuff of which he was made. His murder of Agrippina, who for his sake had become a murderess, commenced a career of crime to which history offers no parallel ; and the only wonder is, that it was so long tolerated by the people. Their forbearance is explained by the liberal largesses of food supplied to them at the expense of the state. As long as they were fed, they were willing to close their eyes to the vices of their emperors, and even to participate therein. In the tenth year of this reign, a conflagration destroyed the greater part of Rome. It was rumored that the emperor himself had fired the city, and enjoyed a view of the flames from a lofty tower, singing the Sack of Troy. To screen himself, he charged the crime upon the Christians, and began a persecution, the details of which are too shocking for recital. Among the martyrs were the apostles Peter and Paul. Tyranny, cruelty, and extortion, at length provoked a conspiracy. Its detection led to fresh murders, which spared not even such men as Lu'can the poet, and Sen'eca the moralist. The family of Augustus was extirpated, and fear of the poisoners and assassins of Nero fell on all the rich and noble. At last the world could endure the monster no longer. His generals revolted ; the senate declared him a public enemy ; and the cowardly despot, fearing to kill himself, received a death-blow at the hands of a slave (a. d. 68). Nero was the last of the Julian line ; but history recognizes Twelve Caesars, the six successors of Nero making up the number. From this time, military command or favor with the army seems to have been the surest road to the imperial throne. During Nero's reign, Boadice'a, a gallant British queen, roused her people to insurrection. London was sacked and burned, and many Romans were massacred ; but at last Boadicea's force was cut to pieces, and she took poison to escape captivity. [Reign of Nero]

Nero was the son of Agrippina, and pupil of Seneca. The first five years of his reign were mild and just. But his furious passions soon grew impatient of restraint. He put to death his mother, his brother, his tutor ; set fire to the city, charged the Christians with the crime, and began the persecution of that sect. He prostituted the dignity of his station, and the majesty of Rome, by appearing as a singer on the public stage. The patience of mankind could no longer endure this combination of cruelty, insult, debauchery, and meanness: several conspiracies were formed against him, but without success; the tyrant discovering them in time. At length Galba was declared emperor, and Nero by the senate pronounced a public enemy, and sentenced to death more majorum, which sentence he avoided by a voluntary death. Yet, vile as he was, there were those who loved his memory, and raised monuments to the monster who had perpetrated so many crimes. It is not undeserving of notice, that within a century after the death of Cato, the senate, which once gave laws to the world, was convoked on the solemn occasions of the marriage of Nero with two of his own sex. So utterly can the greatest institutions be degraded ! [Rome an Empire]

Nero, A.D. 54-68. The first five years of his reign were marked by the mildness and equity of his government.  He discouraged luxury, reduced the taxes, and increased the authority of the Senate. His two preceptors, Seneca and Burrus, controlled his mind, and restrained for a time the constitutional insanity of the Claudian race. At length, however, he sank into licentiousness, and from licentiousness to its necessary attendants, cruelty and crime. From a modest and philosophic youth, Nero became the most cruel and dissolute of tyrants. He quarreled with his mother Agrippina, who for his sake had murdered the feeble Claudius; and when she threatened to restore Britannicus to the throne, he ordered that young prince to be poisoned at an entertainment. In order to marry Poppaca Sabina, a beautiful and dissolute woman, wife of Salvius Otho, he resolved to divorce his wife Octavia, and also to murder his mother Agrippina. Under the pretense of a reconciliation, he invited Agrippina to meet him at Baiae, where she was placed in a boat, which fell to pieces as she entered it. Agrippina swam to the shore, but was there assassinated by the orders of her son. The Roman Senate congratulated Nero upon this fearful deed, while the philosopher Sepeca wrote a defense of the matricide. The philosopher, the Senate, and the emperor seem worthy of each other. It would be impossible to enumerate all the crimes of Nero. In A.D. 64 a, fire broke out in Rome, which lasted for six days, consuming the greater part of the city. Nero was supposed to have ordered the city to be fired, to obtain a clear representation of the burning of Troy, and, while Rome was in flames, amused himself by playing upon musical instruments. He sought to throw the odium of this event upon the Christians, and inflicted upon them fearful cruelties. The city was rebuilt upon an improved plan, and Nero's palace, called the Golden House, occupied a large part of the ruined capital with groves, gardens, and buildings of unequaled magnificence. In A.D. 65 a plot was discovered in which many eminent Romans were engaged. The poet Lucan, Seneca, the philosopher And defender of matricide, together with many others, were put to death. In A.D. 67 Nero traveled to Greece, and performed on the cithara at the Olympian and Isthmian games. He also contended for the prize in singing, and put to death a singer whose voice was louder than his own. Stained with every crime of which human nature is capable, haunted by the shade of the mother he had murdered, and filled with remorse, Nero was finally dethroned by the Praetorian Guards, and died by his own hand, June 9, A.D. 68. He was the last of the Claudian family. No one remained who had an hereditary claim to the empire of Augustus, and the future emperors were selected by the Praetorian Guards or the provincial legions. During this reign, Boadicea, the British queen, A.D. 61, revolted against the Romans and defeated several armies; but the governor, Suetonius Paulinus, conquered the insurgents in a battle in which eighty thousand Britons are said to have fallen. Boadicea, unwilling to survive her liberty, put an end to her life. On the death of Nero, Servius Sulpicius Galba, already chosen emperor by the Praetorians and the Senate, was murdered in the Forum, January, A.D. 69. He was succeeded by Salvius Otho, the infamous friend of Nero, and the husband of Poppsea Sabina. The legions on the Rhine, however, proclaimed their own commander, Vitellius, emperor, and Otho's forces being defeated in a battle near Bedriacum, between Verona and Cremona, he destroyed himself. Vitellius, the new emperor, was remarkable for his gluttony and his coarse vices. He neglected every duty of his office, and soon became universally contemptible. Vespasian, the distinguished general, who had been lighting successfully against the Jews in Palestine, was proclaimed emperor by the governor of Egypt. Leaving his son Titus to continue the war, Vespasian prepared to advance upon Rome. His brave adherent, Antonius Primus, at the head of the legions of the Danube, without any orders from Vespasian, marched into Italy and defeated the army of Vitellius. The Praetorians and the Roman populace still supported Vitellius; a fearful massacre took place in the city, and the Capitoline Temple was burned; but Antonius Primus took the Praetorian camp, and Vitellius was dragged from his palace and put to death, December 20, A.D. 69. [History of Rome]

The Death of Nero. Feelings at the Death of Nero ad. 68. Welcome as the death of Nero had been in the first burst of joy only roused various emotions in Rome, among the senators, the people, or the soldiery of the capital, it had also excited all the legions and their generals; for now had been divulged that secret of the empire, that Emperors could be made elsewhere than at Rome. The senators enjoyed the first exercise of freedom with the less restraint, because the Emperor was new to power, and absent from the capital. The leading men of the equestrian order sympathized most closely with the joy of the senators. The respectable portion of the people, which was connected with the great families, as well as the dependants and freedmen of condemned and banished persons, were high in hope. The degraded populace, frequenters of the arena and the theatre, the most worthless of the slaves, and those who having wasted their property were supported by the infamous excesses of Nero, caught eagerly in their dejection at every rumor. [Tacitus: History, Book 1, Chapter 4]

Nero spent immense wealth rebuilding Rome and constructed his "golden house" on the Palatine hill. Oppression increased, until all his despotism and crimes led the Gallic and Spanish legions, under Julius Vindex and Servius Sulpicius Galba, to revolt against Nero. When the Roman legions under Galba approached the capital, Nero escaped to his country villa, and riding on a chariot like THE GODDESS FREVA he arrived and proclaimed 'what a great artist the world will lose In me!' and he committed suicide by having a freed slave stab him. Julius Vindex, who had been in Gaul when he revolted against Nero, did not live to see the overthrow of Nero. His army was defeated in an unfortunate battle, brought about by a misunderstanding, with the legions of the Upper Rhine. With Nero the house of Augustus became extinct.

Nero in Wikipedia (Latin: Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus; 15 December 37 – 9 June 68), was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death. During his reign, Nero focused much of his attention on diplomacy, trade, and enhancing the cultural life of the Empire. He ordered theaters built and promoted athletic games. During his reign, the redoubtable general Corbulo conducted a successful war and negotiated peace with the Parthian Empire. His general Suetonius Paulinus crushed a revolt in Britain and also annexed the Bosporan Kingdom to the Empire, beginning the First Roman–Jewish War. In 64, most of Rome was destroyed in the Great Fire of Rome, which many Romans believed Nero himself had started in order to clear land for his planned palatial complex, the Domus Aurea. In 68, the rebellion of Vindex in Gaul and later the acclamation of Galba in Hispania drove Nero from the throne. Facing assassination, he committed suicide on 9 June 68. His death ended the Julio-Claudian Dynasty, sparking a brief period of civil wars known as the Year of the Four Emperors. Nero's rule is often associated with tyranny and extravagance. He is known for many executions, including those of his mother and the probable murder by poison of his stepbrother, Britannicus. He is infamously known as the Emperor who "fiddled while Rome burned", although this is now considered an inaccurate rumor, and as an early persecutor of Christians. He was known for having captured Christians burned in his garden at night for a source of light. This view is based on the writings of Tacitus, Suetonius, and Cassius Dio, the main surviving sources for Nero's reign. Few surviving sources paint Nero in a favorable light. Some sources, though, including some mentioned above, portray him as an emperor who was popular with the common Roman people, especially in the East. The study of Nero is problematic as some modern historians question the reliability of ancient sources when reporting on Nero's tyrannical acts. [Wikipedia]

Titus ( ad 39-81), Roman emperor 79-81, son of Vespasian; full name Titus Vespasianus Augustus; born Titus Flavius Vespasianus. In 70 he ended a revolt in Judaea with the conquest of Jerusalem. [Oxford Dictionary]

Bust of Nero (Capitoline Museum)

Marble Head of Nero (1st Century Portrait)

Bust of Nero (Uffizi Gallery, Florence)

Large Bronze Coin (Sestertius) bearing the head of Nero

Nero Coin bearing the head of Nero

Bust of Nero

Marble Head of Nero (Glyptothek, Munich)

Coin of Agrippina

The main people involved in the life of Nero were:

- Nero Himself - Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus

- Agrippina - Nero's dominating mother

- Claudius - The emperor before Nero

- Octavia - Claudius' daughter and Nero's first wife

- Britannicus - Claudius' son and rightful heir to the throne

- Seneca and Burrus - Nero's trusted tutors

- Poppaea - Nero's second wife

- Galba - General in Spain and the next emperor of Rome

Important events that happened during the life of Nero:

- The Great Fire of Rome – 64 A.D.

- The First Imperial 'Persecution' of Christians – 64 A.D.

- The first Jewish Revolt Against Rome – 66 A.D.

The main historical sources about the life of Nero were:

- Tacitus Tacitus Publius Cornelius (55-120 A.D. approx.)

- Suetonius Svetonius Tranquillus (70-140 A.D. approx.)

- Cassius Dio Dion Cassius Cocceianus (155-235 A.D. approx.)

- Philostratus II Life of Apollonius Tyana (Books 4 and 5)

- Jewish and Christian Tradition

Emperor Nero with Cuirass (Uffizi Gallery, Florence)

Nero's remorse after killing his mother (Painting by Waterhouse)

Agrippina the elder, sister of Caligula and mother of Nero, was born at Oppidum Ubiorum on the Rhine, afterwards named in her honour Colonia Agrippinae (mod . Cologne) . Her life was notorious for intrigue and perfidy . By her first husband, Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, she was the mother of the emperor Nero; her second husband was Passienus Crispus, whom she was accused of poisoning . Assisted by the influential freedman Pallas, she induced her uncle the emperor Claudius to marry her after the death of Messalina, and adopt the future Nero as heir to the throne in place of Britannicus . Soon afterwards she poisoned Claudius and secured the throne for her son, with the intention of practically ruling on his behalf . Being alarmed at the influence of the freedwoman Acte over Nero, she threatened to support the claims of the rightful heir Britannicus . Nero thereupon murdered the young prince and decided to get rid of his mother . Pretending a re-conciliation, he invited her to Baiae, where an attempt was made to drown her on a vessel especially constructed to founder . As this proved a failure, he had her put to death at her country house . Agrippina wrote memoirs of her times, referred to by Tacitus ( Ann. iv . 53) .  [Ency Britannica 1911]

The Colosseum on a Roman coin (bronze sestertius) issued by Titus in AD 80 (British Museum)

Map of the Roman Empire in 68 AD

Key Dates in the Life of Nero

37 December 15 Nero is born.

39 Claudius marries fourteen year old Valeria Messalina.

39 Messalina bears Claudius a daughter (Octavia).

41 Messalina bears Claudius a son (Britannicus).

41 Claudius is Emperor.

48 Execution of Messalina.

49 Claudius marries niece Agrippina the Younger, (daughter of Claudius's brother Germanicus).

49 Seneca is appointed tutor to Nero.

50 Claudius adopts Nero (then, Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus) as his own son, February 25.

50 The Senate votes Agrippina the title "Augusta."

51 Claudius Consul.

51 Emperor Claudius orders the exile of the Jews from Rome.

53 Nero marries Octavia, Claudius' daughter.

54 Claudius poisoned.

54 Claudius dies (Agrippina probably had him poisoned)

54 Nero becomes emperor at age 17. Seneca and Burrus are his tutors.

55 Britannicus, the son of Emperor Claudius dies during dinner (Nero probably had him poisoned).

58 Beginning of Roman-Parthian hostilities over Armenia.

59 Agrippina the Younger is put to death for criticizing Nero’s mistress.

59 Nero begins to get out of control.

60 Paul the Apostle is in Rome

60 Revolts break out in Britain against Roman rule.

62 Burrus dies, and Seneca retires.

62 Nero divorces Octavia (banishes her and later kills her)

62 Nero marries his mistress Poppaea.

64 The Great Fire of Rome

64 First imperial 'persecution' of Christians;

65 Work begins on Nero’s 'Golden House' (Domus Aurea)

65 Nero's first public stage performance leads to scandals and plots on his life.

65 In the interest of personal security, Nero kills anyone suspected of treason.

65 Seneca is forced to commit suicide.

66 Nero continues to execute any suspected of treason.

66 Outbreak of rebellion in Judea, the first Jewish revolt against Rome.

66 Nero goes on an extended tour of Greece, many theatrical performances

67 Nero makes Judea consular imperial province

67 Nero appoints Vespasian to head campaign against Jews

68 After receiving political pressure about military matters Nero returns to Rome.

68 (March) Revolt of Vindex

68 (April) Galba's troops in Spain hail Galba emperor.

68 (June 9) Nero is forced to commit suicide (end of Julio-Claudian dynasty).

68 The emperor Nero's assassination launches a year of civil war in Rome.

69 Year of the four emperors: Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian.

69 Vespasian is sole emperor until 79.

70 Siege and fall of Jerusalem under military leadership of Vespasian's son, Titus.

70 Colosseum begun by Emperor Vespasian (funded by Jewish defeat).

73 AD Masada the final Jewish stronghold  is captured after a long siege.

77 Josephus publishes The War of the Jews

80 The New Testament writings were completed by this time (Bible closed).

80 The Early Church completed her work (foundation laid).

Note: Paul, James and Peter were executed between 60-68 A.D.

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Nero, A Heart Message

TRUSTING UNDER PERSECUTION

When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. (Proverbs 29:2)

Where there is no counsel, the people fall; But in the multitude of counselors there is safety. (Proverbs 11:14)

From our vantage point in 21st century USA, the reign of Nero is a safe intellectual study on the consequences of a wicked and prideful ruler. But from the point of view of the average Christian living in Rome during this time period, Nero was an unpredictable despot who at any time might gather them up for a brutal punishment and savage entertainment in a Roman coliseum. It was a horrific time that required a deep faith in the Father who works all things for the good of those called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28), and who hears the cry of the helpless and brings vengeance (Isaiah 35:4).

Nero’s attempts to scapegoat Christianity for his own faults caused many followers of Jesus to hold up their heads, walking forward, leaving loved ones, possessions, and life itself behind. They became a spectacle to the watching Roman cosmopolitan world. Their trust in Christ, in the face of torture and death, planted the seeds of redemption deep into the earth, and generations who reaped the good fruit of their sacrifice are indebted to them. Still today, the voices of the martyrs from Sudan to China cry out to the throne room of the Almighty.

Nero himself, who had much promise in the beginning, never acquired the taste for wisdom that his original counselors tried to inculcate. When left to his own devices he regressed into a beast like state and was swallowed by his own lusts. Still, God doesn’t rejoice at the death of the wicked (Ezek 33:11). Nero would have been wise if he could have found humility like that of King Nebuchadnezzar, another empire ruler who suffered from temporary insanity, but who finally turned to God and worshipped Him before the end of his life.

“And at the end of the time I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me; and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever: For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven And among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand Or say to Him, "What have You done?" At the same time my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my honor and splendor returned to me. My counselors and nobles resorted to me, I was restored to my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added to me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to put down.” (Daniel 4:34,35)

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Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (December 15, 37 C.E. – June 9, 68 C.E.), born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, also called Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus, was the fifth and last Roman Emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty (54 C.E. - 68 C.E.). Nero became heir to the then emperor, his grand-uncle and adoptive father Claudius. As Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus he succeeded to the throne on October 13, 54 C.E., following Claudius's death. In 66 C.E., he added the prefix imperator to his name. In the year 68 C.E., at 31 years old, Nero was deposed. His subsequent death was reportedly the result of suicide assisted by his scribe Epaphroditos. Popular legend remembers Nero as a pleasure seeker who engaged in petty amusements while neglecting the problems of the Roman city and empire and as the emperor who metaphorically "fiddled while Rome burned." Because of his excesses and eccentricities, he is traditionally viewed as the second of the so-called "Mad Emperors," the first being Caligula. After the Great Fire of Rome in July 64 C.E. much of the population blamed Nero for failing to control the fire. In retaliation, Nero began to persecute Christians. He ordered that Christians were to be arrested and sentenced to be eaten by lions in public arenas, such as the Colosseum, for the entertainment of the common people. Early Christians considered him an anti-Christ. This form of persecution continued more or less unchecked until Constantine the Great legalized Christianity in 313 C.E. Rome's earlier emperors (technically Rome's first citizens) rose to power on the backs of great deeds. Nero, like Caligula, obtained power by the privilege of his birth. Born into great wealth and luxury with little training in administration, a life of indolence was probable for Nero. He was, in a sense, a victim of his own elite status. [New World Encyclopedia]

The Great Fire of Rome

Great Fire of Rome. In the summer of the 64th year of our era, a great conflagration, which lasted nine days, destroyed or damaged 10 out of the 14 quarters of the city. The Romans were panic-stricken. They believed that the fire was the work ofpaid incendiaries. It was asserted that Nero had watched the flames from a turret of his palace, amusing himself all the while with singing verses on the burning of Troy. The belief gained ground that he had himself caused the conflagration, as a spectacle for his own wanton enjoyment.  [Ancient Rome]

Christian Persecution

First General Persecution (a. d. 64-68). To divert the public indignation from himself and remove these suspicions, the emperor devised the satanical plan of laying this crime to the charge of the Christians. There were many of them already in Rome. As the purity of their lives was a censure on the corruption of the age, and their total separation from pagan festivities an occasion of hatred and contempt, Nero thought them fit subjects for public vengeance. Numbers of them were arrested, and subjected to the most frightful torments. Some, enveloped in the skins of wild beasts, were left to be devoured by dogs. Others were roasted alive ; and many, wrapped in pitched cloth, were set on fire, so as to burn like torches in the imperial gardens. By the light thus afforded Nero delighted to ride through the avenues, in the dress of a charioteer. During this persecution, St. Peter and St. Paul suffered martyrdom at Rome, on the same day, the former by the cross, the latter by the sword. [Ancient Rome]

The Death of Nero

Death of Nero (a. d. 68).- Nero had gained his object. The first fury of his subjects had been assuaged, and it subsided into mere distrust or careless contempt. True, a plot for the destruction of the tyrant, to which Seneca and Lucan gave their adhesion, was arranged by Piso and other members ofthe aristocracy. But the scheme was betrayed, and the conspirators perished (a. d. 64). For four years longer Nero was allowed to proceed in his career of shame, and plunge still deeper, if possible, into his ignominious prostitution of the Roman character. At last, the news arrived that two provincial governors, Vindex in Gaul and Galba in Spain, had revolted. Virginius, with the legions of Germany, defeated Vindex. But the victors attached themselves to Galba, who at once made preparations to march upon Rome, at the head of the united forces of the two great provinces of the west. Thereupon Nero found himself abandoned by all. The senate decreed his death, and the pretorians refused to draw the sword in his defence. The tyrant fled by night from the city, and hid himself in the villa of one of his freedmen, four miles from Rome. He was traced to his hiding-place by the emissaries of the senate, who were ordered to kill him ' in the ancient fashion,' that is, to beat him with rods till he died. Terrified at the thought of so horrible a death, Nero resolved to anticipate the executioners ; and, as the soldiers were bursting into the house, he stabbed himself, exclaiming : " What a musician the world is going to lose ! " With him, the adoptive race of the great dictator was extinguished. Henceforth, most of the emperors will be selected by the pretorian guards or the provincial legions. [Ancient Rome]

* See Suetonius and Cassius Dio

Suicide. Returning to Rome after the following year, Nero found quite a cold atmosphere; Gaius Julius Vindex, the governor of Gallia Lugdunensis, revolted, and this brought Nero to a paranoid hunt for eventual threats. In this state of mind he ordered the elimination of any patrician (aristocrat) with suspect ideas. His once faithful servant Galba, governor of Iberia, was one of those dangerous nobles, so he ordered his death. Galba, lacking any choice, declared his loyalty to the Senate and the people of Rome, no longer recognizing Nero's authority. Moreover, he started organizing his own campaign for the empire.As a result, Lucius Clodius Macer, legate of the legion III Augusta in Africa, revolted and stopped sending grain to Rome. Nymphidius corrupted the imperial guard, which turned against Nero on the promise of financial reward by Galba. The Senate deposed Nero, and declared him an enemy of the state. Nero fled, and committed suicide on June 9, 68 C.E. It is said that he uttered these last words before slitting his throat: “Qualis artifex pereo; What an artist dies in me!" Other sources, however, state that Nero uttered his last words as he lay bleeding to death on the floor. Upon seeing the figure of a Roman soldier who had come to capture him, the confused and dying emperor thought that the centurion was coming to rescue him, and muttered the (arguably less grotesque) "hoc est fides." A literal translation would be "this is fidelity," but "what faithfulness" [on the part of the soldier] is probably closer to what Nero meant. With his death, the Julio-Claudian dynasty came to an end. Chaos ensued in the Year of the Four Emperors. [New World Encyclopedia]

Jewish Account of Nero. A Jewish legend contained in the Talmud (tractate Gittin 56B) claims that Nero shot four arrows to the four corners of the earth, and they fell in Jerusalem. Thus he realized that God had decided to allow the Temple to be destroyed. He also requested a Jewish religious student to show him the Bible verse most appropriate to that situation, and the young boy read to Nero Ezekiel's prophecy about God's revenge on the nation of Edom[10] for their destruction of Jerusalem. Nero thus realized that the Lord would punish him for destroying his Temple, so he fled Rome and converted to Judaism, to avoid such retribution. In this telling, his descendant is Rabbi Meir, a prominent supporter of Bar Kokhba's rebellion against Roman rule (132 C.E.–135 C.E.). [New World Encyclopedia]

The Corruption of Nero

Suetonius notes, "Besides the abuse of free-born lads, and the debauch of married women, he committed a rape upon Rubria, a Vestal Virgin. He was upon the point of marrying Acte, his freedwoman, having suborned some men of consular rank to swear that she was of royal descent. He gelded the boy Sporus, and endeavoured to transform him into a woman. He even went so far as to marry him, with all the usual formalities of a marriage settlement, the rose-coloured nuptial veil, and a numerous company at the wedding. When the ceremony was over, he had him conducted like a bride to his own house, and treated him as his wife. It was jocularly observed by some person, "that it would have been well for mankind, had such a wife fallen to the lot of his father Domitius." This Sporus he carried about with him in a litter round the solemn assemblies and fairs of Greece, and afterwards at Rome through the Sigillaria, dressed in the rich attire of an empress; kissing him from time to time as they rode together." (Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars, Nero, XXVIII).

Dio Cassius writes, "Now Nero called Sporus "Sabina" not merely because, owing to his resemblance to her he had been made a eunuch, but because the boy, like the mistress, had been solemnly married to him in Greece, Tigellinus giving the bride away, as the law ordained. All the Greeks held a celebration in honour of their marriage, uttering all the customary good wishes, even to the extent of praying that legitimate children might be born to them. After that Nero had two bedfellows at once, Pythagoras to play the rôle of husband to him, and Sporus that of wife. The latter, in addition to other forms of address, was termed "lady," "queen," and "mistress." Yet why should one wonder at this, seeing that Nero would fasten naked boys and girls to stakes, and then putting on the hide of a wild beast would attack them and satisfy his brutal lust under the appearance of devouring parts of their bodies? Such were the indecencies of Nero." (Cassius Dio,Roman History, LXII, 13).

Nero in Easton's Bible Dictionary occurs only in the superscription (which is probably spurious, and is altogether omitted in the R.V.) to the Second Epistle to Timothy. He became emperor of Rome when he was about seventeen years of age (A.D. 54), and soon began to exhibit the character of a cruel tyrant and heathen debauchee. In May A.D. 64, a terrible conflagration broke out in Rome, which raged for six days and seven nights, and totally destroyed a great part of the city. The guilt of this fire was attached to him at the time, and the general verdict of history accuses him of the crime. "Hence, to suppress the rumour," says Tacitus (Annals, xv. 44), "he falsely charged with the guilt, and punished with the most exquisite tortures, the persons commonly called Christians, who are hated for their enormities. Christus, the founder of that name, was put to death as a criminal by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea, in the reign of Tiberius; but the pernicious superstition, repressed for a time, broke out again, not only throughout Judea, where the mischief originated, but through the city of Rome also, whither all things horrible and disgraceful flow, from all quarters, as to a common receptacle, and where they are encouraged. Accordingly, first three were seized, who confessed they were Christians. Next, on their information, a vast multitude were convicted, not so much on the charge of burning the city as of hating the human race. And in their deaths they were also made the subjects of sport; for they were covered with the hides of wild beasts and worried to death by dogs, or nailed to crosses, or set fire to, and, when day declined, burned to serve for nocturnal lights. Nero offered his own gardens for that spectacle, and exhibited a Circensian game, indiscriminately mingling with the common people in the habit of a charioteer, or else standing in his chariot; whence a feeling of compassion arose toward the sufferers, though guilty and deserving to be made examples of by capital punishment, because they seemed not to be cut off for the public good, but victims to the ferocity of one man." Another Roman historian, Suetonius (Nero, xvi.), says of him: "He likewise inflicted punishments on the Christians, a sort of people who hold a new and impious superstition" (Forbes's Footsteps of St. Paul, p. 60). Nero was the emperor before whom Paul was brought on his first imprisonment at Rome, and the apostle is supposed to have suffered martyrdom during this persecution. He is repeatedly alluded to in Scripture (Acts 25:11; Phil. 1:12, 13; 4:22). He died A.D. 68.

Nero in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE LITERATURE The fifth Roman emperor, born at Antium December 15, 37 AD, began to reign October 13, 54, died June 9, 68. I. Name, Parentage and Early Training. His name was originally Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus but after his adoption into the Claudian gens by the emperor Claudius, he became Nero Claudius Caesar Germanicus. His father was Enaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus ("Brazen-beard"), a man sprung from an illustrious family and of vicious character. His mother was Agrippina the younger, the daughter of Germanicus and the elder Agrippina, sister of the emperor Caius (Caligula) and niece of the emperor Claudius. On the birth of the child, his father predicted, amid the congratulations of his friends, that any offspring of himself and Agrippina could only prove abominable and disastrous for the public (Suet. Nero vi: detestabile et malo publico). At the age of three the young Domitius lost his father and was robbed of his estates by the rapacity of Caius. In 39 his mother was banished for supposed complicity in a plot against Caius. Nero was thus deprived of his mother and at the same time left almost penniless. His aunt, Domitia Lepida, now undertook the care of the boy and placed him with two tutors, a dancer and a barber (Suetonius vi). On the accession of Claudius, Agrippina was recalled, and Nero was restored to his mother and his patrimony (41 AD)...

NERO (37-68), Roman emperor 54-68, was born at Antium on the 15th of December 37. He was the son of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina the younger, and his name was originally L. Domitius Ahenobarbus. His father died when Nero was scarcely three years old. In the previous year (39) his mother had been banished by order of her brother Caligula (Gains) on a charge of treasonable conspiracy, and Nero, thus early deprived of both parents, found shelter in the house of his aunt Domitia, where two slaves, a barber and a dancer, began his training. The emperor Claudius recalled Agrippina, who spent the next thirteen years in the determined struggle to win for Nero the throne which had been predicted for him. Her first decisive success was gained in 48 by the disgrace and execution of Messallina (q.v.), wife of Claudius. In 49 followed her own marriage with Claudius, and her recognition as his consort in the government.' The Roman populace already looked with favour on Nero, as the grandson of Germanicus, but in 50 his claims obtained formal recognition from Claudius himself, who adopted him under the title of Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus.2 Agrippina's next step was to provide a suitable training for her son. The scholar L. Annaeus Seneca was recalled from exile and appointed his tutor. On the 15th of December 51 Nero completed his fourteenth year, and Agrippina, in view of Claudius's failing health, determined to delay no longer his adoption of the toga virilis. The occasion was celebrated in a manner which seemed to place Nero's prospects of succession beyond doubt. He was introduced to the senate by Claudius himself. The proconsular imperium and the title of princeps juventutis were conferred upon him.' He was specially admitted as an extraordinary member of the great priestly colleges; his name was included by the Arval Brethren in their prayers for the safety of the emperor and his house; at the games in the circus his appearance in triumphal dress contrasted significantly with the simple toga praetexta worn by Britannicus. During the next two years Agrippina followed this up with energy. Britannicus's leading partisans were banished or put to death, and the allimportant command of the praetorian guard was transferred to Afranius Burrus, a Gaul by birth, who had been the trusted agent first of Livia and then of Tiberius and Claudius. Nero himself was put prominently forward. The petitions addressed to the senate by the town of Bononia and by the communities of Rhodes and Ilium were gracefully supported by him in Latin and Greek speeches, and during Claudius's absence in 52 at the Latin festival it was Nero who, as praefect of the city, administered justice in the forum. Early in S3 his marriage with Nero, 67.

Claudius's daughter Octavia drew still closer the ties which connected him with the imperial house. Agrippina determined to hasten the death of Claudius, and the absence, through illness, of the emperor's trusted freedman Narcissus, favoured her schemes. On the 13th of October 54 Claudius died, poisoned, as all our authorities declare, by her orders, and Nero was presented to the soldiers on guard as their new sovereign. From the steps of the palace he proceeded to the praetorian camp to receive the salutations of the troops, and thence to the senate-house, where he was promptly invested with all the honours, titles and powers of emperor.' Agrippina's bold 'stroke had been completely successful. Only a few voices were raised for Britannicus; nor is there any doubt that Rome was prepared to welcome the new emperor with genuine enthusiasm. His prestige and his good qualities, carefully fostered by Seneca, made him popular, while his childish vanity, ungovernable selfishness and savage temper were as yet unsuspected. His first acts confirmed this favourable impression. He modestly declined the title of pater patriae; the memory of Claudius, and that of his own father Domitius were duly honoured. The senate listened with delight to his promises to rule according to the maxims of Augustus, and to avoid the errors which had rendered unpopular the rule of his predecessor, while his unfailing clemency, liberality and affability were the talk of Rome. Much no doubt of the credit of all this is due to Seneca and Burrus. Seneca had seen from the first that the real danger with Nero lay in the savage vehemence of his passions, and he made it his chief aim to stave off by every means in his power the dreaded outbreak. The policy of indulging his tastes and helping him to enjoy. the sweets of popularity without the actual burdens of government succeeded for the time. During the first five years of his reign, the golden quinquenniunz Neronis, little occurred to damp the popular enthusiasm. Nero's promises of constitutional moderation were amply fulfilled, and the senate found itself free to discuss and even to decide important administrative questions. Abuses were remedied, the provincials protected from oppression, and the burdens of taxation lightened. On the frontiers, thanks chiefly to Corbulo's energy and skill, no disaster occurred serious enough to shake the general confidence, and even the murder of Britannicus seems to have been accepted as a necessary measure of selfdefence. But Seneca's fear lest Nero's sleeping passions should once be roused were fully verified, and he seems to have seen all along where the danger lay, namely in Agrippina's imperious temper and insatiable love of power. The success of Seneca's own management of Nero largely depended on his being able gradually to emancipate the emperor from his mother's control. During the first few months of Nero's reign the chances of such an emancipation seemed remote, for he treated his mother with elaborate respect and consulted her on all affairs of state. In 55, however, Seneca found a powerful ally in Nero's passion for the beautiful freedwoman Acte, a passion which he deliberately encouraged. Agrippina's angry remonstrances served only to irritate Nero, and caresses equally failed. She then rashly tried intimidation and threatened to espouse the cause of Britannicus. Nero retaliated by poisoning Britannicus. Agrippina then tried to win over Nero's neglected wife Octavia, and to form a party of her own. Nero dismissed her guards, and placed her in a sort of honourable confinement (Tac. Ann. xiii. 12-20). During nearly three years she disappears from the history, and with her retirement things again for the time went smoothly. In 58, however, fresh cause for anxiety appeared, when Nero was enslaved by Poppaea Sabina, a woman of a very different stamp from her predecessor. High-born, wealthy and accomplished, she was resolved to be Nero's wife, and set herself to remove the obstacles which stood in her way. Her first object was the final ruin of Agrippina, and by rousing Nero's jealousy and fear she induced him to seek her death, with the aid of a freedman Anicetus, praefect of the fleet of Misenum. Agrippina was invited to Baiae, and after an affectionate reception, was conducted on board a vessel so constructed as, at a given signal, to fall to pieces. But Agrippina saved herself by swimming, and wrote to her son, announcing her escape, and affecting entire ignorance of the plot. A body of soldiers under Anicetus then surrounded her villa, and murdered her in her own chamber. Nero was horrorstruck at the enormity of the crime and terrified at its possible consequences. But a six months' residence in Campania, and the congratulations which poured in upon him from the neighbouring towns, where the report had been officially spread that Agrippina had fallen a victim to her treacherous designs upon the emperor, gradually restored his courage. In September 59 he re-entered Rome amid universal rejoicing. A prolonged carnival followed. Chariot races, musical and dramatic exhibitions, games in the Greek fashion rapidly succeeded each other. In all the emperor was a prominent figure, but these revels at least involved no bloodshed, and were civilized compared with the gladiatorial shows.

A far more serious result of the death of Agrippina was the growing influence over Nero of Poppaea and her friends. In 62 Burrus died, it was said by poison, and Seneca retired from the unequal contest. Their place was filled by Poppaea, and the infamous Tigellinus, whose sympathy with Nero's sensual tastes had gained him the command of the praetorian guards in succession to Burrus. The haunting fear of conspiracy was skilfully used by them to direct Nero's suspicions against possible opponents. Cornelius Sulla, who had been banished to Massilia in 58, was put to death on the ground that his residence in Gaul was likely to arouse disaffection in that province, and a similar charge proved fatal to Rubellius Plautus, who had for two years been living in retirement in Asia. 2 Nero's taste for blood thus whetted, Octavia was divorced, banished to the island of Pandateria and barbarously murdered. Poppaea's triumph was now complete. She was formally married to Nero; her head appeared on the coins side by side with his; and her statues were erected in the public places of Rome.

In the course of the year 6r Rome was startled by the news of a disaster in Britain. At the time of the Claudian invasion of Britain in A.D. 43 Prasutagus, the king of the Iceni, had concluded a treaty with Claudius, by which no doubt he recognized the suzerainty of Rome and was himself enrolled among "the allies and friends of the Roman people." The alliance was of value to Claudius, for the territory of the Iceni (Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire) lay immediately north of the new province and its capital town Colchester, and Prasutagus had loyally kept faith with Rome. But in A.D. 61 he died, leaving no male heir. His kingdom therefore lapsed to Rome, and Prasutagus, anxious that the transfer should be effected in an orderly way, divided his accumulated wealth between his two daughters and the emperor. His plan failed, for the local Roman officials acted as though the kingdom had been conquered in war; they seized on the property of the late king and his chiefs and insulted his family. Fearing that worse might follow when the kingdom should be annexed, and encouraged by the absence of the legate and his legions, the Iceni, led by Prasutagus's daughter Boudicca (Boadicea) rose in revolt and were joined by the Trinobantes in Essex, who had been long subject to Rome and had their own grievances to redress. Colchester, since A.D. 50 a Roman colony, was sacked. The ninth legion which had hurried from Lincoln was cut to pieces, and the insurgents prepared to march on London. The news of the outbreak found the legate Suetonius Paulinus engaged in attacking Anglesey. His resolution was at once taken. At the head of such light troops as he could collect, he marched in haste along the Watling Street, leaving orders for the legions to follow. Though the tribes along the road were rising, Suetonius succeeded in reaching London, only however to find himself too weak to hold it. He was obliged to fall back along the road by which he had come. London first, and then Verulam, were abandoned to the Britons. At last at some undefined point on the Watling Street his legions joined him. Thus reinforced he turned to face the enemy. The engagement was severe but the Roman victory was decisive, and Roman authority was restored throughout central and southern Britain.

The profound impression produced in Rome by the "British disaster" was confirmed two years later in A.D. 63 by the partial destruction of Pompeii by an earthquake, and the news of the evacuation of Armenia by the Roman legions. A far deeper and more lasting impression was produced by the great fire in Rome. The fire broke out on the night of the 18th of July, 64, among the wooden booths at the south-east end of the Circus Maximus. Thence in one direction it rapidly spread over the Palatine and Velia up to the low cliffs of the Esquiline, and in another it laid waste the Aventine, the Forum Boarium and Velabrum till it reached the Tiber and the solid barrier of the Servian wall. After burning fiercely for six days it suddenly started afresh in the northern quarter of the city and desolated the regions of the Circus Flaminius and the Via Lata, and by the time that it was finally quenched only four of the fourteen regiones remained untouched; three had been utterly destroyed and seven reduced to ruins. The conflagration is said by all authorities later than Tacitus to have been deliberately caused by Nero himself.' But Tacitus, though he mentions the rumours, declares that its origin was uncertain, and in spite of such works as Profumo's Le fonti ed i tempi dello incendio Neroniano (1905), there is no proof of his guilt. 2 By Nero's orders, the open spaces in the Campus Martius were utilized to give shelter to the homeless crowds, provisions were brought from Ostia and the price of corn lowered. In rebuilding the city every precaution was taken against the recurrence of such a calamity. Broad regular streets replaced the narrow winding alleys. The new houses were limited in height, built partly of hard stone and protected by open spaces and colonnades. The water-supply, lastly, was carefully regulated.

There is, however, no doubt that this great disaster told against Nero in the popular mind. It was regarded as a direct manifestation of the wrath of the gods, even by those who did not suspect the emperor. This impression no religious ceremonies, nor even the execution of a number of Christians, as convenient scapegoats, could altogether dispel. But Nero proceeded with the congenial work of repairing the damage. In addition to the rebuilding of the streets, he erected a splendid palace, the "golden house," for himself. The wonders of his Domus aurea were remembered and talked of long after its partial demolition by Vespasian. It stretched from the Palatine across the low ground, afterwards occupied by the Colosseum, to the Esquiline. Gold, precious stones and Greek masterpieces adorned its walls. Most marvellous of all were the grounds in which it stood, with their meadows and lakes, their shady woods and their distant views. To defray the enormous cost, Italy and the provinces, says Tacitus, were ransacked, and in Asia and Achaia especially the rapacity of the imperial commissioners recalled the days of Mummius and of Sulla. 3 It was the first occasion on which the provincials had suffered from Nero's rule, and the discontent it caused helped to weaken his hold over them at the very moment when the growing dissatisfaction in Rome was gathering to a head. Early in 65 Nero was panic-stricken by the discovery of a formidable conspiracy involving such men as Faenius Rufus, Tigellinus's colleague in the prefecture of the praetorian guards, Plautius Lateranus, one of the consuls elect, the poet Lucan, and, lastly, not a few of the tribunes and centurions of the praetorian guard itself. Their chosen leader, whom they destined to succeed Nero, was C. Calpurnius Piso, a handsome, wealthy and popular noble, and a boon companion of Nero himself. The plan to murder Nero was frustrated by a freedman Milichus, who, in the hope of a large reward, disclosed the whole plot. Piso, Faenius Rufus, Lucan and many of their less prominent accomplices, and even Seneca himself (though there seems to have been no evidence of his complicity) were executed.

But, though largesses and thanksgivings celebrated the suppression of the conspiracy, and the round of games and shows was renewed with even increased splendour, the effects of the shock were visible in the long list of victims who during the next few months were sacrificed to his restless fears and resentment. Conspicuous among them was Paetus Thrasea, whose unbending virtue had long made him distasteful to Nero, and who was now suspected, possibly with reason, of sympathy with the conspirators. The death of Poppaea in the autumn of 65 was probably not lamented by any one but her husband, but the general gloom was deepened by a pestilence, caused, it seems, by the overcrowding at the time of the fire.

Early, however, in the summer of 66, the Parthian prince Tiridates visited Italy. This event was a conspicuous tribute to the ability both as soldier and statesman of Cn. Domitius Corbulo. As long ago as 54 the news reached Rome that the Parthian king Vologaeses had expelled the king recognized by Rome from Armenia and installed in his place his own brother Tiridates. Orders were at once issued to concentrate all available forces on the Cappadocian frontier under Corbulo, the first soldier of his day. After some time spent in making his army efficient, Corbulo invaded Armenia and swept victoriously through the country. Armenia was rescued and Corbulo proposed that Tiridates should become king of Armenia on condition of his receiving his crown as a gift from Nero. But the government in Rome had a plan of its own, and a certain Tigranes, long resident in Rome, but a stranger to the Armenians, was sent out, and Corbulo was obliged reluctantly to seat him on the Armenian throne. Tigranes's position, always insecure, soon became untenable, and it became necessary for Rome to intervene once more. A Roman force under Caesennius Paetus was sent to restore Tigranes and re-establish Roman predominance. Paetus, however, was no Corbulo. He was defeated, and Corbulo, now legate of Syria, was obliged to come to his rescue. The result was the final triumph of Corbulo's policy. Tiridates agreed to accept the crown of Armenia from the hands of Nero. In royal state he travelled to Italy, and the ceremony of investiture was performed at Rome with the utmost splendour. Delighted with this tribute to his greatness, Nero for a moment dreamt of rivalling Alexander. Expeditions were talked of to the Caspian Sea and Ethiopia, but Nero was no soldier and quickly turned to a more congenial field. He had already, in 64, appeared on the stage before the half-Greek public of Naples. But his mind was now set on challenging the applause of the Greeks themselves in the ancient home of art. Towards the end of 66 he arrived in Greece with a retinue of soldiers, courtiers, musicians and dancers. The spectacle presented by Nero's visit was unique. 4 He went professedly as an enthusiastic worshipper of Greek art and a humble candidate for the suffrages of Greek judges. At each of the great festivals, which to please him were for once crowded into a single year, he entered in regular form for the various competitions, scrupulously conformed to the tradition and rules of the arena, and awaited in nervous suspense the verdict of the umpires. The dexterous Greeks humoured him to the top of his bent. Everywhere the imperial competitor was victorious, and crowded audiences importuned him to display his talents. The emperor protested that only the Greeks were fit to hear him, and rewarded them when he left by the bestowal of immunity from the land tax on the whole province, and by the gift of the Roman franchise; he also planned and actually commenced the cutting of a canal through the Isthmus of Corinth. If we may believe report, Nero found time in the intervals of his artistic triumphs for more vicious excesses. The stories of his mock marriage with Sporus, his execution of wealthy Greeks for the sake of their money, and his wholesale plundering of the temples were evidently part of the accepted tradition about him in the time of Suetonius, and are at least credible. Far more certainly true is his ungrateful treatment of Domitius Corbulo, who, when he landed at Cenchreae, fresh from his successes in Armenia, was met by an order for his instant execution and at once put an end to his life.

Meanwhile the general dissatisfaction was coming to a head, as we may infer from the urgency with which the imperial freedman Helius insisted upon Nero's return to Italy. Far more serious was the disaffection which now showed itself in the rich and warlike provinces of the west. In northern Gaul, early in 68, the standard of revolt was raised by Julius Vindex, governor of Gallia Lugdunensis, and himself the head of an ancient and noble Celtic family. South of the Pyrenees, P. Sulpicius Galba, governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, and Poppaea's former husband, Marcus Salvius Otho, governor of Lusitania, followed Vindex's example. At first, however, fortune seemed to favour Nero. It is very probable that Vindex had other aims in view than the deposition of Nero and the substitution of a fresh emperor in his place, and that the liberation of northern Gaul from Roman rule was part of his plan.' If this was so, it is easy to understand both the enthusiasm with which the chiefs of northern Gaul rallied to the standard of a leader belonging to their own race, and the opposition which Vindex encountered from the Roman colony of Lugdunum and the legions on the Rhine. For it is certain that the latter at any rate were not animated by loyalty to Nero. Though they defeated Vindex and his Celtic levies at Vesontio (Besancon), their next step was to break the statues of Nero and offer the imperial purple to their own commander Virginius Rufus. He declined their offer, but appealed to them to declare for the senate and people of Rome. Meanwhile in Spain Galba had been saluted imperator by his legions, had accepted the title, and was already on his march towards Italy. On the road the news met him that Vindex had been crushed by the army of the Rhine, and for the moment he resolved to abandon his attempt. Meanwhile, Nero had reluctantly left Greece, but returned to Italy only to renew his revels. When on the 19th of March the news reached him at Naples of the rising in Gaul, he allowed a week to elapse before he could tear himself away from his pleasures, and then contented himself with proscribing Vindex, and setting a price on his head. The revolts in Spain and Germany terrified him too late into something like energy. The senate almost openly intrigued against him, and the populace were silent or hostile. The fidelity of the praetorian sentinels even was more than doubtful. When finally the palace guards forsook their posts, Nero despairingly stole out of Rome to seek shelter in a freedman's villa some four miles off. There he heard of the senate's proclamation of Galba as emperor, and of the sentence of death passed on himself. On the approach of the horsemen sent to drag him to execution, he collected sufficient courage to save himself by suicide. Nero died on the 9th of June 68, in the thirty-first year of his age and the fourteenth of his reign, and his remains were deposited by the faithful hands of Acte in the family tomb of the Domitii on the Pincian Hill. With his death ended the line of the Caesars, and Roman imperialism entered upon a new phase. His statues were broken, his name everywhere erased, and his golden house demolished; yet, in spite of all, no Roman emperor has left a deeper mark upon subsequent tradition. The Roman populace for a long time reverenced his memory as that of an open-handed patron, and in Greece the recollections of his magnificence, and his enthusiasm for art, were still fresh when the traveller Pausanias visited the country a century later. The belief that he had not really died, but would return again to confound his foes, was long prevalent, not only in the remoter provinces, but even in Rome itself; and more than one pretender was able to collect a following by assuming the name of the last of the race of Augustus. More lasting still was the implacable hatred of those who had suffered from his cruelties. Roman literature, faithfully reflecting the sentiments of the aristocratic salons of the capital, while it almost canonized those who had been his victims, fully avenged their wrongs by painting Nero as a monster of wickedness. In Christian tradition he even appears as the mystic Antichrist, who was destined to come once again to trouble the saints. Even in the middle ages, Nero was still the very incarnation of splendid iniquity, while the belief lingered obstinately that he had only disappeared for a time, and as late as the 11th century his restless spirit was supposed to haunt the slopes of the Pincian Hill.

The chief ancient authorities for Nero's life and reign are Tacitus (Annals, xiii.-xvi., ed. Furneaux), Suetonius, Dio Cassius (Epit. lxi., lxii., lxiii.), and Zonaras (Ann. xi.).  [Ency Britannica 1911]

Nero in Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities Claudius Caesar. The sixth of the Roman emperors, born at Antium, in Latium, A.D. 37, nine months after the death of Tiberius. He was the son of Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina, the daughter of Germanicus, and was originally named Lucius Domitius. After the death of Ahenobarbus, and a second husband, Crispus Passienus, Agrippina married her uncle, the emperor Claudius, who gave his daughter Octavia in marriage to her son Lucius, and subsequently adopted him with the formal sanction of a lex Curiata. The education of Nero was carefully attended to in his youth. He was placed under the care of the philosopher Seneca, and appears to have applied himself with considerable perseverance to study. He is said to have made great progress in Greek, of which he gave a specimen in his sixteenth year, by pleading in that tongue the rights of the Rhodians, and of the inhabitants of Ilium (Suet. Nero, 7; Tac. Ann. xii. 58). At the death of Claudius (A.D. 54), while Agrippina, by flatteries and lamentations, detained Britannicus, the son of Claudius and Messalina, within the palace, Nero, presenting himself before the gates, was lifted by the guard-in-waiting into the covered chariot used for the purpose of carrying in procession an elected emperor, and was followed by a multitude of the people, under the illusion that it was Britannicus. He entered the camp, promised a donative to the cohorts, was saluted emperor, and pronounced before the Senate, in honour of Claudius, a panegyric composed by his preceptor Seneca. Coin of Nero. Agrippina soon endeavoured to obtain the chief management of public affairs; and her vindictive and cruel temper would have hurried Nero, at the commencement of his reign, into acts of violence and bloodshed, if her influence had not been counteracted by Seneca and Burrus, to whom Nero had intrusted the government of the State. Through their counsels the first five years of Nero's reign were distinguished by justice and clemency; and an anecdote is related of him, that, having on one occasion to sign an order for the execution of a malefactor, he exclaimed, “Would that I could not write!” (Suet. Nero, 10). He discouraged public informers, refused the statues of gold and silver which were offered him by the Senate and people, and used every art to ingratiate himself with the latter. But his mother was enraged to find that her power over him became weaker every day, and that he constantly disregarded her advice and refused her requests. His neglect of his wife Octavia, and his criminal love of Acté, a woman of low birth, still farther widened the breach between him and his mother. She frequently addressed him in the most contemptuous language; reminded him that he owed his elevation solely to her, and threatened that she would inform the soldiers of the manner in which Claudius had met his end, and would call upon them to support the claims of Britannicus, the son of the late emperor. The threats of his mother only served to hasten the death of Britannicus, whose murder forms the commencement of that long catalogue of crimes which afterwards disgraced the reign of Nero. But while the management of public affairs appears, from the testimony of most historians, to have been wisely conducted by Burrus and Seneca, Nero indulged in private in dissipation and profligacy. He was accustomed, in company with other young men of his own age, to sally into the streets of Rome at night, in order to rob and maltreat passengers, and even to break into private houses and carry off the property of their owners. But these extravagances were comparatively harmless; his love for Poppaea, whom he had seduced from Otho, led him into more serious crimes. Poppaea, who was ambitious of sharing the imperial throne, perceived that she could not hope to attain her object while Agrippina was alive, and, accordingly, induced Nero to consent to the murder of his mother. The entreaties of Poppaea appear to have been supported by the advice of Burrus and Seneca; and the philosopher did not hesitate to justify the murder of a mother by her son (Tac. Ann. xiv. 11; Quint.viii. 5). In the eighth year of his reign, Nero lost his best counsellor, Burrus; and Seneca had the wisdom to withdraw from the court, where his presence had become disliked, and where his enormous wealth was calculated to excite the envy even of the emperor. About the same time Nero divorced Octavia and married Poppaea, and soon after put to death the former on a false accusation of adultery and treason. In the tenth year of his reign (A.D. 64) Rome was almost destroyed by fire. Of the fourteen districts into which the city was divided, four only remained entire. The fire originated at that part of the Circus which was contiguous to the Palatine and Coelian Hills, and raged with the greatest fury for six days and seven nights; and, after it was thought to have been extinguished, it burst forth again, and continued for two days longer. Nero appears to have acted on this occasion with the greatest liberality and kindness; the city was supplied with provisions at a very moderate price; and the imperial gardens were thrown open to the sufferers, and buildings erected for their accommodation. But these acts of humanity and benevolence were insufficient to screen him from the popular suspicion. It was generally believed that he had set fire to the city himself, and some even reported that he had ascended the top of a high tower in order to witness the conflagration, where he amused himself with singing the “Destruction of Troy.” From many circumstances, however, it appears improbable that Nero was guilty of this crime. His guilt, indeed, is asserted by Suetonius ( Nero, 38) and Dio Cassius (lxii. 17), but Tacitus admits that he was not able to prove the truth of the accusation ( Ann. xv. 38). In order, however, to remove the suspicions of the people, Nero spread a report that the Christians were the authors of the fire, and numbers of them, accordingly, were seized and put to death. Their execution served as an amusement to the people. Some were covered with skins of wild beasts, and were torn to pieces by dogs; others were crucified; and several were smeared with pitch and other combustible materials, and burned in the imperial gardens in the night: “Whence,” says the historian, “pity arose Nero. (Bust in the Louvre.) for the guilty (though they deserved the severest punishments), since they were put to death, not for the public good, but to gratify the cruelty of a single man” (Tac. Ann. xv. 44). In the following year (A.D. 65) a powerful conspiracy was formed for the purpose of placing Piso upon the throne, but it was discovered by Nero, and the principal conspirators were put to death. Among others who suffered on this occasion were Lucan and Seneca; but the guilt of the latter is doubtful. (See Seneca.) In the same year Poppaea died, in consequence of a kick which she received from her husband while she was in an advanced state of pregnancy. A long list of victims is to be found in the pages of the annalists. The distinguished general Domitius Corbulo, Thrasea Paetus, and Barea Soranus are among these. During the latter part of his reign, Nero was principally engaged in amateur theatricals, and in contending for the prizes at the public games. He had previously appeared as an actor on the Roman stage; and he now visited in succession the chief cities of Greece, and received no less than 1800 crowns for his victories in the public Grecian games. He also began the canal across the Isthmus of Corinth, but ordered the work to be stopped (Dio Cass. lxiii. 6 foll.), leaving its completion to our own times (1893). On his return to Italy he entered Naples and Rome as a conqueror, and was received with triumphal honours. But while he was engaged in these extravagances, Vindex, who commanded the legions in Gaul, declared against his authority; and his example was speedily followed by Galba, who commanded in Spain. The praetorian cohorts espoused the cause of Galba, and the Senate pronounced sentence of death against Nero, who had fled from Rome as soon as he heard of the revolt of the Praetorian Guards. Nero, however, anticipated the execution of the sentence which had been passed against him, by requesting one of his attendants to put him to death, after making an ineffectual attempt to do so with his own hands. He died A.D. 68, in the thirty-second year of his age, and the fourteenth of his reign. See the chapter in Baring-Gould's Tragedy of the Caesars, vol. ii. (1892).

Nero in Roman Biography Ne'ro, [Fr. Neron, na'r6N'; It. Nerone, nl-ro'na,] (Lucius Domitius,) the sixth of the Roman emperors, born in 37 A.D., was the son of Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina, daughter of Germanicus. His mother, after becoming a widow, having married her uncle the emperor Claudius, the latter adopted Nero and gave to him his daughter Octavia in marriage, adding to his name that of Claudius Drusus. On the death of Claudius, who was poisoned by Agrippina, A.D. 54, Nero was proclaimed emperor, to the exclusion of Britannicus, the son of Claudius. The counsels of Seneca and Burrus, who were placed at the head of government, had for a time a salutary effect upon Nero, and the first years of his rule were marked by kindness and justice ; but his evil passions eventually prevailed, and the remainder of his reign was signalized by a series of atrocities. Becoming jealous of Britannicus, he caused him to be poisoned, and, having soon after formed an attachment to Poppaea, murdered his mother at her instigation and made her his wife. He next caused Octavia, whom he had divorced, to be put to death. In A.D. 64 Rome was nearly destroyed by a fire which Nero was accused of having kindled. It was said that he amused himself, while viewing the conflagration, with reciting verses descriptive of the fall of Troy. In order to remove suspicion from himself, he charged the crime upon the Christians, many of whom were in consequence subjected to the most cruel tortures. A conspiracy formed against the tyrant, A.D. 65, was discovered, and many distinguished citizens were executed, among whom were Lucan and Seneca. Soon after this, Vindex and Galba revolted against the emperor, who, on hearing of their defection and that of the praetorian guards, destroyed himself, with the assistance of a servant, A.D. 68. See Tacitus, "Annales;" Suetonius, "Vita Neronis ;" Tii.lemont, " Histoire des Empereurs :" Mf.rivai.e, "History of the Romans under the Empire ;" " Nouvelle Biographie Generale ;" Denis Diderot, " Essai sur les Regnes de Claude et de Ne>on,' 2 vols., 1782.

Arch of Titus in Wikipedia The Arch of Titus is a 1st-century honorific arch located on the Via Sacra, Rome, just to the south-east of the Roman Forum. It was constructed in c.82 AD by the Roman Emperor Domitian shortly after the death of his older brother Titus to commemorate Titus' victories, including the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD... Significance. The Arch provides one of the few contemporary depictions of Temple period artifacts. The seven-branched menorah and trumpets are clearly depicted. It became a symbol of the Jewish diaspora. In a later era, Pope Paul IV made it the place of a yearly oath of submission. Roman Jews refused to walk under it. The menorah depicted on the Arch served as the model for the menorah used on the emblem of the state of Israel...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arch_of_Titus

Sketch of the Arch of Titus in 1871

Close up of the Golden 7-branched menorah carried off by the Roman legions in 70 AD,

 Stones from Jerusalem thrown onto the street by Roman soldiers on Av 9, 70

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THE ARCH OF TITUS. It was erected in commemoration of the capture and destruction of Jerusalem, and in honour of the successful general, by the Senate and Roman people. Crowning the highest point of the Sacred Way, the Summa Sacra Via, not only is it the most elegant of all the triumphal arches, but also, as from its connection with Scripture history it has been justly styled, " one of the most interesting ruins in Rome." It consists of a single arch of white marble, flanked by a fluted Composke column. During the pontificate of Pius VII it was rescued from impending ruin by extensive and judicious restorations; which, however, unlike the ancient portions, were executed in travertine. The sculptures with which it is embellished are of a very elaborate character. Those of the frieze represent a procession of warriors conducting white bulls or oxen to the sacrificial altar ; the keystone of the arch is adorned with a spirited figure of a Roman warrior. On the attic, he who runs may read the original inscription ; which, it is evident, from the use of the word divo ("divine"), was recorded after the death of Titus, the "delight of the human race," and, probably, by his successor Domitian. It runs thus:

SENATVS . POPVLVSQVE . ROMANVS . DIVO . TITO . DIVI . VESPASIANI . F . VESPASIANO . AVGVSTO.

The piers, under the arch, are covered with bas-reliefs of remarkable interest. On the one side may be seen a body of Roman soldiers bearing the precious spoils from the Temple of Jerusalem ; among which conspicuously shine the golden table, the silver trumpets, and the seven- ranched candlestick of massive gold, which afterwards fell into the Tiber from the Milvian Bridge, during the flight of the Emperor Maxentius before the victorious arms of Constantine." The size of this candlestick, as here represented, appears to be nearly a man's height : so that both in size and form these bas- reliefs perfectly correspond with the description of Josephus, and are the only authentic representations of these sacred objects." On the other side we see the Imperator himself, crowned by the goddess Victory, seated in his triumphal quadriga, or chariot drawn by four horses, with the lictors bearing their laurel-wreathed fasces before him, and around him soldiers and citizens, cheering tumultuously, and waving boughs of laurel. The vaulted roof of the arch is richly ornamented with sunk panels and roses, while a central bas- relief is devoted to the apotheosis of Titus. The length of the arch is 49 feet; its breadth, 16 feet 6 inches ; its height is equal to its length. The width of its passage, or opening, is 19 feet. Above the entablature rises an attic, 12 feet in height. The arch is semicircular, and springs from a horizontal moulding, called the impost which crosses the front of the building at about 22 feet from the ground. The height of the Composite marble columns on either side of the opening is 22,065 feet, and they stand upon pedestals 9 feet high. [Roman Architecture]

THE SACRA VIA AND THE VELIA. The Sacra via, the oldest and most famous street in Rome, began at the sacellum Streniae a shrine mentioned only in this connection, and undoubtedly near the lucus Streniae in the Colosseum valley, and ran northwest to the summit of the Velia, which it crossed near the arch of Titus. This was the summa Sacra via, and from here the street curved toward the north and entered the Forum at the fornix Fabianus. Its course from this point to the Capitol has been described . Originally the name Sacra via was given only to that part of the street which was between the Velia and the Forum, but it was soon made to include the whole extent from the Colosseum to the Forum, and in modern times even the part within the Forum. The part from the Forum to the Velia was also called the Sacer clivus. [Topography of Ancient Rome 1911]

Painting of the Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD by Ercole de Roberti

The Destruction of Jerusalem. Vespasian committed the care of the war against the Jews to his son Titus ; for after the ascension of our Saviour, the Jews, in addition to their wickedness against him, were now incessantly plotting mischief against his apostles. First they slew Stephen by stoning him, next James, who first obtained the episcopal seat at Jerusalem, after the ascension of our Saviour. . . . But the rest of the apostles they harassed in many ways with a view to destroying them, and they drove them from the land of Judea. These apostles accordingly went to preach the gospel to all nations, relying upon the aid of Christ, when he said, " Go and teach all nations in my name." The whole body of the church at Jerusalem, however,— when commanded by a divine revelation given to men of approved piety there before the war, — removed from the city, and dwelt at a certain town called Pella beyond the Jordan. The Jews formed their line close under their walls, whence if successful they might venture to advance, and where if repulsed they had a refuge at hand. . . . The Romans then began to prepare for an assault. It seemed beneath them to await the result of famine. . . . But the commanding situation of the city the Jews had strengthened by enormous works which would have  been a thorough defense even for level ground. Two hills of great height they fenced in with walls skillfully bent inward in such a manner that the flank of an assailant was exposed to missiles. The work ended in a precipice ; the towers they had raised to a height of sixty feet where the hill lent its aid to the fortification ; where the ground fell, they were a hundred and twenty feet high. These towers presented a marvelous appearance, and to a distant spectator seemed to be of uniform height. There had been prodigies, which this nation, prone to superstition but hating all religious rites, did not deem it lawful to expiate by offerings and sacrifice. They had seen hosts joining battle in the skies, the fiery gleam of arms, the temple illuminated by a sudden radiance from the clouds. The doors of the inner shrine suddenly opened, and a voice of more than mortal tone was heard to cry that the Gods were going away. At the same instant there was a mighty stir as of departure. A few put a fearful meaning on these events, but in most people was a firm persuasion that the ancient records of their priests  contained a prediction that at this very time the East was to grow powerful, and rulers from Judea were to acquire universal empire. These mysterious prophecies had pointed to Vespasian and Titus ; but the common people, with the usual blindness of ambition, had interpreted these mighty omens in their own favor, and could not be brought even by disasters to believe the truth. In computing the whole number of the slain, the historian says, that eleven hundred thousand perished by famine, and that the rest, including factions and robbers, mutually informing against each other after the capture, were put to death. Of the young men the tallest and those distinguished for beauty were kept for the triumph. Of the remaining multitude all above seventeen were sent as prisoners to labor in the mines of Egypt. Great numbers, however, were distributed among the provinces, to be destroyed by the sword or by wild beasts in the theatres. Those under seventeen were carried away to be sold as slaves. In the last named class alone were as many as ninety thousand. Vespasian died on the eighth of the calends of July at the age of sixty-nine years. [Story of Rome]

The First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), sometimes called The Great Revolt (Hebrew: המרד הגדול‎, ha-Mered Ha-Gadol), was the first of three major rebellions by the Jews of Judaea Province (Iudaea), against the Roman Empire. The second was the Kitos War in 115–117 CE; the third was Bar Kokhba's revolt of 132–135 CE). The Great Revolt began in the year 66 CE, initially due to Greek and Jewish religious tensions, but later escalated due to anti-taxation protests and attacks upon Roman citizens.[2] The Roman military garrison of Judaea was quickly overrun by rebels and the pro-Roman king Agrippa II fled Jerusalem, together with Roman officials to Galilee. Cestius Gallus, the legate of Syria, brought the Syrian army, based on XII Fulminata, reinforced by auxiliary troops, to restore order and quell the revolt. The legion, however, was ambushed and defeated by Jewish rebels at the Battle of Beth Horon, a result that shocked the Roman leadership. The Roman command of the revolt's suppression was then handed to general Vespasian and his son Titus, who assembled four legions and began cleansing the country, starting with Galilee, in the year 67 CE. The revolt ended when legions under Titus besieged and destroyed the center of rebel resistance in Jerusalem in the year 70 CE, and defeated the remaining Jewish strongholds later on. [Wikipedia]

The Fall of Jerusalem. The siege of Jerusalem, the capital city, had begun early in the war, but had turned into a stalemate. Unable to breach the city's defences, the Roman armies established a permanent camp just outside the city, digging a trench around the circumference of its walls and building a wall as high as the city walls themselves around Jerusalem. Anyone caught in the trench attempting to flee the city would be captured, crucified, and placed in lines on top of the dirt wall facing into Jerusalem. The two Zealot leaders, John of Gischala and Simon Bar Giora, only ceased hostilities and joined forces to defend the city when the Romans began to construct ramparts for the siege. Those attempting to escape the city were crucified, with as many as five hundred crucifixions occurring in a day. Titus Flavius, Vespasian's son, led the final assault and siege of Jerusalem. During the infighting inside the city walls, a stockpiled supply of dry food was intentionally burned by Sicarii to induce the defenders to fight against the siege instead of negotiating peace; as a result many city dwellers and soldiers died of starvation during the siege. Zealots under Eleazar ben Simon held the Temple, Sicarii led by Simon Bar Giora held the upper city. Titus eventually wiped out the last remnants of Jewish resistance. By the summer of 70, the Romans had breached the walls of Jerusalem, ransacking and burning nearly the entire city. The Romans began by attacking the weakest spot: the third wall. It was built shortly before the siege so it did not have as much time invested in its protection. They succeeded towards the end of May and shortly afterwards broke through the more important second wall. The Second Temple (the renovated Herod's Temple) was destroyed on Tisha B'Av (29 or 30 July 70). Tacitus, a historian of the time, notes that those who were besieged in Jerusalem amounted to no fewer than six hundred thousand, that men and women alike and every age engaged in armed resistance, everyone who could pick up a weapon did, both sexes showed equal determination, preferring death to a life that involved expulsion from their country. All three walls were destroyed and in turn so was the Temple, some of whose overturned stones and their place of impact can still be seen. John of Giscala surrendered at Agrippa II's fortress of Jotapata and was sentenced to life imprisonment. The famous Arch of Titus still stands in Rome: it depicts Roman legionaries carrying the Temple of Jerusalem's treasuries, including the Menorah, during Titus's triumphal procession in Rome... The defeat of the Jewish revolt altered the Jewish diaspora, as many of the Jewish rebels were scattered or sold into slavery. Josephus claims that 1,100,000 people were killed during the siege, a sizeable portion of these were at Jewish hands and due to illnesses brought about by hunger. "A pestilential destruction upon them, and soon afterward such a famine, as destroyed them more suddenly." 97,000 were captured and enslaved and many others fled to areas around the Mediterranean. The Jewish Encyclopedia article on the Hebrew Alphabet states: "Not until the revolts against Nero and against Hadrian did the Jews return to the use of the old Hebrew script on their coins, which they did from motives similar to those which had governed them two or three centuries previously; both times, it is true, only for a brief period." Titus reportedly refused to accept a wreath of victory, claiming that he had "lent his arms to God". [Wikipedia]

Josephus Describes the Siege. "Now as soon as the army had no more people to slay or to plunder, because there remained none to be the objects of their fury (for they would not have spared any, had there remained any other work to be done), [Titus] Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city and Temple, but should leave as many of the towers standing as they were of the greatest eminence; that is, Phasaelus, and Hippicus, and Mariamne; and so much of the wall enclosed the city on the west side. This wall was spared, in order to afford a camp for such as were to lie in garrison [in the Upper City], as were the towers [the three forts] also spared, in order to demonstrate to posterity what kind of city it was, and how well fortified, which the Roman valor had subdued; but for all the rest of the wall [surrounding Jerusalem], it was so thoroughly laid even with the ground by those that dug it up to the foundation, that there was left nothing to make those that came thither believe it [Jerusalem] had ever been inhabited. This was the end which Jerusalem came to by the madness of those that were for innovations; a city otherwise of great magnificence, and of mighty fame among all mankind... And truly, the very view itself was a melancholy thing; for those places which were adorned with trees and pleasant gardens, were now become desolate country every way, and its trees were all cut down. Nor could any foreigner that had formerly seen Judaea and the most beautiful suburbs of the city, and now saw it as a desert, but lament and mourn sadly at so great a change. For the war had laid all signs of beauty quite waste. Nor had anyone who had known the place before, had come on a sudden to it now, would he have known it again. But though he [a foreigner] were at the city itself, yet would he have inquired for it... The slaughter within was even more dreadful than the spectacle from without. Men and women, old and young, insurgents and priests, those who fought and those who entreated mercy, were hewn down in indiscriminate carnage. The number of the slain exceeded that of the slayers. The legionaries had to clamber over heaps of dead to carry on the work of extermination." [Josephus]

Vespasian coin with 'Judea Capta' on the back, IVDEA CAPTA, "Judaea conquered". The coin was Issued
in 71 AD to celebrate the victory of the Romans in the Jewish Revolt.

Judaea Capta coins were originally issued by the Roman Emperor Vespasian to commemorate the capture of Judaea and the destruction of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem by his son Titus in 70 AD during the First Jewish Revolt.

Josephus. The main account of the revolt comes from Josephus, the former Jewish commander of Galilee who, after capture by the Romans after the Siege of Yodfat, attempted to end the rebellion by negotiating with the Judeans on Titus's behalf. Josephus and Titus became close friends, and later Josephus was granted Roman citizenship and a pension. He never returned to his homeland after the fall of Jerusalem, living in Rome as a historian under the patronage of Vespasian and Titus. He wrote two works, The Jewish War (c. 75) and Jewish Antiquities (c. 94) which, on occasion, are contradictory. These are the only surviving source materials containing information on specific events occurring during the fighting. But the material has been questioned because of claims that cannot be verified by secondary sources and because of Josephus' potential bias as a client of the Romans and defender of the Roman cause. Only since the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls has some solid confirmation been given to the events he describes. [Wikipedia]

Painting of the horrors of the Destruction of the Jerusalem Temple on the ninth of Av in 70 AD.

 

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The Word "Caesar" is Mentioned many Times in the Bible
(Note: It was not always Tiberius because he died in 37 A.D.)

Luke 3:1 - Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene.

Matthew 22:21 - They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.

Luke 3:1 - Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene,

John 19:15 - But they cried out, Away with [him], away with [him], crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.

John 19:12 - And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.

Luke 20:25 - And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's.

Mark 12:14 - And when they were come, they say unto him, Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man: for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not?

Mark 12:17 - And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marvelled at him.

Acts 27:24 - Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.

Luke 23:2 - And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this [fellow] perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King.

Acts 11:28 - And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.

Acts 25:11 - For if I be an offender, or have committed any thing worthy of death, I refuse not to die: but if there be none of these things whereof these accuse me, no man may deliver me unto them. I appeal unto Caesar.

Acts 25:21 - But when Paul had appealed to be reserved unto the hearing of Augustus, I commanded him to be kept till I might send him to Caesar.

Acts 17:7 - Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, [one] Jesus.

Luke 2:1 - And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.

Acts 28:19 - But when the Jews spake against [it], I was constrained to appeal unto Caesar; not that I had ought to accuse my nation of.

Matthew 22:17 - Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?

Acts 25:8 - While he answered for himself, Neither against the law of the Jews, neither against the temple, nor yet against Caesar, have I offended any thing at all.

Acts 26:32 - Then said Agrippa unto Festus, This man might have been set at liberty, if he had not appealed unto Caesar.

Luke 20:22 - Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar, or no?

Acts 25:12 - Then Festus, when he had conferred with the council, answered, Hast thou appealed unto Caesar? unto Caesar shalt thou go.
 

Some Scriptures mentioning the word "Rome"

 

Acts 23:11 - And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.

2 Timothy 4:22 - The Lord Jesus Christ [be] with thy spirit. Grace [be] with you. Amen. <[The second [epistle] unto Timotheus, ordained the first bishop of the church of the Ephesians, was written from Rome, when Paul was brought before Nero the second time.]>

Acts 18:2 - And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came unto them.

Colossians 4:18 - The salutation by the hand of me Paul. Remember my bonds. Grace [be] with you. Amen. <[Written from Rome to Colossians by Tychicus and Onesimus.]>

Ephesians 6:24 - Grace [be] with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen. <[To [the] Ephesians written from Rome, by Tychicus.]>

Philemon 1:25 - The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [be] with your spirit. Amen. <[Written from Rome to Philemon, by Onesimus a servant.]>

Acts 2:10 - Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,

Acts 19:21 - After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome.

Acts 28:16 - And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him.

Romans 1:7 - To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called [to be] saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Galatians 6:18 - Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [be] with your spirit. Amen. <[To [the] Galatians written from Rome.]>

Philippians 4:23 - The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [be] with you all. Amen. <[To [the] Philippians written from Rome, by Epaphroditus.]>

Acts 28:14 - Where we found brethren, and were desired to tarry with them seven days: and so we went toward Rome.

Romans 1:15 - So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.

2 Timothy 1:17 - But, when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found [me].

 

Daniel 2:40 - "And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all [things]: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise."

Acts 23:11 - And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.

 

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The History of Rome - Part One 743 - 136 B.C.

More Images of Rome's Emperors

Also see Roman Emperors - Photos, information , coins