A ROMAN IRON AGE EMPEROR FAILS ON THE GREEK BRONZE AGE STAGE. 4/8: Nero: Matricide, Music, and Murder in Imperial Rome by Anthony Everitt (Author), Roddy Ashworth (Author)
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 13 May 2024
⏱️ 9 minutes
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Summary
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There are many infamous stories about the Roman emperor Nero: He set fire to Rome and thrummed his lyre as it burned. Cruel, vain, and incompetent, he then cleared the charred ruins and built a vast palace. He committed incest with his mother, who had schemed and killed to place him on the throne, and later murdered her. Nero has long been the very image of a bad ruler, a legacy left behind by the historians of his day, who despised him.
But there is a mystery. For a long time after his death, anonymous hands laid flowers on his grave. The monster was loved. In this nuanced biography, Anthony Everitt, the celebrated biographer of classical Greece and Rome, and investigative journalist Roddy Ashworth reveal the contradictions inherent in Nero and offer a reappraisal of his life. Contrary to popular memory, the empire was well managed during his reign. He presided over diplomatic triumphs and Rome’s epic conquest of Britain and British queen Boudica’s doomed revolt against Nero’s legions. He was also a champion of arts and culture who loved music, and he won the loyalty of the lower classes with fantastic spectacles. He did not set fire to Rome.
1658 ROMAN CAVALRY
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| 0:00.0 | Have you ever felt like escaping to your own desert island? |
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| 0:06.2 | trading in the family home to begin a new life in the tropics. |
| 0:09.9 | But she soon discovers that Paradise has its secrets. |
| 0:13.4 | I'm Alice Levine, and this is the price of Paradise, |
| 0:17.8 | the island dream that ends in kidnap, corruption, and murder. |
| 0:23.0 | Wish you were here. |
| 0:24.0 | Follow the price of Paradise Now, wherever you listen to podcasts. |
| 0:30.0 | This is |
| 0:38.0 | this CBSi in the world. I'm John Batcheter with the authors Anthony Everett and Roddy Ashworth. |
| 0:45.0 | This is Nero Matricide, music and murder in Imperial Rome. If it appears that the bodies are falling quickly, you're correct. |
| 0:49.0 | But the major threat is to anyone close to the family that rules Rome and also people who are |
| 0:56.7 | hangers-on to that families. |
| 0:59.4 | The succession drama is always the threat. We've seen that with Tiberius who's suffocated by |
| 1:06.2 | Kaleguila, by Kaleguila, who's murdered by the guards and perhaps as a plot of his uncle, Claudius, and then Claudius himself |
| 1:19.1 | is poisoned by Agrippina. |
| 1:21.0 | We now come to the first five years of Nero as a teenager as Emperor of Rome. |
| 1:27.0 | Anthony I get the impression that his escapades at night with his gang, very immature and not especially damaging to the empire. |
| 1:36.2 | At this point, Seneca, Burros, and one other, Friedman, are ruling the empire and are things going well Anthony? Yes things |
| 1:46.5 | are proceeding quite smoothly quite substantially but as long as some |
| 1:52.2 | you know just an interest in itself, too much in the details of government. |
| 1:57.0 | And so... |
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