WHAT CAN HAPPEN WITH AN ACTOR IN CHARGE: 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
🗓️ 3 December 2023
⏱️ 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.
1871 ATHENS
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This episode is brought to you by Pepsi Max. Christmas is great, but there's loads of ways to make it better. |
| 0:08.0 | Like sneaking some chili into the gravy for some extra oint, or building a playlist that will even get your |
| 0:14.8 | none up on the table or just cracking open an ice cold Pepsi Max. |
| 0:20.1 | Christmas. |
| 0:23.0 | Better with Pepsi Max. This is CBSi in the world. I'm John Batcher with the authors Anthony Everett and Roddy Ashworth. |
| 0:36.4 | This is Nero, matricide, music and murder in Imperial Rome. If it appears that the bodies are falling quickly, you're correct. |
| 0:46.9 | But the major threat is to anyone close to the family that rules Rome and also people who are hangers-on to that families. |
| 0:56.0 | The succession drama is always the threat. |
| 1:00.0 | We've seen that with Tiberius, who's suffocated by Kalegula, by Kalegula, who's murdered by the |
| 1:07.4 | guards and perhaps as a plot of his uncle, Claudius, and then Claudius himself is poisoned by Agrippina. |
| 1:18.1 | We now come to the first five years of Nero as a teenager, as Emperor of Rome. Anthony I get the impression that his |
| 1:26.5 | escapades at night with his gang, very immature and not especially damaging |
| 1:32.4 | to the empire. At this point Seneca Burros and one |
| 1:36.8 | other freedmen are ruling the empire and are things going well Anthony? Yes, things are proceeding quite smoothly quite |
| 1:45.9 | satisfactorily, as long as um, Nero doesn't interest in self too much in the |
| 1:52.0 | details of government. |
| 1:54.0 | And for the time being, he likes having a good time. |
| 1:58.0 | He's a bit like Boris Johnson, if you know what I mean? |
| 2:01.0 | Enjoy his... you know what I mean? |
| 2:07.0 | Enjoys frivolity and alcohol. And Seneca endorses this, Burros endorses this. |
| 2:11.0 | Burris endorses this. |
| 2:12.0 | They put up with it. They don't endorse it so much as they put up with it. |
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