Was Nero a good leader or a poor leader?

Answer 1

Nero was neither good nor bad. He grossly misrepresented and slandered by Roman witters because they were aristocrats. He was hated by the aristocracy. As with other early emperors, there was tension between the emperor and the senate and the aristocracy. As with other early emperors, Nero reduced the powers of the senate.

Nero's blemishes were egocentrism and exhibitionism (it was said that he craved for attention) eccentricity and profligacy. He loved poetry and the theatre and fancied himself as good singer and actor. He liked to sing to the lyre, recite poetry, acting and driving a chariot in public. As a hellenophile (a lover of the Greeks) he built gymnasia and theatres. He held lavish festivals and gladiatorial games. He wanted to build a canal at Corinth. The also built a massive palace which was like a mini town, the Domus Aurea (Golden House).

Nero was hated by the rich, but popular with the poor who were very upset when he died and remained loyal to him. He favoured the poor. He imposed restrictions of the amount of fines and bail and on layer fees. When there were complaints that the poor were taxed too heavily he wanted to repeal indirect taxes. However, the senate pointed out that this would bankrupt the state and he cut then from 44.5% to 2.5% instead. He made tax records, which had been secret, public. He rejected a proposal by the senate to give masters the right to revoke the freedom of freedmen.

There were allegations that Nero had set fire to Rome in the Great Fire of 64 AD. However, Tacitus, a historian who lived during this period and the only one who gave details of the fire, said that Nero was not in Rome when the fire started. He also said that Nero made great efforts to help the people affected by the fire, spent days searching for survivors without bodyguards, opened his palaces to host the homeless and bought food supplies with his money. He then made an urban plan with houses built on wider roads and faced by porticoes.

The allegations of arson were made by writers who were not around at the time of the fire and who were patricians (aristocrats) and were hostile to Nero. They were keen on slandering him because the patricians hated Nero. On the other hand, the poor loved Nero and were very upset when he died. These writers alleged that Nero set fire to the city to make room to build a massive palace. However, fires in Rome were very common as it was an overcrowded city and timber was used to build houses, which were packed in alleys. There were other large fires in 69 and 80 AD.