What are Nero emperor positive aspects?

Answer 1

There were several positives in Nero's reign. Unfortunately we mostly get the aristocratic view of him which is negative. Nero was, in contrast to most other emperors, a cultured individual, interested in not only the arts but also in inventions/science. He had the first known pair of eyeglasses, was actively involved in the construction of his Golden House with its architectural innovations, and at the time of his death was drawing up plans for a new type of water organ. After the Great Fire, he not only supervised the rebuilding of the city with its fire resistant ordinances, but he opened up his estates in Rome for the homeless survivors and fed them from his personal funds.

Internationally, although he was not a military man himself, he had two great generals, Corbulo in the east and Vespasian in Britain, who each put down uprisings and secured the empire. He also began construction of a canal across the isthmus of Corinth (which was only completed in relatively modern times) and he had plans for an internal waterway/canal in Italy itself. Many cities and provinces benefited from his extreme generosity, which was one of the reasons for his downfall.

Answer 2

Nero was eccentric, extravagant and egotistic and behaved in ways which were odd, tacky or defied imperial convention. However, he was not a bad emperor. He was very popular with the poor who got upset when he committed suicide. He was hated by the rich because he eroded the authority of the senate, which represented the aristocrats. He was subjected to a lot of gossip and lander by writers, some of whom were even around in his days.

It was alleged that Nero set fire to Rome deliberately partly for personal entertainment and partly because he wanted to build a massive imperial palace complex. However, Tacitus, a historian who lived during this period and was the only one who gave details of the Great Fire of 64, 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 to decrease the risk of fires spreading. 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.

Suetonius, who was not even born at the time of the fire, and Cassius Dio, who lived about 100 years after the episode, were the ones who alleged that Nero set Rome alight. According to one legend Nero played the fiddle during the fire. However, the fiddle did not exist in Nero's time.

Nero imposed restrictions of the amount of fines and bail payments and 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 4.5% 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.

Nero was also looked down on because he had his mother, Agrippina, murdered and there were unfounded allegations of incest. However, this was not necessarily unusual in the power struggles within ruling families. Agrippina had maneuvered to make Nero the next emperor instead of Britannicus, the son of the previous emperor, Claudius. She thought that Nero was going to be her puppet and she could be the real ruler. Instead, Nero asserted his independence and the power struggles ended with Agrippina's murder. It was also alleged that Nero murdered Britannicus when Agrippina started to promote him for power as Nero was not doing her bidding. Nero claimed that he died of an epileptic seizure. It was also alleged that Nero kicked his wife Poppea to death when she was pregnant. However, modern historians suspect slander and think that she dies during a miscarriage or childbirth. Nero loved Poppea and his intention to marry her was a bone of contention with his mother. When she died Nero had her body embalmed and put in the Mausoleum of Augustus (which was a great honour), held a grand funeral, and deified and gave the honorific tile of Augusta to her and their daughter Claudia. Very few Roman women were deified and/or made Augusta.

Nero did, however, have a number of people executed to consolidate his power. Later, a plot against him was foiled and he had the conspirators executed including the poet Lucan Nero's previous advisor, He ordered his advisor, Seneca, to commit suicide because he admitted he discussed the plot with the conspirators.