Why is Nero considered to be so evil?

Answer 1

Nero was hated by the aristocracy and most Roman writers were aristocrats. The writers made allegations against Nero were and biased against him. They did not hesitate to smear him and to create gossip stories. They had plenty of ammunition. Nero was the step-son of the previous emperor, Claudius. His mother, Agrippina the Younger, was thought to have murdered Claudius to promote his succession by Nero. It was alleged that Nero was privy to that. Agrippina wanted to control the young emperor and be the effective ruler. Nero fought for his independence, getting rid of his mother's allies and other opponents. As she was losing power, Agrippina tried to promote Nero's young step-brother, Britannicus, to the throne. Britannicus died suddenly and suspiciously the day before he was due to come of age and Nero was suspected. Agrippina continued to conspire against him and Nero expelled her form the court and then had her murdered. Nero divorced his wife to marry another woman and exiled her. After public protests, he had to allow her to return to Rome, but she was executed shortly after.

In his process of consolidating power, Nero made himself unpopular with the aristocracy. He raised accusations of treason against opponents and had one executed and another exiled. He slandered the senate in a book. This led to a conspiracy. It failed and Nero executed the conspirators, including a poet. He forced Seneca, a philosopher and previously his tutor in his youth and his foremost adviser in government, to commit suicide after he admitted having discussed the plot with the conspirators. After a military revolt led to his suicide, the aristocracy rejoiced. It was claimed that the people also rejoiced. However, there is evidence that the poor were very upset.

The allegations that Nero set fire to Rome are most likely to be untrue. It was alleged that he did this to create room to build the Golden House (Domus Aurea), an enormous imperial palace which was like a mini city with many buildings, gardens and a lake. However, these allegations came from writers who were not around at the time of the fire. They also wrote that Nero sang a song in a stage costume during the fire (Nero was an eccentric and fancied himself as an actor and gave stage performances) and a popular legend had him playing the fiddle during the fire. However, the fiddle did not exist in his days. Nero's eccentricity and extravagance made the creation of the later allegations easier. Moreover, one writer who was around at the time of the fire (Tacitus) said that Nero was not in Rome at the time of the fire that he and returned to organise and fund a relief effort and he searched for people caught in the debris for days without bodyguards. He arranged for food supplies and gave shelter to the homeless in his palaces.