The Roman Empire was a unique presence in European history, and its heyday was a nightmare for all of Europe, with carnage, conflict, and dramatic dynastic changes.
Octavian single-handedly created a Roman Age, but Rome was not built in a day, and it could be destroyed over time.
By the time the vast empire reached its fifth generation, it had completely changed, and the fifth monarch of Rome had gone down in history, not for eternity, but for thousands of years.
1. The struggle for royal power
Ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, no matter which country, in the struggle for power is always accompanied by bloodshed and sacrifice, even the history of a generation of Ming Emperor Tang Taizong Li Shimin's road to the throne, but also stepped on the blood of his own brother and the face of his biological father.
A coup d'état is accompanied not only by the fighters themselves at the center of power, but also by many courtiers and people who are attached to them.
A huge branch of the family, even if it does not stand in line in the battle for power, will be due to various situations, or one person will ascend to heaven, or the rebellious ministers and thieves will punish the nine clans in a row.
Nero, the fifth-generation monarch of Rome, was in such a state in the early days, because of the previous generation of party and government, Nero was implicated and exiled as a side branch of Julius Caesar, and once became a marginal figure in the country's politics and power.
Nero was able to save his life in times of crisis thanks to a kind aunt, and because of a scheming mother, Nero was able to return to the political scene.
After the king's assassination, Claudius succeeded to the throne and pardoned Nero and his mother Pina, freeing them from their former status as criminals.
Nero's mother, Pina, was an ambitious woman, the granddaughter of Octavian and an important member of the Julia Claudian dynasty.
And Pina took advantage of this opportunity to immediately attach herself to the new monarch Claudius, and used her beauty - the charm of a middle-aged woman still existed, attracting the attention of Claudius, and was soon accepted into the harem to become a member of Claudius's backyard.
As Pina's son, Nero certainly also improved his status, but his identity is slightly awkward at the moment, a side branch nobleman who came out of nowhere, and the son of a widow.
Nero and the new emperor were not related by blood, on the contrary, the son born to his wife and former husband, Claudius should theoretically be full of disgust and even hatred for Nero, but the opposite is true.
Claudius not only gave Nero a high rank and honor, but also adopted him as an adopted son, treating him with an attitude comparable to that of his own son.
There is a high probability that there is no lack of Pina's calculations, and the only thing that a half-old can grasp in her hands is to indirectly manipulate the power in her son's hands.
And in order to make Nero Claudius's heir, she even did not hesitate to kill Claudius's biological son Brittanycus.
Her education and control over Nero is both motherly and scheming. She invited famous teachers such as Seneca for Nero, taught him literature, philosophy, music, etc., and arranged for him to marry Claudius's daughter Octavia, which strengthened his position.
But she also did not allow Nero to have her own will and choice, she demanded that Nero be completely obedient to her wishes, and even interfered in his private life, forbidding him to meet his beloved Popea Sabina.
It was in such an almost suffocating living environment that Nero's state of mind changed.
Second, the new monarch ascended the throne
Just as the kings of ancient times feared, the military generals were highly meritorious, the civil servants controlled the court, and the suspicious emperors always had reasons for doubt, but Claudius ignored this.
Under Pina's operation, Nero held more and more power, and the ideals and ambitions and minds displayed in front of Claudius were also very broad, winning the favor of many old ministers and the favor of Claudius, and was once made a candidate for the next emperor by Claudius.
When the time came, Pina designed to eliminate any factors that could interfere with Nero's succession, and even poisoned Claudius with a feast, and Nero succeeded to the throne and became the head of the Roman Empire.
From a side branch of Julius Caesar living on the streets, a prisoner under the stairs, it seems logical to become the master of an empire, this kind of leap of "going to the Tianshelang in the morning and ascending to the Tianzitang at dusk" was unexpected by Nero when he was a child, and it was also something that Pina couldn't imagine at the moment when he was a prisoner.
Although Nero was the fifth monarch of the empire, at the beginning of Nero's reign, the power of the country was actually in the hands of Pina and some old ministers.
Among them were the prime minister and Nero's teacher, who controlled the court and issued a series of policies for the benefit of the people, such as reducing taxes, standardizing taxes, expanding agricultural production, and so on.
In the beginning, things seemed to be going in a good direction, with depressing prices and taxes, giving money to the people to promote consumption, and bringing great happiness to the middle and lower classes of the Roman people.
However, the good times were short-lived, and Nero's true nature was soon revealed.
At first, Nero grew dissatisfied with his mother's interference, and he began to seek his own power and freedom. He cooperated with Seneca and others to gradually weaken his mother's power, and even expelled her from the palace and forbade her from participating in political affairs.
Later, Nero also exiled a group of old ministers, and even tried to kill his mother. After his mother escaped unexpectedly, he began to hunt down the slave who had saved his mother. In addition, he also sent his teacher to the guillotine in the name of killing the king.
Later, Nero still found his mother, and he sent someone to her villa and pierced her chest with a sword, ending her life.
At this point, no one dared to violate the power of the state, and all power was firmly in Nero's own hands.
Nero, who cleansed the court like Zhu Yuanzhang, unfortunately does not have the same governing strength as Zhu Yuanzhang.
3. Absurd private life
Nero, like every drunken dog, indulged in the oppression and control of power, and one of the most famous things he did was to overhaul his harem.
Prior to this, Nero, in order to please his mother and curry favor with Claudius, married his first wife as a political marriage. After he took power, the first thing he did was to change wives, and his first wife, Octavia, was executed by him on any random charge.
Although the second wife was forcibly married by him, he didn't necessarily cherish it very much, and he still beat his pregnant wife to death.
Then, going further and further down an absurd path, Nero no longer concealed his sexuality, openly choosing a noble boy and taking him into his harem.
In order to better enjoy himself, Nero castrated the aristocratic boy named Sporus in an attempt to achieve artificial sexual transformation, although the change of sexual organs was difficult to achieve in those days, Nero resolutely did so.
He made a noble boy who had his sexual organs castrated as the queen, and did all the ridiculous things in front of and behind the scenes.
But soon, Nero got tired of it, and this time he chose a slave.
Also a male slave, Nero this time transforms himself into the character of the opposite sex, an extremely perverted sexual fetish played out in the Roman court, in which the absurd king of a great empire is the protagonist.
Nero changed into women's clothes and begged for mercy before the slaves, claiming to sacrifice herself to the slaves.
He seems to have treated all this as a game, the sufferings of the people are amusing him, the fear and caution of the slaves make him laugh, and his crouching at the feet of the slaves does not mean anything, but only shows the outside world a signal: madness.
Nero's series of actions undoubtedly caused resentment and dissatisfaction among many people, and the king of an empire put himself in such a low position. With the attrition of Nero, the oppression of the common people by the Roman court became more and more intense, and the whole country was on the verge of turmoil.
Coupled with the deepening contradictions with the Senate during Nero's reign, he did not hesitate to use brutal means to suppress the opposition.
He also built a 300-acre Golden Palace, and even set fire to most of the city to make room for it.
He went so far as to blame the Christians for the fire of Rome and launched a brutal persecution of Christians, which made the position of Christianity in the Roman Empire even more difficult.
Nero's atrocities caused revolts and rebellions throughout the Roman Empire.
In 68 AD, governors and armies in Gaul, Spain, and Germania rose up to refuse to recognize Nero's legitimacy. Nero's supporters dwindled, and his cronies and subordinates betrayed or committed suicide.
The Senate also pronounced Nero's guilt, made him a public enemy, and sentenced him to death. With nowhere to run, Nero was forced to flee Rome and hide in the dacha of a free slave.
He wanted to commit suicide, but he didn't have the courage to turn to his servant for help. When he heard the hoofs of his pursuers, he finally made up his mind and said to his servant: "Hurry, hurry, don't let me be caught alive!"
His servant pierced his throat with a sword, ending his life. He died at the age of 31, making him one of the youngest emperors in the history of the Roman Empire.
And after Nero's death, it also marked the end of the dark and absurd history of the Roman era, leaving only the imagination of future generations.