Nero, son of Agrippina

“What can you tell us about Nero?.” Alex asked. “In 54, Claudius suspiciously died. Ancient authors proposed that Agrippina may have poisoned him, but remember what I said about them?”Suet. Cl. 44; Tac. An. XII. 66; Dio. LXII. 34. Sophia said. “They did not like Agrippina, and therefore depicted her negatively.” Alex answered. “Yes, but on the other hand, Nero now got to be emperor, and that is what she wanted.” To celebrate Nero’s ascension, our coin here was commissioned. On the left side we see the portrait of Nero.” “He does not really look like Nero.” Alex said. “Well, Nero was still very young here, only 17 years old. But he is also deliberately depicted similar to his great-great-grandfather Augustus. Why, you may ask. Well, the Julio-Claudian emperors based their claim on their heritage from Augustus, and to showcase this heritage, they tried to look as similar as they could to Augustus himself, especially early in their reigns.”Rose, Charles Brian: Dynastic Commemoration and Imperial Portraiture in the Julio-Claudian Period (Cambridge, 1997) XVII.

“Nero and Agrippina had a close relationship with each other. Nero’s and Agrippina’s shared obverse here may reflect Nero’s thankfulness to his mother for getting him to power. On the other hand, it may also reflect Agrippina’s power and influence in getting her image on coins, showing that she is the one with actual power, not Nero.”

“So was Nero as bad as I have seen in the movie?” Alex asked. “Well, the way the two are looking at each other feels kind of hostile, doesn’t it?” Soon after Nero became emperor, he decided that he would rule alone, and to therefore get rid of his mother. Following this coin, there is only one more depiction of her on coinage. After 55 she no longer features on coinage, which reflects her fall from power. A few years later, in 59, she would be dead.” “Oh, how did she die?” Alex asked. “Ah, this is yet another mystery, in part created by the ancient authors.” Sophia answered. “Most say that Nero tried to kill her three times, including trying to drown her by sabotaging her boat, and trying to poison her. In the end she was murdered by an assassin who stabbed her in her womb. What really happened, we may never know, but it is clear that Nero wanted her dead.”

“In the end, Nero reaped what he sowed, right?” Alex asked. “You could say that.” Said Sophia. “In 68 he was forced to commit suicide after the senate declared him an enemy of the state because they were very unhappy with Nero’s tyrannical rule.” “Yes! Because he burned down Rome!” Alex shouted out. “Well, this is yet another ancient rumor. History mixes with lots of stories and the truth is hard to determine.”