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Nero (; Latin: ''Nerō Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus'';〔Classical Latin spelling and reconstructed Classical Latin pronunciation of the names of Nero: # # 〕 15 December 37 – 9 June 68)〔Nero's birth day is listed in Suetonius, ''The Lives of Twelve Caesars'', Life of Nero (6 ). His death day is uncertain, though, perhaps because Galba was declared emperor before Nero died. The date of 9 June is calculated from Jerome, ''Chronicle'', which lists Nero's rule as 13 years, 7 months and 28 days. Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'' LXII.3 and Josephus, ''War of the Jews'' IV, say Nero's rule was 13 years, 8 months which would be until 11 June.〕 was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his grand-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death. Nero focused much of his attention on diplomacy, trade and enhancing the cultural life of the Empire, however according to the historian Tacitus his life was viewed by the Roman people as compulsive and corrupt. He ordered theatres built and promoted athletic games. During his reign, the redoubtable general Corbulo conducted a successful war and negotiated peace with the Parthian Empire. His general Suetonius Paulinus crushed a revolt in Britain. Nero annexed the Bosporan Kingdom to the Empire and began the First Roman–Jewish War. In 64 AD, most of Rome was destroyed in the Great Fire of Rome, which many Romans believed Nero himself had started in order to clear land for his planned palatial complex, the Domus Aurea. In 68, the rebellion of Vindex in Gaul and later the acclamation of Galba in Hispania drove Nero from the throne. Facing a false report of being denounced as a public enemy who was to be executed, he committed suicide on 9 June 68 (the first Roman emperor to do so).〔Suetonius states that Nero committed suicide in Suetonius, ''The Lives of Twelve Caesars'', Life of Nero (49 ); Sulpicius Severus, who possibly used Tacitus' lost fragments as a source, reports that it was uncertain whether Nero committed suicide, Sulpicius Severus, ''Chronica'' II.29, also see T.D. Barnes, "The Fragments of Tacitus' Histories", ''Classical Philology'' (1977), p. 228.〕 His death ended the Julio-Claudian Dynasty, sparking a brief period of civil wars known as the Year of the Four Emperors. Nero's rule is often associated with tyranny and extravagance.〔Galba criticized Nero's ''luxuria'', both his public and private excessive spending, during rebellion, Tacitus, ''Annals'' I.16; Kragelund, Patrick, "Nero's Luxuria, in Tacitus and in the Octavia", ''The Classical Quarterly'', 2000, pp. 494–515.〕 He is known for many executions, including that of his mother,〔References to Nero's matricide appear in the ''Sibylline Oracles'' 5.490–520, Geoffrey Chaucer's ''Canterbury Tales'' The Monk's Tale and William Shakespeare's ''Hamlet'' 3.ii.〕 and the probable murder by poison of his stepbrother Britannicus. He is infamously known as the Emperor who "fiddled while Rome burned".〔Nero was not a fiddle player, but a lyre player (the fiddle was not invented for at least another 1,500 years). Suetonius states Nero played the lyre while Rome burned, see Suetonius, ''The Lives of Twelve Caesars'', Life of Nero (38 ); For a detailed explanation of this transition see M. F. Gyles "Nero Fiddled while Rome Burned", ''The Classical Journal'' 42, no. 4 (January 1947), pp. 211–17 – nevertheless, the idea that Nero played any kind of musical instrument is an urban legend, since he was away from Rome at the time of the fire. ().〕 He was rumored to have had captured Christians dipped in oil and set on fire in his garden at night as a source of light.〔 This view is based on the writings of Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio, the main surviving sources for Nero's reign, but a few surviving sources paint Nero in a more favourable light.〔These include Lucan's ''Civil War'', Seneca the Younger's ''On Mercy'' and Dio Chrysostom's ''Discourses'' along with various Roman coins and inscriptions.〕 Some sources, including some mentioned above, portray him as an emperor who was popular with the common Roman people, especially in the East.〔Tacitus, ''Histories'' I.4, I.5, I.13, II.8; Suetonius, ''The Lives of Twelve Caesars'', Life of Nero (57 ), Life of Otho 7, Life of Vitellius 11; Philostratus II, ''The Life of Apollonius'' 5.41; Dio Chrysostom, ''Discourse XXI'', On Beauty.〕 Some modern historians question the reliability of ancient sources when reporting on Nero's tyrannical acts.〔On fire and Christian persecution, see F.W. Clayton, "Tacitus and Christian Persecution", ''The Classical Quarterly'', pp. 81–85; B.W. Henderson, ''Life and Principate of the Emperor Nero'', p. 437; On general bias against Nero, see Edward Champlin, ''Nero'', Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003, pp. 36–52 (ISBN 0-674-01192-9〕 ==Early life== 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Nero」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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