Fiddling while Rome burns

I added another portrait to my ancient Roman collection last night: Nero.

http://tinyurl.com/u2lg
or
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=2200342418

This one is slightly misattributed, it's actually a dupondius. I usually
look for clear legends, but I'm willing to look the other way for an
unusually nice portrait and patina. (Most portraits of Nero bear a startling
resemblance to Big Fat ******* from Austin Powers.)

Nero ranks high on the lengthy list of deranged emperors. I feel sorry for
my Claudius coin, already stuck with Caligula as a neighbor, and now doomed
to be sandwiched between Caligula and Nero. Oh well... Claudius adopted
Nero, so he has only himself to blame.

Eric

"We don't need another Nero" -- Tina Turner

The Fausts wrote:

I added another portrait to my ancient Roman collection last night: Nero.

http://tinyurl.com/u2lg
or
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=2200342418

This one is slightly misattributed, it's actually a dupondius. I usually
look for clear legends, but I'm willing to look the other way for an
unusually nice portrait and patina. (Most portraits of Nero bear a startling
resemblance to Big Fat ******* from Austin Powers.)

Nero ranks high on the lengthy list of deranged emperors. I feel sorry for
my Claudius coin, already stuck with Caligula as a neighbor, and now doomed
to be sandwiched between Caligula and Nero. Oh well... Claudius adopted
Nero, so he has only himself to blame.

Don't be too quick to judge Nero based on the surviving accounts. There
are a few (and I am open to this suggestion, myself) who doubt that all
the dastardlies credited to Nero are credible. An alternative
possibility is that he *was* a young and visionary urban/social reformer
who ran afoul of the powerful entrenched senators and growing Roman
bureaucracy. The posthumous 'hatchet job' is a real possibility for Nero.

Alan
'and they even attacked his musicianship'

"Alan & Erin Williams" wrote in message
...
Don't be too quick to judge Nero based on the surviving accounts. There
are a few (and I am open to this suggestion, myself) who doubt that all
the dastardlies credited to Nero are credible. An alternative
possibility is that he *was* a young and visionary urban/social reformer
who ran afoul of the powerful entrenched senators and growing Roman
bureaucracy. The posthumous 'hatchet job' is a real possibility for Nero.

Alan
'and they even attacked his musicianship'

I also believe that not all of the claims of dastardliness (I love that
word!) on the part of Nero are true. He was hardly the only Augustus who
ended up on the wrong end of the stylus of some ancient historian with an
axe to grind. But on the whole, I'd venture to say that most of the
significant dastardliness (did I mention that I love that word?) he
committed has more evidence in favor than against. There's no denying that
Nero built the Domus Aurea, a gaudy palace covered in gold, immediately
after the great fire (and upon the very ground conveniently made available
by the fire) just when the city itself needed rebuilding. It also seems safe
to say that he had many put to death on suspicion of treason, and was
responsible for the untimely ends of his mother and his first wife.

But attacking his artistic flair was going too far.

It's worth pointing out that it was quite a trick for him to fiddle, since
the fiddle was many centuries away from being invented.

Eric
"Dastardliness!"

The Fausts wrote:

"Alan & Erin Williams" wrote in message
...
Don't be too quick to judge Nero based on the surviving accounts. There
are a few (and I am open to this suggestion, myself) who doubt that all
the dastardlies credited to Nero are credible. An alternative
possibility is that he *was* a young and visionary urban/social reformer
who ran afoul of the powerful entrenched senators and growing Roman
bureaucracy. The posthumous 'hatchet job' is a real possibility for Nero.

Alan
'and they even attacked his musicianship'

I also believe that not all of the claims of dastardliness (I love that
word!) on the part of Nero are true. He was hardly the only Augustus who
ended up on the wrong end of the stylus of some ancient historian with an
axe to grind. But on the whole, I'd venture to say that most of the
significant dastardliness (did I mention that I love that word?) he
committed has more evidence in favor than against. There's no denying that
Nero built the Domus Aurea, a gaudy palace covered in gold, immediately
after the great fire (and upon the very ground conveniently made available
by the fire) just when the city itself needed rebuilding.

And that raises fundamental issues of cause and effect. Fact: Nero
built a magnificent palace (and a public gardens) in the areas destroyed
by the fire. Argued: Nero *caused* the fire that destroyed the area.
The known fact does not, in itself, sustain the argument.

His political enemies have put it about that he had a scale model made
of the city before the fire, showing it on that exact spot. If proven,
that would lend weight and circumstantial evidence, but would still be
insufficient, IMO.

It also seems safe
to say that he had many put to death on suspicion of treason, and was
responsible for the untimely ends of his mother and his first wife.

Treason is still a capital offense here and now. I can't speak to his
first wife, but there are those who say Mom had it coming. ;-)


But attacking his artistic flair was going too far.

It's worth pointing out that it was quite a trick for him to fiddle, since
the fiddle was many centuries away from being invented.

He sang a lament that there was no fiddle that lasted four days. ;-)

Alan
'Nero Leatherlung'

"Alan & Erin Williams" wrote in message
...

And that raises fundamental issues of cause and effect. Fact: Nero
built a magnificent palace (and a public gardens) in the areas destroyed
by the fire. Argued: Nero *caused* the fire that destroyed the area.
The known fact does not, in itself, sustain the argument.

I've never bought the claim that he set the fire. IIRC he wasn't even in
Rome at the time. Probably too busy on tour giving a live performance to
care about the fire.

Eric
"Qualis artifex pereo!"

The Fausts wrote:

"Alan & Erin Williams" wrote in message
...

And that raises fundamental issues of cause and effect. Fact: Nero
built a magnificent palace (and a public gardens) in the areas destroyed
by the fire. Argued: Nero *caused* the fire that destroyed the area.
The known fact does not, in itself, sustain the argument.

I've never bought the claim that he set the fire. IIRC he wasn't even in
Rome at the time. Probably too busy on tour giving a live performance to
care about the fire.

I've heard, in fact (and it pains me to admit this is from the
much-maligned medium of *ahem* television) that Nero returned in haste
to the city and was very active in passing new building regulations to
prevent a recurrence. I suppose that *proves* arson!

Alan
'see! they always return to the scene'