Nero: Nasty or Nice?

Nero has had a bad press for 2000 years. Roman writers trashed his reputation as cruel and debauched after his early death, and as you enter Nero: The Man Behind the Myth at the British Museum in London, that impression is conveyed by a big blow-up shot of Peter Ustinov portraying the Roman Emperor in the 1951 movie Quo Vadis, looking more than a bit unhinged. (The curators, alas, don't reference the Christopher Biggins interpretation, neither from the 1970s BBC series I, Claudius nor the Heineken lager commercial.) 

It wasn't like that at the beginning of his reign, though. The fifth Roman Emperor, Nero came to power in 54 AD aged just 16 amid high hopes of a new golden age for Rome following the death of the elderly Claudius. Official portraits emphasised his youth and vigour, with a simple, bold new hairstyle.

The show takes you through Nero's story over the 14 years of his rule and leaves you to make up your own mind about his achievements -- seemingly quite considerable -- and his flaws. So, goody or baddy? Well, nothing's ever that black or white.

What sort of a show is this? It's definitely not the most spectacular or innovative we've seen recently at the British Museum, not as absorbing or technically whizzy as the 2018 exhibition about the Assyrian ruler Ashurbanipal, for example, which kept us engrossed for several hours. There are, as might be expected, a lot of statues and coins to illustrate the history, and a lot of information to take in from the exhibit labels, which tell the tale pretty clearly. It's a lot easier to follow than the rather overwhelming show on Troy a couple of years ago. 

An early segment looks at how Nero inherited an empire with many problems in its farther-flung reaches. Britain had only just been conquered, and Boudica's rebellion against Roman rule took place in the middle of Nero's reign. This head is from a statue depicting the emperor that probably stood in Colchester before the city was attacked. It was found in a river in Suffolk, perhaps left there as an offering.  

You can, of course, only have so many depictions of Nero in an exhibition devoted to him. So it's not surprising that many of the most interesting objects in this display have perhaps something of a tangential reference to the actual subject. In this section on Britain, a heavy gang chain of five neck rings used to bind prisoners together, which was discovered in Anglesey, certainly takes the eye. Violence and slavery were a brutal reality in Britain, the label tells us. But this object may date from 100 BC, predating the Romans by some way.   

Again, possibly the most striking piece of stonecarving in this show is this fine panel from the Louvre depicting soldiers of the Praetorian Guard, the Emperor's own personal troops. It's not really got that much to do with Nero, though, as it's from a triumphal arch in Rome commemorating Claudius's conquest of Britain. 

One impressive aspect of this show is how many exhibits -- some of them weighing tonnes, some just tiny fragments -- have come from other museums across Europe, from Rome, Paris and Munich.  

It was delightful and a little surprising to see this Victorian-looking statue from the Museo Nazionale Romano of a small boy, about life-size, a slave obviously, supposed to light the way at night with his lantern. But he's fallen asleep on the job. A romanticisation of slavery, the caption suggests (though would the Romans have thought that way about it?).  

In this show, it's used to illustrate the narrative of how, when a distinguished senator was murdered by one of his slaves, Nero upheld a law stipulating that all the slaves in the household should be executed as a result. 

Which brings us back to what sort of a character Nero really was. Clearly a bit of a rulebreaker and a self-publicist. The curators highlight how he loved acting, playing the lyre, taking part in festivals, chariot-racing. Popular with the people, less so with sections of the elite. Traditionalists hated him appearing on stage, mixing with those of much lower rank. 

The Emperor also promoted major construction projects, creating a splendid amphitheatre and magnificent food market in Rome, and commemorating things like this on coins so the people wouldn't forget. But he ordered the death of his mother Agrippina and exiled his first wife Claudia Octavia, who was later executed. Both had helped him rise to power.

The line that's gone down in history, of course, is that Nero fiddled while Rome burned when a huge fire devastated the city in 64 AD.  In fact, we learn, he wasn't even in Rome when the fire started and he returned to lead the relief effort and supervise reconstruction.   

This window grating was recently discovered near the Circus Maximus, where the blaze started, and the way it has warped bears witness to the force of the fire. 

If it's beautiful artefacts you're looking for, you're perhaps most likely to find them in the section of the show that looks at Nero's lavish palaces. Here, from his residence on the Palatine Hill, is a spectacular marble panel, an example of the elaborate wall and floor decor that incorporated precious materials from right across the empire.

This is a show that provides a rounded history lesson. But with a relatively limited amount of subject-specific material to display (statues of emperors were often upcycled to show the features of the new incumbent), it felt a little subdued, a little underwhelming. There was nothing to knock our socks off. And we're still unsure whether Nero was really nasty or nice. 

Practicalities

Nero: The Man Behind the Myth continues at the British Museum until October 24. It's open daily from 1000 to 1700, with lates on Fridays to 2030. You'll want to allow yourself up to 90 minutes to take in the exhibition. Full-price tickets are £20 during the week or £22 at weekends and are bookable online here. The museum entrance is on Great Russell St, with Holborn and Tottenham Court Road the nearest Tube stations.

Images

Marble bust of Nero, Italy, c. 55 AD, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Cagliari. Photo: Francesco Piras. With permission of the Ministero della Cultura
Copper alloy head of Nero, 54-61 AD, British Museum

Marble relief of soldiers of the Praetorian Guard, 51-52 AD, Musée du Louvre, Paris 

Marble statue of a lanternarius or lantern-bearer, found in Italy, 1st–2nd century AD, Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome. With permission of the Ministero della Cultura 

Iron window grating, 64 AD, Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome

Marble, 54-68 AD, Parco archeologico del Colosseo, Rome