Nero

On this day in 54 A.D. Nero was made Emperor of Rome on the death of Claudius. He was 16. According to Tacitus, Claudius was poisoned by Nero’s mother Agrippina. The helpfulness of mothers is a recurring theme in A Book of Ages.

While Rome Burned

Contrary to popular myth, Nero was actually out of town when Rome caught fire on July 1, 64 A.D. And despite subsequent accounts that he played his fiddle while the city burned, he actually rushed back to Rome and led efforts to put the fire out. In any case, he never played the fiddle; it was the lyre. Nero appears four times in A Book of Ages.