The most infamous emperor in Roman history may also be the most misunderstood.
This Nero canvas wall art features a dramatic portrait of Rome's most notorious ruler, part of the Bad Boys of Rome collection. A distinguished piece for the home, office, or classroom - and a compelling gift for history enthusiasts, classics lovers, and students of Roman power.
ABOUT NERO (37 AD – 68 AD)
Nero became emperor at sixteen, inheriting the throne his mother Agrippina the Younger had spent years engineering for him. Born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, his early childhood was marked by instability - his mother exiled, his father dead by age three, his inheritance seized. When Agrippina married the emperor Claudius and secured Nero's adoption as heir, his path to power was set. What he did with it remained to be seen.
His early reign was, by most accounts, genuinely promising. Guided by the philosopher Seneca and the Praetorian prefect Burrus, Nero pursued fiscal reform, diplomatic settlement with Parthia, and public works. He was a genuine patron of the arts - theatre, music, and poetry - in ways that Roman tradition found undignified for an emperor but that earned him lasting popularity among ordinary Romans and in the Greek-speaking east. The image of Nero as nothing but a monster is largely a product of writers who came after him, with their own political reasons for blackening the Julio-Claudian name.
The later years are harder to defend. The great fire of Rome in 64 AD - almost certainly not his doing - became the occasion for the first systematic persecution of Christians, who were blamed to deflect suspicion. Family relationships ended violently. The vast palace complex he built across the ruins of burned Rome, the Domus Aurea, struck contemporaries as grotesque in its scale and self-indulgence. By 68 AD, the legions had turned against him. He died by his own hand at thirty, the last of the Julio-Claudians.
What Nero illuminates is less the story of one bad emperor than the structural fragility of one-man rule. The same imperial system that produced Marcus Aurelius produced Nero - and the difference between them was largely a matter of character and circumstance. Ancient sources are hostile and should be read critically. The real Nero was more complicated, and more interesting, than the legend.
PRODUCT FEATURES
- Available in 3 sizes in vertical orientation (300 dpi)
- Museum-quality printing with Greenguard Gold certified inks
- Non-toxic latex inks, safe and eco-friendly
- Made from FSC certified sustainable materials
- Anti-slip rubber dot backing to secure canvas when hung
- Wipe clean gently with a damp cloth if needed
- Arrives ready to hang