Character Catalog

Revolutionary palatial complex featuring major architectural innovations, including an octagonal domed hall. Rediscovered during the Renaissance, it inspired artists such as Raphael.

Epic poem on the Trojan War composed by Nero, of which a few fragments are quoted by ancient authors. It reflects his literary ambitions, which were mocked by his contemporaries.

Nero reduced the precious metal content of coins (the aureus and denarius), the first known Roman monetary devaluation, in order to finance his expenditures and the reconstruction of Rome.

Nero had Rome rebuilt with wider streets, porticoes, and fire-resistant materials. This modern urban planning scheme lastingly transformed the layout of the city.

Quinquennial competitions inspired by the Greek Games, encompassing music, poetry, and rhetoric. Nero participated himself and invariably won first prize.

Following the Great Fire of Rome, Nero accused the Christians of being responsible and organized their persecution. It was during this episode that, according to tradition, the apostles Peter and Paul were martyred.

He never ceased to practice singing and music, and he took as his teacher Terpnos, the most celebrated cithara player of the time. He would listen to him every day after dinner singing until late into the night.

Rome then fell prey to a disaster unmatched in violence by any other conflagration… Nero was at Antium at the time; he did not return to Rome until the fire was approaching the house he had built to connect the Palatine to the Esquiline Hill.

Nero always carried an emerald cut as a concave mirror, through which he watched gladiatorial combats.

I was delivered from the mouth of the lion — a passage traditionally interpreted as a reference to the tribunal of Nero before which Paul is said to have appeared.

Nero, abandoned by all, fled on foot disguised as a slave and made his way to the villa of a freedman named Phaon, where he put himself to death by stabbing himself in the throat.

Colossal palace built after the fire of 64, stretching across the Palatine, Esquiline, and Caelian hills. A symbol of Nero's excess, it was buried under the constructions of his successors.

Great circus where chariot races were held. Nero had himself competed there, outraging Romans who considered such activities unworthy of an emperor.

Nero's birthplace on the Tyrrhenian coast, where he owned a villa and where he was staying during the great fire of Rome in 64.

In 67, Nero personally inaugurated the construction of a canal across the isthmus — a project abandoned at his death and only completed in 1893. It symbolizes his admiration for Greek culture.

Traditional residence of the Roman emperors. Nero had his apartments there before the construction of the Domus Aurea, and it was from the Palatine that he governed the empire.

A stringed instrument from ancient Greece that Nero learned to play with passion. He performed publicly with this instrument, which was considered unworthy of a Roman emperor.

Nero used a polished emerald as a monocle to watch gladiatorial combat, the earliest known example of a corrective optical instrument in Antiquity.

A ceremonial garment embroidered with gold, reserved for triumphant generals and later emperors. Nero wore it during major public ceremonies to assert his power.

Nero performed in the theatre wearing masks representing mythological heroes. He is reported to have played female roles, which horrified traditional Romans.

Common writing tools of the 1st century, which Nero used to compose his poems. According to Tacitus, he recited his verses in public and had them compiled by his scribes.

Imperial tableware was made of solid gold, a symbol of the empire's wealth. Nero's banquets were famous for their extravagant opulence and length, sometimes lasting all night.