Day 56: Conspiracy

Let's have a look at Nero, and how the portrayal of him in this serial holds up to the assumptions made by historians. Nero in Doctor Who terms, comes across as an interesting man. There is little doubt that he is meant to be the antagonist, he lustily chases after women, has people fight eachother to the death to amuse him, and puts people to death for being better than him, particularly musically which he believes that he excels at. And yet, we like him, in an odd sort of way. He's a buffoon, an evil Homer Simpson, if you will. And whilst the audience acknowledges him as a threat, we still can't quite take him entirely seriously, he's too funny for that.

Looking at the real Nero, there are points that seem to be correct that are found in the serial. Nero was quite a womaniser, and would frequently go after women with pure unadulterated lust. He was also quite a parron of the arts, playing the lyre at several performances, much to the anger of his fellow Romans, as it was considered a crime to engage in cultural activities. Oddly enough, he started out as a reasonably nice ruler, who banned the killing of gladiators and condemned criminals in public spectacles. But, that soon changed. He became far crueler than this serial gives him credit for, although that could be due to strong bias from the then contempary historians. It is claimed that he beat his wife to death, and his persecution of Christians in particular was enough for him to be considered the anti-Christ as he burnt Christians alive as a light source (Seriously, if you think that dropping the Lord's Prayer from governmental meetings is persecution, then you need to rethink what persecution actually is). And so we see Nero, not as a buffoon, but as a real figure of evil, that is someone who is feared throughout history.

Bibliography: http://www.roman-empire.net/emperors/nero-index.html