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Sources About Nero Are Deeply Biased
- Ancient Roman sources about Nero are heavily biased because they were written by senatorial elites hostile to him.
- Tacitus and Josephus explicitly note post-Nero writings were produced under hatred or falsified through terror, warning readers to treat charges with caution.
Agrippina Survived A Booby Trapped Boat
- Tacitus recounts Nero's plot to kill his mother Agrippina using a collapsing-ceiling boat that failed when she escaped.
- Agrippina survived the trap, was nearly killed by an overzealous oarsman, then later was stabbed on Nero's orders.
Performing Emperor Deepened Elite Resentment
- Nero was publicly known to perform on the lyre and force attendance, which offended Roman elites who considered actors socially disgraceful.
- This cultural contempt for entertainers seeded the later image of Nero as decadent and unfit to rule.