Nero Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Early reign=== [[File:Bust of Roman emperor as pharaoh-E 27418-IMG 3389-gradient.jpg|thumb|left|Bust of Nero as pharaoh]] Nero became emperor in AD 54, aged 16. His tutor, Seneca, prepared Nero's first speech before the Senate. During this speech, Nero spoke about "eliminating the ills of the previous regime".{{sfn|Malitz|2005|p=16}} [[H. H. Scullard]] writes that "he promised to follow the Augustan model in his principate, to end all secret trials ''intra cubiculum'', to have done with the corruption of court favorites and freedmen, and above all to respect the privileges of the Senate and individual Senators."{{sfn|Scullard|2011|p=257}} His respect for Senatorial autonomy, which distinguished him from Caligula and Claudius, was generally well received by the [[Roman Senate]].{{sfn|Malitz|2005|p=18}} Scullard writes that Nero's mother, Agrippina, "meant to rule through her son". Agrippina murdered her political rivals: Domitia Lepida the Younger, the aunt that Nero had lived with during Agrippina's exile; [[Marcus Junius Silanus (consul 46)|Marcus Junius Silanus]], a great-grandson of Augustus; and [[Tiberius Claudius Narcissus|Narcissus]].{{sfn|Scullard|2011|p=257}} One of the earliest coins that Nero issued during his reign shows Agrippina on the coin's [[obverse]] side; usually, this would be reserved for a portrait of the emperor. The Senate also allowed Agrippina two [[lictors]] during public appearances, an honor that was customarily bestowed upon only magistrates and the [[Vestalis Maxima]].{{sfn|Malitz|2005|p=16}} In AD 55, Nero removed Agrippina's ally [[Pallas (freedman)|Marcus Antonius Pallas]] from his position in the treasury. Shotter writes the following about Agrippina's deteriorating relationship with Nero: "What Seneca and Burrus probably saw as relatively harmless in Nero—his cultural pursuits and his affair with the slave girl [[Claudia Acte]]—were to her signs of her son's dangerous emancipation of himself from her influence." Britannicus was poisoned after Agrippina threatened to side with him.{{sfn|Shotter|2012|p=12}} Nero, who was having an affair with Acte,{{efn-lr|Sources describe Acte as a slave girl (Shotter) and a freedwoman (Champlin and Scullard).}} exiled Agrippina from the palace when she began to cultivate a relationship with his wife Octavia.{{sfn|Scullard|2011|p=257}} [[File:Nerón y Séneca-Barrón.png|thumb|Emperor Nero being instructed by [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], work by Spanish sculptor [[Eduardo Barrón González|Eduardo Barrón]]]] Jürgen Malitz writes that ancient sources do not provide any clear evidence to evaluate the extent of Nero's personal involvement in politics during the first years of his reign. He describes the policies that are explicitly attributed to Nero as "well-meant but incompetent notions" like Nero's failed initiative to abolish all taxes in AD 58. Scholars generally credit Nero's advisors Burrus and Seneca with the administrative successes of these years. Malitz writes that in later years, Nero panicked when he had to make decisions on his own during times of crisis.{{sfn|Malitz|2005|p=19}} Nevertheless, his early administration ruled to great acclaim. A generation later those years were seen in retrospect as an exemplar of good and moderate government and described as ''Quinquennium Neronis'' by [[Trajan]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Anderson |first1=J. G. C. |last2=Haverfield |first2=F. |date=1911 |title=Trajan on the Quinquennium Neronis |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/295862 |journal=The Journal of Roman Studies |volume=1 |pages=173–179 |doi=10.2307/295862 |jstor=295862 |s2cid=163727450 |issn=0075-4358}}</ref>{{sfn|Malitz|2005|p=17}} Especially well received were fiscal reforms which among others put tax collectors under more strict control by establishing local offices to supervise their activities.<ref>Günther, Sven (2014) '[https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/43505/chapter/364128738?login=false Taxation in the Greco-Roman World: The Roman Principate]', ''Oxford Handbook Topics in Classical Studies''.</ref> After the affair of [[Lucius Pedanius Secundus]], who was murdered by a desperate slave, Nero allowed slaves to file complaints about their treatment to the authorities.<ref name=britannica>{{cite web |title=Nero {{!}} Roman emperor |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nero-Roman-emperor |url-status=live |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=2 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170801180237/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nero-Roman-emperor |archive-date=1 August 2017}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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