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! ===Matricide=== [[Image:Nero and Poppaea Sabina.jpg|thumb|Coin of Nero and [[Poppaea Sabina]] Billon tetradrachm of Alexandria, Egypt, 25 mm, 12.51 gr. Obverse: radiate head right; ΝΕΡΩ. ΚΛΑΥ. ΚΑΙΣ. ΣΕΒ. ΓΕΡ. ΑΥ. Reverse: draped bust of Poppaea right; ΠΟΠΠΑΙΑ ΣΕΒΑΣΤΗ. Year LI = 10 = 63–64.]]''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome'' cautiously notes that Nero's reasons for killing his mother in AD 59 are "not fully understood".{{sfn|Barrett|2010}} According to [[Tacitus]], the source of conflict between Nero and his mother was Nero's affair with [[Poppaea Sabina]]. In ''[[Histories (Tacitus)|Histories]]'' Tacitus writes that the affair began while Poppaea was still married to [[Rufrius Crispinus]], but in his later work ''[[Annals (Tacitus)|Annals]]'' Tacitus says Poppaea was married to [[Otho]] when the affair began.{{sfn|Barrett|Fantham|Yardley|2016|p=214}} In ''Annals'' Tacitus writes that Agrippina opposed Nero's affair with Poppaea because of her affection for his wife [[Claudia Octavia|Octavia]]. [[Anthony A. Barrett]] writes that Tacitus' account in ''Annals'' "suggests that Poppaea's challenge drove [Nero] over the brink".{{sfn|Barrett|Fantham|Yardley|2016|p=215}} A number of modern historians have noted that Agrippina's death would not have offered much advantage for Poppaea, as Nero did not marry Poppaea until AD 62.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dawson |first=Alexis |date=1969 |title=Whatever Happened to Lady Agrippina? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3296108 |journal=The Classical Journal |volume=64 |issue=6 |pages=253–267 |jstor=3296108 |issn=0009-8353}}</ref>{{sfn|Barrett|Fantham|Yardley|2016|p=215}} Barrett writes that Poppaea seems to serve as a "literary device, utilized [by Tacitus] because [he] could see no plausible explanation for Nero's conduct and also incidentally [served] to show that Nero, like Claudius, had fallen under the malign influence of a woman."{{sfn|Barrett|Fantham|Yardley|2016|p=215}} According to [[Suetonius]], Nero had his former freedman [[Anicetus (freedman)|Anicetus]] arrange a shipwreck; Agrippina survived the wreck, swam ashore and was executed by Anicetus, who reported her death as a suicide.{{sfn|Barrett|2010}}{{sfn|Suetonius|loc=[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Nero*.html#34 34]}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page