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! ===Decline=== Modern scholars believe that Nero's reign had been going well in the years before Agrippina's death. For example, Nero promoted the exploration of the [[Nile river]] sources with a [[Nero exploration of Nile river|successful expedition]].{{sfn|Buckley|Dinter|2013|p=364}} After Agrippina's exile, Burrus and Seneca were responsible for the administration of the Empire.{{sfn|Scullard|2011|p=258}} However, Nero's "conduct became far more egregious" after his mother's death.{{sfn|Barrett|2010}} [[Miriam T. Griffin]]s suggests that Nero's decline began as early as AD 55 with the murder of his stepbrother Britannicus, but also notes that "Nero lost all sense of right and wrong and listened to flattery with total credulity" after Agrippina's death. Griffin points out that Tacitus "makes explicit the significance of Agrippina's removal for Nero's conduct".{{sfn|Griffin|2002|p=84}}<ref>[[Tacitus]], ''Annals'', [[s:The Annals (Tacitus)/Book 14#13|XIV.13]]</ref> He began to build a new palace, the [[Domus Transitoria]], from about AD 60.{{sfn|Buckley|Dinter|2013|loc=Chapter 19: Buildings of an emperor - How Nero transformed Rome}} It was intended to connect all of the imperial estates that had been acquired in various ways, with the [[Palatine]] including the [[Gardens of Maecenas]], [[Horti Lamiani]], [[Horti Lolliani]], etc.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/PLATOP*/Domus_Transitoria.html|title = LacusCurtius • Domus Transitoria (Platner & Ashby, 1929)}}</ref>{{sfn|Suetonius|loc=31.1}} In AD 62, Nero's adviser [[Sextus Afranius Burrus|Burrus]] died.{{sfn|Barrett|2010}} That same year, Nero called for the first treason trial of his reign (''maiestas'' trial) against Antistius Sosianus.<ref>[[Tacitus]], ''Annals'' [[s:The Annals (Tacitus)/Book 14#48|XIV.48]].</ref>{{sfn|Griffin|2002|p=53}} He also executed his rivals [[Faustus Cornelius Sulla Felix|Cornelius Sulla]] and [[Rubellius Plautus]].{{sfn|Malitz|2005|p=x}} Jürgen Malitz considers this to be a turning point in Nero's relationship with the [[Roman Senate]]. Malitz writes that "Nero abandoned the restraint he had previously shown because he believed a course supporting the Senate promised to be less and less profitable."{{sfn|Malitz|2005|p=22}} After Burrus' death, Nero appointed two new Praetorian prefects: [[Faenius Rufus]] and [[Ofonius Tigellinus]]. Politically isolated, Seneca was forced to retire.{{sfn|Scullard|2011|p=26}} According to Tacitus, Nero divorced Octavia on grounds of infertility, and banished her.<ref name="annals-xiv-60">[[Tacitus]], ''Annals'' [[s:The Annals (Tacitus)/Book 14#60|XIV.60]].</ref> After public protests over Octavia's exile, Nero accused her of adultery with Anicetus, and she was executed.<ref>[[Tacitus]], ''Annals'' [[s:The Annals (Tacitus)/Book 14#64|XIV.64]].</ref>{{sfn|Griffin|2002|p=99}} In AD 64 during the [[Saturnalia]], Nero married [[Pythagoras (freedman)|Pythagoras]], a [[freedman]].{{sfn|Tacitus|loc=[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/tacitus/annals/15b*.html#37 15.37]}}{{sfn|Cassius Dio|loc=[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/62*.html 13, 28]}}{{sfn|Suetonius|loc=[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Nero*.html#29 29] calls him "Doryphorus"}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.umich.edu/~classics/news/newsletter/winter2004/weddings.html | title=Roman Same-Sex Weddings from the Legal Perspective |author=Frier, Bruce W. |publisher=University of Michigan |work=Classical Studies Newsletter, Volume X |year=2004 |access-date=24 February 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111230041201/http://www.umich.edu/~classics/news/newsletter/winter2004/weddings.html |archive-date=30 December 2011 }}</ref><ref name="Champlin146">[[#Champlin|Champlin]], p. 146</ref> 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