Real Roman History14 Aug

Episode 75. Nero, Part Two: From the Matricide to the Great Fire

Works Cited Primary Sources

Cassius Dio. Roman History, Book 62. Greek-language narrative covering this period. Hostile, late, dependent on earlier sources we cannot fully reconstruct. Useful as a check on the Tacitean account where the two diverge.
Seneca. Epistulae Morales. Seneca's own writings from the period of his withdrawal from court. The letters are addressed to Lucilius but are clearly intended for a wider readership. They contain almost no direct discussion of imperial politics. The silence is itself instructive.
Suetonius. Life of Nero. More fragmentary and anecdotal than Tacitus, but preserves substantial material on Nero's artistic activities and on the Great Fire. The hostility is more performative than Tacitus's—Suetonius writes for entertainment as well as for record.
Tacitus. Annals, Books 14 and 15. The principal narrative source. Book 14 covers from the matricide through the events of 62 CE and the death of Octavia. Book 15 covers from 63 CE through the Great Fire, including the Parthian settlement, the Naples performance, and the fire itself at 15.38 through 15.41. Tacitus's hostility to Nero is the dominant interpretive frame, requiring source-criticism throughout.

Secondary Sources

Barrett, Anthony A. Agrippina: Sex, Power, and Politics in the Early Empire. Yale University Press, 1996. For the background to the Poppaea-Otho-Agrippina dynamic that this episode picks up from Part One.
Barrett, Anthony A. Rome Is Burning. Princeton University Press, 2020. The major recent treatment of the Great Fire, with substantial discussion of the archaeological evidence, the topography of the destruction, and the question of imperial responsibility.
Champlin, Edward. Nero. Harvard University Press, 2003. The major revisionist treatment, arguing that Nero's reputation as preserved in the hostile sources fails to capture his actual political project. Particularly valuable on the artistic activities and the relationship with the urban Roman population.
Griffin, Miriam T. Nero: The End of a Dynasty. Yale University Press, 1984. The standard scholarly biography. The interpretation that Tigellinus's rise marked the structural turning point of the reign is principally Griffin's.

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