I thought that nero was the worst emperor that rome ever had. Even though he held all those festivals and the games with gladiators and other entertainments, even his singing, he still just grew in his personal life to be almost, if not, then insane. He did some really gross things and he clearly set Rome on fire for his own fun. It is a marvel that Christians had the courage to stand up to one of the worst and cruelest men in the ancient world.
What I found fascinating was just what a horrible line Nero came from. Everyone from his great great great grandfather to his father were power hungry and cruel. I also always thought of Nero as being a really bad guy who persecuted the Church but after reading that, WOW, he was a paranoid, blood thirsty, pervert.
This is Alicia. If anything I learned that I really hate Nero from this weeks reading. For my research paper I decided if Caligula was insane or not. I should have just done a paper on both Caligula and Nero as the insane emperors of Rome. Nero seemed very messed up to me. He was cruel and a terible ruler in my opinion. He only cared about himself and did not mind hurting or killing people as long as it didn't hurt him. He even killed his own mother, though it took many tries. He seemed like a disturbed man to me.
I'm sorry to be so mainstream in my comments about this weeks reading, but I cant help entirely agreeing with everything everyone above has said. Nero was extremely disgusting, and obviously had either some kind of mental illness or an obsession of power to the point where he worshipped it. The part about the pool he built astounded me. He made a 160 mile pool! He took thousands of prisoners out of their custody and forced them to build this outrageously sized pool (with roof too). He also on multiple occasions tried to kill his mother (and abused her). I found it very funny in an extremely, extremely, sad way his two attempts to kill her before finally succeeding. He was a crazy dude.
I thought Nero was insane. Plain and simple. From his crazed attempts to kill his entire family off so that he would have total control, to his horrible treatment of the Roman people. He abused the people mentally and physically. The people hated him just as much as Nero hated the people. They often wrote poems about his ludicrous management of the Empire. He was a very paranoid person and lived a life reflecting that nature. I think part of the cause for his insane, paranoid, and desperate life was that he had no father when he was growing up to guide him and be a good role model for him. Overall, he was a messed up dude.
I agree with everyone else...Nero was messed up. One thing I thought of was how he kind of reminded me of Herod the Great. Both Nero and Herod were paranoid or insane and they dealt with this by killing the people they feared or didn't like. Nero murdered his wives, step-son, aunt, tutor, guard, and even his own mother. Along with this he mistreated the Roman citizens. Likewise, Herod murder his wives, sons and many others because he thought they were a threat to his reign. Just like Herod, Nero was insane and out of control.
While reading this week, what popped out were the actions of Pomponianus during a crisis. Even though danger and possible death loomed at his door he kept his calm and retained his normal behavior as though it was a normal day in the city. He was doing this to keep the frightened people somewhat calm and preventing them from going into complete chaos. While a dark cloud circled the land he simply went to the bathes, went to the pavilion to dine, and after that even fell asleep. When the eruption finally occurred he didn’t panic. He herded the people out of their homes and toward the beach getting them into boats. In the process he died from lack of air but as his son recorded, “It looked as though he was asleep rather than dead.” I admire this man’s courage when the time came and was put to the test. He kept calm and saved lives while losing his own in the process. Pomponianus reminds me of Moses. In a similar position, he lead the people of Israel through the sea in a calm matter, acting when the time was right and showing courage. Both of these men should be respected for their displays of bravery and honor.
Nero was disgusting,cruel, hateful, insane,and plain out pathetic. Nero wasn't mentally there after he started doing all the things that he did. My question is why did it turn out this way I noticed in the book that his father died when he was still very young and I have heard that if you lose your father figure at a very young age you are even more susceptible to have problems throughout your life and that is why we have so many problems with young men of this generation. So I found it interesting that he lost his father at a young age and I figured that if it didn't have a big effect on him it did have a little effect.
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9 comments:
My (Rachel) post is on last weeks cause I put it up before this page was up.
I thought that nero was the worst emperor that rome ever had. Even though he held all those festivals and the games with gladiators and other entertainments, even his singing, he still just grew in his personal life to be almost, if not, then insane. He did some really gross things and he clearly set Rome on fire for his own fun. It is a marvel that Christians had the courage to stand up to one of the worst and cruelest men in the ancient world.
What I found fascinating was just what a horrible line Nero came from. Everyone from his great great great grandfather to his father were power hungry and cruel. I also always thought of Nero as being a really bad guy who persecuted the Church but after reading that, WOW, he was a paranoid, blood thirsty, pervert.
This is Alicia. If anything I learned that I really hate Nero from this weeks reading. For my research paper I decided if Caligula was insane or not. I should have just done a paper on both Caligula and Nero as the insane emperors of Rome. Nero seemed very messed up to me. He was cruel and a terible ruler in my opinion. He only cared about himself and did not mind hurting or killing people as long as it didn't hurt him. He even killed his own mother, though it took many tries. He seemed like a disturbed man to me.
I'm sorry to be so mainstream in my comments about this weeks reading, but I cant help entirely agreeing with everything everyone above has said. Nero was extremely disgusting, and obviously had either some kind of mental illness or an obsession of power to the point where he worshipped it. The part about the pool he built astounded me. He made a 160 mile pool! He took thousands of prisoners out of their custody and forced them to build this outrageously sized pool (with roof too). He also on multiple occasions tried to kill his mother (and abused her). I found it very funny in an extremely, extremely, sad way his two attempts to kill her before finally succeeding. He was a crazy dude.
I thought Nero was insane. Plain and simple. From his crazed attempts to kill his entire family off so that he would have total control, to his horrible treatment of the Roman people. He abused the people mentally and physically. The people hated him just as much as Nero hated the people. They often wrote poems about his ludicrous management of the Empire. He was a very paranoid person and lived a life reflecting that nature. I think part of the cause for his insane, paranoid, and desperate life was that he had no father when he was growing up to guide him and be a good role model for him. Overall, he was a messed up dude.
I agree with everyone else...Nero was messed up. One thing I thought of was how he kind of reminded me of Herod the Great. Both Nero and Herod were paranoid or insane and they dealt with this by killing the people they feared or didn't like. Nero murdered his wives, step-son, aunt, tutor, guard, and even his own mother. Along with this he mistreated the Roman citizens. Likewise, Herod murder his wives, sons and many others because he thought they were a threat to his reign. Just like Herod, Nero was insane and out of control.
While reading this week, what popped out were the actions of Pomponianus during a crisis. Even though danger and possible death loomed at his door he kept his calm and retained his normal behavior as though it was a normal day in the city. He was doing this to keep the frightened people somewhat calm and preventing them from going into complete chaos. While a dark cloud circled the land he simply went to the bathes, went to the pavilion to dine, and after that even fell asleep. When the eruption finally occurred he didn’t panic. He herded the people out of their homes and toward the beach getting them into boats. In the process he died from lack of air but as his son recorded, “It looked as though he was asleep rather than dead.” I admire this man’s courage when the time came and was put to the test. He kept calm and saved lives while losing his own in the process. Pomponianus reminds me of Moses. In a similar position, he lead the people of Israel through the sea in a calm matter, acting when the time was right and showing courage. Both of these men should be respected for their displays of bravery and honor.
Nero was disgusting,cruel, hateful, insane,and plain out pathetic. Nero wasn't mentally there after he started doing all the things that he did. My question is why did it turn out this way I noticed in the book that his father died when he was still very young and I have heard that if you lose your father figure at a very young age you are even more susceptible to have problems throughout your life and that is why we have so many problems with young men of this generation. So I found it interesting that he lost his father at a young age and I figured that if it didn't have a big effect on him it did have a little effect.
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