I thought is was interesting to see the details that Suetonius was able to glean about Nero’s life and it was fascinating to see how Suetonius gave a history of Nero’s precursors to show how he seemed to have taken a vice from each of them, but none of their virtues.
I can’t believe Plinies’ Uncle was such an idiot. Either he was really unconcerned by the choking black smoke and fire that was covering the town, or he was secretly terrified and strove to make himself appear brave. The reading said that as he bathed and dined walls of fire was pouring down on the town. As a Roman, who normally strike me as superstitious, this should have been the first omen for them that says flee, that and common sense.
I thought it was kind of crazy what Nero did. He always won things by force and obsessed about himself. Its very sad that no one tried to overthrow him. He was really loopy!He ran around killing people and he even poisoned a kid.I was also astounded at how young he was when he started to train, 11 years old!
In this weeks reading I learned things about Nero that radically changed my view of Nero and his life. I knew Nero had issues and difficulties, but I did not know how disgustingly wrong Nero’s mind was. I will not go into all the gory details. However I will say that how could Rome have survived Nero’s rule with minimal bruises. Considering Nero’s ludic-racy. His life was the center of his life. The only way he could get people to like them is by giving them something or threatening people into liking him. He did not care about Rome. That is why many people speculate that he was the one who burned Rome. Nero was a selfish ruler, who had a ton of character issues. I knew Nero was crazy, I just did not know he was Insane!
In agreement with my classmates and others, I, to borrow another person's words, "found Nero to be a repulsive specimen of the human race." Not wishing to go into any of the gory details, I will highlight just one overall parallel I noticed. Nero's life, from start to finish, really reminded me a lot of some of the kings and rulers in the Old Testament. Specifically Solomon, son of King David. Like Solomon, Nero actually, to my pleasant surprise, started his life and rule very well. People really seemed to like him, that is, until things changed for the worse. Thus, main parallel I saw between Solomon and Nero was the fact that they both started their lives really well, but they did not finish well at all. A "repulsive specimen of the human race" does not even begin to describe the kind of person that Nero was. Like R.W. I did not know much about Nero prior to reading Suetonius, so, needless to say, I was genuinely horrified by his account of Nero.
I found Nero to be the epitome of the hyper-egomaniac, which I think is the root of the "disgusting", "repulsive," and "horrifying" behavior. He was so possessed with self-glorification and self-pleasure he would do anything to see his own selfish desires fulfilled and that people worshiped him for it. From his singing, to chariot racing, to speeches, to acting, he wanted all the peoples of the empire to glorify and idolize him. The problem was, I think, the more this happened the more it fed his unquenchable thirst for glory and fueled his perverted indulgences. To steal a Joker line: "Whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stranger." The more Nero enjoyed himself, the more he slipped in to the cesspool of his own depravity. It just goes to show the condition of the human race in a Godless environment.
There is an interesting contrast between rulers who did what they thought to be right for their countries, and rulers who did what they thought would make the people happy. Nero really just wanted to make himself happy, but I will group him with the latter portion, as he did exhibit some such behavior at the beginning of his reign. The people liked him at first, but soon grew disenchanted with him. Caesar Augustus presents a contrast. He did what he thought was right for the people morally, and perhaps the people weren't happy with him at first, but if they had any sense they would see that he was really doing good things for Rome.
In this week’s reading of Nero I found very disturbing. I had known that Nero was a violent and narcissistic, but after this week’s reading I have no feelings for him what so ever. What went through Nero mind when he killed all those people we will never know. Nero lived only a short life but succeeded in what he wanted to do as emperor of Rome. He was emperor of Rome by the age of nineteen and had already killed many people. Nero grew up in a bad household. His parents were both very evil and not parents that you would want to have as parents. But Nero actions are still very unacceptable even though he grew up in that kind of household.
What interested me the most about this weeks readings was learning about Nero and how selfish he was and how evil he was. Nero was a very self-pleasing man he cared only about himself. He killed thousands of innocent people, which is why a lot of people think he is the most evil roman emperor to ever live.
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I thought is was interesting to see the details that Suetonius was able to glean about Nero’s life and it was fascinating to see how Suetonius gave a history of Nero’s precursors to show how he seemed to have taken a vice from each of them, but none of their virtues.
I can’t believe Plinies’ Uncle was such an idiot. Either he was really unconcerned by the choking black smoke and fire that was covering the town, or he was secretly terrified and strove to make himself appear brave. The reading said that as he bathed and dined walls of fire was pouring down on the town. As a Roman, who normally strike me as superstitious, this should have been the first omen for them that says flee, that and common sense.
I thought it was kind of crazy what Nero did. He always won things by force and obsessed about himself. Its very sad that no one tried to overthrow him. He was really loopy!He ran around killing people and he even poisoned a kid.I was also astounded at how young he was when he started to train, 11 years old!
In this weeks reading I learned things about Nero that radically changed my view of Nero and his life. I knew Nero had issues and difficulties, but I did not know how disgustingly wrong Nero’s mind was. I will not go into all the gory details. However I will say that how could Rome have survived Nero’s rule with minimal bruises. Considering Nero’s ludic-racy. His life was the center of his life. The only way he could get people to like them is by giving them something or threatening people into liking him. He did not care about Rome. That is why many people speculate that he was the one who burned Rome. Nero was a selfish ruler, who had a ton of character issues. I knew Nero was crazy, I just did not know he was Insane!
In agreement with my classmates and others, I, to borrow another person's words, "found Nero to be a repulsive specimen of the human race." Not wishing to go into any of the gory details, I will highlight just one overall parallel I noticed. Nero's life, from start to finish, really reminded me a lot of some of the kings and rulers in the Old Testament. Specifically Solomon, son of King David. Like Solomon, Nero actually, to my pleasant surprise, started his life and rule very well. People really seemed to like him, that is, until things changed for the worse. Thus, main parallel I saw between Solomon and Nero was the fact that they both started their lives really well, but they did not finish well at all. A "repulsive specimen of the human race" does not even begin to describe the kind of person that Nero was. Like R.W. I did not know much about Nero prior to reading Suetonius, so, needless to say, I was genuinely horrified by his account of Nero.
I found Nero to be the epitome of the hyper-egomaniac, which I think is the root of the "disgusting", "repulsive," and "horrifying" behavior. He was so possessed with self-glorification and self-pleasure he would do anything to see his own selfish desires fulfilled and that people worshiped him for it. From his singing, to chariot racing, to speeches, to acting, he wanted all the peoples of the empire to glorify and idolize him. The problem was, I think, the more this happened the more it fed his unquenchable thirst for glory and fueled his perverted indulgences. To steal a Joker line: "Whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stranger." The more Nero enjoyed himself, the more he slipped in to the cesspool of his own depravity. It just goes to show the condition of the human race in a Godless environment.
There is an interesting contrast between rulers who did what they thought to be right for their countries, and rulers who did what they thought would make the people happy. Nero really just wanted to make himself happy, but I will group him with the latter portion, as he did exhibit some such behavior at the beginning of his reign. The people liked him at first, but soon grew disenchanted with him. Caesar Augustus presents a contrast. He did what he thought was right for the people morally, and perhaps the people weren't happy with him at first, but if they had any sense they would see that he was really doing good things for Rome.
In this week’s reading of Nero I found very disturbing. I had known that Nero was a violent and narcissistic, but after this week’s reading I have no feelings for him what so ever. What went through Nero mind when he killed all those people we will never know. Nero lived only a short life but succeeded in what he wanted to do as emperor of Rome. He was emperor of Rome by the age of nineteen and had already killed many people. Nero grew up in a bad household. His parents were both very evil and not parents that you would want to have as parents. But Nero actions are still very unacceptable even though he grew up in that kind of household.
What interested me the most about this weeks readings was learning about Nero and how selfish he was and how evil he was. Nero was a very self-pleasing man he cared only about himself. He killed thousands of innocent people, which is why a lot of people think he is the most evil roman emperor to ever live.
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