Nero
Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus
Imperator · Princeps
37 – 68
Biography
Last of the Julio-Claudians and the emperor whose name became a Christian byword for tyranny. He murdered his mother and his first wife, blamed the Great Fire of 64 on the Christian community of Rome and crucified its members in the imperial gardens, performed in public as a singer and charioteer to his nobles' horror, and was finally declared a public enemy by the Senate. He killed himself with a dagger in 68.
Events
A fire that began in the merchant district around the Circus Maximus burned for six days and destroyed two-thirds of the city. The emperor Nero, despite later legend, was at Antium when it broke out and returned to organize relief; he then made the city's Christians a scapegoat for the disaster, crucifying members of the community in his gardens. The persecution gave Christianity its first Roman martyrs.
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