- 7 weeks ago
- #ancientworld
- #realityinsighthub
Gladiators Warriors of the Ancient World Season 1 Episode 2
#AncientWorld
#RealityInsightHub
🎞 Please subscribe to our official channel to watch the full movie for free, as soon as possible. ❤️Reality Insight Hub❤️
👉 Official Channel: https://www.dailymotion.com/TrailerBolt
👉 THANK YOU ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
#AncientWorld
#RealityInsightHub
🎞 Please subscribe to our official channel to watch the full movie for free, as soon as possible. ❤️Reality Insight Hub❤️
👉 Official Channel: https://www.dailymotion.com/TrailerBolt
👉 THANK YOU ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00While Roman legions wage brutal wars to expand the empire, at home, violence is a spectacle.
00:14Gladiators battle for glory in lavish games staged by Rome's leaders to enthrall and distract the
00:23masses. Putting on gladiatorial fights is a way of impressing the ordinary people of Rome.
00:31It was a staging of Roman power. And this was another way to exert control over the populace of Rome.
00:40Now, a young and vain ruler, Emperor Nero takes the throne.
00:46Quickly becoming obsessed, not only with the arena, but with one gladiator above all, Spiculus.
00:57Spiculus was lavishly awarded by Nero.
01:01If you manage to become the favorite of an emperor, he can give you anything in his power, basically.
01:08The emperor's fixation catapults Spiculus into fame, bringing wealth, privilege, and celebrity.
01:17But this newfound fortune depends entirely on the whims of a man who can be volatile and dangerous.
01:26Gladiators have been entwined with politics long before Nero's rule.
01:42Almost a century earlier, Rome was a republic governed by senators and an aristocratic elite.
01:48Among them, an ambitious politician, Julius Caesar.
01:57In 65 BCE, Julius Caesar had a political position in Rome that meant part of his responsibility was entertainment.
02:06He'd really caught on to the fact that people had begun to really be interested in the games.
02:11And he realizes, being an ambitious person he was, and being such a good marketer,
02:17that if he could put on the greatest show ever, that's going to reflect on him politically.
02:29Julius Caesar puts on the biggest gladiatorial fight that anyone's ever seen.
02:35And brings together 320 pairs of gladiators.
02:39He adds little touches, like, for example, he makes the armor silver, or have silver elements to it, so it really shines.
02:51And he's going to put on probably the greatest games that Rome has ever seen.
02:55Over the next two decades, Caesar hosts increasingly lavish games,
03:01using their spectacle to build popularity and political power.
03:05His strategy works.
03:10By 44 BCE, he is named dictator for life, placing Rome firmly under his control.
03:21But Caesar's dominance sparks fear among rivals, who believe his power threatens the republic itself.
03:28The day that Julius Caesar gets assassinated was also, in some of our source material, meant to be a day of spectacle.
03:53A little bit further down the road, gladiators are getting ready to put on a spectacle.
04:01And when they hear about the assassination of Julius Caesar, they rush out.
04:10Caesar was a man of the people, and the gladiators held him in high regard.
04:15So, Caesar's assassination is tied up in some respects, in this really nice, small little way, with what is going on with the gladiators,
04:27because they wanted him to live.
04:28After Caesar's death, power passes to his adopted heir, Augustus, who in 27 BCE, becomes Rome's first emperor,
04:43transforming the republic into an imperial monarchy ruled by a single man.
04:48This is the point at which his drawings usually start referring to the period as the Roman Empire.
04:54He undertakes a spectacular re-building of Rome.
05:00He famously says,
05:01I found a city on clay, I made it a city on marble.
05:06And as part of that reinvention, he wants to show that he is giving the ordinary people of Rome
05:11their fair share of the spoils of conquest.
05:15And putting on dramatic gains is a way that he can do that.
05:20And he wants to make sure that he's putting on bigger and better gains than anyone has done before.
05:27To show that an emperor is a new kind of political power.
05:31In 14 CE, Augustus dies, the age of 77, and he is succeeded by his stepson, Tiberius, as the second Roman emperor,
05:45who in turn was succeeded by Caligula, who was succeeded by Claudius, who was succeeded by Nero,
05:52who becomes the very last of the Julio-Claudian emperors, as they are known.
05:56In 54 CE, Nero ascends the throne.
06:04He is young, inexperienced, and ill-prepared for the immense power he now wields.
06:12Soon his immaturity and vanity will reshape Rome's relationship with gladiatorial combat in ways never before seen.
06:24Nero is very young when he becomes emperor.
06:26He's 16 years old.
06:27He's the youngest emperor up until this point.
06:32He's grown up in the imperial family.
06:35He's someone who might not necessarily have expected to become emperor.
06:39His mother was not married to the previous emperor when he was born,
06:43but he was still kind of very intimately connected.
06:46So his mother was the great-granddaughter of Augustus.
06:49In terms of his character, he's interested in lots of pursuits and wider activities
06:56that other emperors before him haven't necessarily been too focused on.
07:00As an emperor, your interest should be the entertainment of other people rather than the entertainment of yourself.
07:09Whereas I think Nero was quite interested in the entertainment of himself.
07:12Nero, driven by personal obsession, assembles an elite troop of gladiators from the empire's finest warriors.
07:25Emperors had close engagement with controlling how gladiators were schooled and trained and controlling the gladiatorial troops.
07:35So in this case, this was a group of gladiators attached to Nero and the imperial family.
07:40Nero's troop have the abbreviation NER on the graffiti in Pompeii, which would have stood for Neronianus, a Neronian gladiator.
07:52To be a Neronian meant that your fights were connected to the fame and glory of Nero himself.
07:59So the emperor was invested in your training and the outcome of your fights.
08:05In a sense, the gladiators would have been beneath his notice as individuals.
08:09They were enslaved persons.
08:11I don't know whether an emperor would have stooped to know his enslaved troop by name.
08:18Yet within Nero's troop, one gladiator in particular captures his attention.
08:25Spiculus.
08:26One of the graffiti from Pompeii records a fight between a complete rookie, Spiculus,
08:32who'd managed to defeat a guy called Eptonatus, who had fought and won 16 times.
08:41It's pretty remarkable that he was defeated by a rookie.
08:44I think that Nero was drawn to someone who he sees as having talent.
08:50That would be what probably initially caught his attention.
08:54So we can only imagine that Spiculus has drawn Nero's gaze because he is dazzling to watch.
09:00At gladiator school, the empire's finest trainers forge him into one of the most formidable fighters the arena has ever seen.
09:12It doesn't surprise me that there would be a rookie performing in Nero's troop.
09:22If he had the right physique and the right mental attitude,
09:26I can imagine that he would have been trained up and would have had to start somewhere.
09:30We only have a few mentions of Spiculus, but certainly he's someone that Nero seems to have looked after personally and had a bit of a relationship with.
09:40We know there were men who really desired gladiators and other athletes.
09:46We might imagine that Nero is one of these men who admires the physique of gladiators like Spiculus,
09:53their combat, their prowess, and perhaps even desires to be like them.
09:57Now, Nero is ready to put his gladiators on display.
10:04He announces lavish games, grand spectacles designed to showcase his warriors and reinforce his own glory.
10:16Despite the games being performed under the name of Nero,
10:20he himself is not going to oversee the ins and outs of putting on a spectacle of this size.
10:27He will have an imperial administrative service that will do the work of making sure that the games are put on
10:33and that ultimately it is a spectacle that is entertaining for both the audience and for the emperor himself.
10:40They would have advertised them by hiring sign writers.
10:43And so they would paint signs, particularly onto the major thoroughfares where lots of people would have been passing,
10:50to tell you what day the gladiatorial games were going to be thrown, who was throwing them, of course.
10:55And they would also probably have programs which would perhaps list who was going to be paired against whom.
11:02A famous gladiator were going to appear in the shows.
11:05That would have been known. That would have been advertised.
11:07Everyone in Rome would know that Nero was putting on games.
11:16Emperors would put on games for a variety of reasons.
11:19It might be as part of a triumph to celebrate a big military victory.
11:24Generally, the different emperors will approach the games differently.
11:29Nero himself had a greater appetite than most.
11:33Nero held games extravagantly and on many, many days throughout the year.
11:40Nero knows that spectacle has power.
11:45By feeding the public's appetite for blood and drama,
11:49he can keep attention and loyalty focused on the arena
11:52and not the growing tensions elsewhere in Rome.
11:56The games that were put on by the emperor Nero in Rome had to be bigger and better than any other games.
12:04The impetus would have been to put on things that are as novel as possible
12:08and as large as possible and as impressive as possible.
12:13For Nero's games, Spiculus is clearly the star of the show.
12:16Having a great fighter like Spiculus is one of the great draws of these games.
12:24Spiculus would be pitched against another good fighter.
12:28I would imagine having an emperor intercede in your favor
12:32would mean that you would only get the match-ups that you were open to have in.
12:36Now, the Romans also liked to match equally skilled but opposite types of equipment.
12:47Gladiators usually fought somebody in a different style.
12:53As the games went on, there was variations of the different types of gladiators
12:58to make the games more exciting.
12:59Each one is a variation, normally, of weapons and armor from the defeated enemies of Rome.
13:08You're taking weapons that the Romans would have encountered on the battlefield,
13:11you bring them to the arena, and because they're different weapons,
13:14they have different styles to them.
13:16It's a bit really like MMA.
13:17You've got all these different versions of combat, of helmets and weapons.
13:22Disciples like the Thracian, the Retiarius, who has the net and trident.
13:26The Secutor has a closed helmet with two small holes.
13:31A Mermillo is very heavily armed, so he's going to have been a more heavily built gladiator.
13:37And the Harpomachus is just a different variation of a Thracian.
13:44Spiculus was a Mermillo.
13:45He would have had a big, heavy rectangular shield and a straight sword.
13:50So he was well protected, whereas he would fight a Harpomachus,
13:54who was also heavily armed and well defended.
13:58The Romans seem to have liked to balance advantages and disadvantages on both sides.
14:05They like that kind of contrast of heavy, slow pondering versus light, nimble, quick.
14:12Spiculus is one of the most successful gladiators of his day.
14:17And he's hugely popular with the crowd.
14:20And this in itself makes him sort of attractive to the emperor.
14:24And the emperor befriends him.
14:28He's mentioned as receiving from Nero a wealth and estates worthy of a king.
14:34To be a friend of the emperor, I mean, it's like being a friend of the American president.
14:39It affords you great privileges.
14:41It probably means you're going to live a good life.
14:43Spiculus is a wealthy man with his own grand villa.
14:52And he's probably actually enjoying something of the life of the wealthy elite.
14:59For the Romans, it's very odd that a gladiator who is one of the lowest of the low
15:05is able to live this life of luxury.
15:08There's a certain fascinating quality about the Romans.
15:14They admire, they adore the gladiator.
15:17But the gladiator himself is seen as a figure of scorn,
15:21as part of a group of very low social status known as infami.
15:27Infamia is a legal punishment that lowers your status.
15:31And it's applied to all people who work in what elite Romans see as being unacceptable activities,
15:39such as prostitution, fighting as a gladiator, being a charioteer.
15:44All of these, in elite eyes, mean that you're no longer a sort of full human being
15:49who is worthy of having full rights of citizenship.
15:52You are seen as one of the lowest members of society.
15:59But this is the person that Nero is rewarding.
16:04Nero increasingly goes off message.
16:07And he gets used to the power that he has as emperor.
16:10And he wants to take advantage of it.
16:12As the scale of Nero's games grows ever more extravagant,
16:18concern among the Senate is mounting that the emperor is getting carried away.
16:25We have sea battles where they built lakes, especially within the city,
16:30so that they could re-enact battles with ships manned by prisoners of war.
16:35They were great group combats that were very bloody affairs.
16:38They'd be beast hunts.
16:42These were individualised, highly specialised events,
16:46and each would have had specialised combat fighters
16:48who would have been trained for the specifics of a spectacle they would have been part of.
16:53They would also put on stage shows,
16:56and of course the regular favourite of the chariot racing.
16:59Chariot racing is certainly something that seems to predate gladiatorial combat.
17:04And it is an extremely popular spectacle to go and see.
17:09Away from the arena, Nero's behaviour turns even darker.
17:15Behind palace walls, he starts ignoring his job as emperor,
17:20choosing instead to indulge his own wins.
17:24So Nero loved performing.
17:27He becomes more interested in performance and more interested in extravagance.
17:31Nero sees himself as some kind of creative genius, I think.
17:37He plays the lyre famously.
17:40He appears on stage, which is unheard of for an emperor to do.
17:45Which really put him in the realm of the actor, the musician, the gladiator.
17:50And this was quite an odd position for an emperor to be in.
17:53As an emperor, as someone who is supposed to have an administrative responsibility over the empire,
17:59as someone who is supposed to conduct business in a particular way,
18:03it's certainly not ideal.
18:04He gave far too much money that the state couldn't really afford to these kinds of things and individuals as well.
18:13So he rewards theatre actors.
18:15He gives citizenship on the basis of their performance at his games.
18:18And he gives far too much money or land to people who don't deserve it.
18:25And Spiculus is one of the examples of that.
18:28A gladiator that Nero is particularly fond of and is given these huge rewards for doing his job well or for being noticed by Nero.
18:39Nero's behaviour disturbs the Roman Senate.
18:42Who can challenge his authority if he goes too far?
18:48Yet despite growing unease, Nero presses on.
18:53And in 57 CE, he constructs a grand wooden amphitheatre to throw even more extravagant spectacles.
19:03Nero wanted something that was a slightly bigger scale.
19:07He tried to make it the amphitheatre par excellence in Italy.
19:12In fact, he suppressed local amphitheatres and made sure that the highest quality fighting took place in Rome.
19:18A year later, the amphitheatre is complete.
19:26Nero hosts lavish games with his prized fighter, Spiculus, at the centre.
19:33The crowds roar with excitement.
19:36But will the loyalty of the people be enough to hold the Senate at bay?
19:50Nero throws games at his new amphitheatre.
19:55Crowds gather, anticipating a day of thrilling combat.
20:00Walking up to the gladiator games, you had vendors selling all sorts of wares from food and different souvenirs that have either gladiator statues, gladiator statuettes, gladiator lamps.
20:17Almost certainly there were bets taking place.
20:22The kind of thing you would expect to see in a great entertainment spectacle today.
20:29These games captivate all of Rome.
20:34Rich and poor flock to the amphitheatre.
20:37Swept up in the spectacle.
20:39Walking into the arena, we know that sound, the way it hits you like a wave.
20:49You were seated in the amphitheatre according to your social status.
20:54The senators had the best seats up front.
20:56The equestrian class had the next several rows around the arena.
21:00And then the rest of the amphitheatre, the people were divided up into various groups.
21:05The emperor would have sat right in the front.
21:10He probably had a nice little canopy over his head so that he wouldn't get sunstroke.
21:18The games start with a procession, a pomper as it's known, where all of the performers, all of the gladiators,
21:24and indeed the giver of the games, would process through the arena, giving everyone a chance to sort of see the great fighters that they're going to enjoy later on.
21:34This is your chance to sort of interact, if you like, with your favourites.
21:39Everybody comes out in the dress that they're going to wear later on, does this parade around,
21:47and then you can start to feel the vibe building.
21:54There's every indication that it helps create a bond between the fans and the stars.
22:01Gladiators are the sports stars of their day.
22:03They would be recognised whenever they appeared in public.
22:07They had their own fans.
22:09They would put up graffiti where they would record their victories.
22:13They would buy models of them.
22:15We have a range of different types of fine glassware from France, which depicts Spiculus alongside a series of famous gladiators.
22:25Gladiators are the sexiest men in the whole empire.
22:28They're probably the most desired men sexually.
22:30There's no one else who elicits the kind of sexual frenzy that the gladiators do.
22:36They're symbols of the best that manhood could attain.
22:40Even though they were of low repute, they were thought to embody things like virtue, courage, masculinity, fearlessness,
22:50all things that Rome was meant to celebrate.
22:53The procession ends, and the gladiators retreat backstage.
23:02The crowd roars with excitement.
23:06Music swells, ushering in the next act of Nero's grand event.
23:11With Spiculus being such a famous gladiator, you probably would have had other displays of combat coming on before Spiculus.
23:20You would probably start off in the morning with something like a beast hunt or a combat with wild beasts.
23:26And then once you get to around noon, that's when you see the executions happening.
23:34So that might be people who are criminals, who've been sentenced to die, for example, by wild beasts.
23:42And then in the afternoon, in that prime time slot, that is when you would see the gladiators.
23:50The progression is you start with the lesser known guys, and you're basically slowly building up to the title fight.
23:57Everybody wants to see Spiculus.
24:00That's going to be the closing fight of the games.
24:02Music swells, ushering in the next act of the game.
24:04The lesser gladiators have fought, their combats are over, and eventually Spiculus will appear as the highlight of the show.
24:16Gladiator like Spiculus would have had attendants who would have ensured that he was in tip-top shape before every encounter.
24:24He would have had his own masseuse, his own servants, his own doctor.
24:30He would have had people who carried his armor.
24:31Under the Emperor Miro, the most theatrical of all Roman emperors, the armor and the equipment would have been similarly glittery.
24:41At his level, he's going to have a choice about what he wears.
24:45Not every gladiator gets those opportunities.
24:47Spiculus as Mimilo had a very high-quality version of Mimilo armor, perhaps a particularly iconic shield or helmet that marked him out from others of that type of gladiator class.
25:00Ready for his contest, Spiculus strides into the amphitheater like a prize-fighting boxer into the ring.
25:12The announcer would have said, and here he comes, people's champion, Spiculus.
25:20Out as he walked, there would have been music to his actual entrance.
25:25The crowd roars, his name is upon the lips of everybody.
25:29When the Emperor sees the crowd's adulation for this gladiator, well, he just drinks in the atmosphere.
25:35Somebody like Spiculus is really going to lean in to the things that people know about him.
25:44They know he lives in an amazing house.
25:47They know he has the favor of Nero.
25:50As if he's not going to, like, parlay that into how he performs in the arena.
25:54He definitely is.
25:57Spiculus, of course, has a lot riding on the fight.
25:59But Nero does as well because his job is to provide entertainment for the people.
26:05After a long day of fighting at Nero's games, it is time for the main attraction.
26:22Spiculus and his opponent emerge.
26:25His rival is matched in strength and trained to kill.
26:29But for Spiculus, this is more than a fight for survival.
26:34It's a battle to remain Nero's favorite.
26:38With the gladiators in the arena, the fight can start.
26:42Nero looks down upon them and the battle begins.
26:47Spiculus would have been trying to parry with his opponent.
26:52He would have been trying to dazzle the crowd with his moves.
26:54We have references in our sources to gladiators being trained to deliver moves with grace.
27:05It's like two prize fighters taking an opportunity to demonstrate the height of their skill level in front of a live audience.
27:14We can imagine that it would have been a display of extreme skill.
27:21There could have been bloodshed involved.
27:25Nero has been watching keenly, trying to see every little parry, every little jab.
27:32Trying to see who's being injured.
27:33Spiculus shows once again why he's Nero's prized gladiator.
27:41He is a skilled and brilliant fighter.
27:44In the arena, few can touch him.
27:49If a gladiator were wounded in the fighting, he could signal submission by just holding up a finger.
27:54And then the referee steps in, stops the fight and separates the two gladiators.
28:05Spiculus has won.
28:06He's overcome his opponent.
28:10His opponent has asked for mercy.
28:14At that point, it's up to Nero, the giver of the games, to consult with the people and then decide what happens to that gladiator.
28:24He holds your life in his hands.
28:27All he has to do is turn the thumb.
28:32Nero may look around to the crowd and try and figure out what it is they want him to do.
28:41The crowd can directly communicate with powerful people in their society, including people like the Emperor Nero, and make their feelings known.
28:50The crowd is shouting out, you know, either, you know, let him go or kill him.
28:58We can imagine that the people want Spiculus' defeated opponent to be killed.
29:04You can imagine there'll be a deathly quiet to send on the arena as everyone is focused on this sort of fate, this moment of death of this poor fallen gladiator.
29:24If he had a helmet, he was expected to take it off, so that everyone could see all of the emotion on his face.
29:36The gladiator has been taught how to face death.
29:39They were expected to expose their throat, to stare ahead blankly, to show no emotion, to be tough right until the final moment.
29:53And then the victor would plunge his sword down and through the throat and into the heart.
30:08When a gladiator appears to have died in a fight, a man dressed as Charon, god of the underworld, comes on and actually checks that he's dead.
30:16Charon hit the person with a hammer, and then his body was dragged out with a hook and dragged out of the arena.
30:28The victory strengthens Nero's bond with Spiculus, and the emperor is eager to show his gratitude.
30:35The winning gladiator would have been given gifts and prizes, he would have been given a share of the prize money, and then he'll leave.
30:49The games have dazzled the crowds, but Nero has one final thrill, designed to capture the hearts of the people.
30:57So, emperors in Rome are supposed to be making sure that the people of the empire have the things that they need, but also to be seen as the person who gives it to them.
31:10So, the emperor is a gift giver.
31:14One of the things the emperor would do for the crowd is known as a spacio.
31:18He would actually throw out kind of lottery tickets, and on it you would sort of be given anything from perhaps some slaves, or to some furniture, or even a villa.
31:28So it was that way that you could kind of get rich quick.
31:33The people have enjoyed the games.
31:35They appreciate Nero for having given them a day of entertainment that they love.
31:41And they return home to their families.
31:43They return to the pubs.
31:44Even though Nero's games have inspired the people, have caused the people to fall in love with Nero, his style of ruling will soon be his downfall.
31:55While the crowds revel in Nero's games, the Senate sees a different picture.
32:03Nero is distracted by spectacle, neglecting the serious business of ruling.
32:10And their patience is running out.
32:14In 64 CE, a big event happens in Rome that really has helped to shape the way we understand Nero's reign.
32:33And that's the fire.
32:39So in the summer months, Rome does catch on fire a fair amount, but this is huge.
32:45Our sources say a number of the districts in Rome are affected, and some are destroyed completely.
32:50And burned down a big portion of Rome's most prestigious neighborhood, the Palatine, and also a big chunk of Nero's own imperial palace.
33:03Out of Rome's 14 districts, 10 are quite badly affected, and three are completely destroyed.
33:08This is a huge conflagration.
33:10This is a huge conflagration. It destroys a massive chunk of the city.
33:19Lots of people died in this fire.
33:22The number of dwellings, small businesses, temples that must have been destroyed, you can imagine the devastation this would have caused.
33:32It displaced tens of thousands.
33:39It's something that really kind of stands as a point in Nero's reign that is extremely significant, both politically, but also in terms of sort of his relationship with the city.
33:48So many people must have suffered so extremely, and this generated huge resentment of the safety and luxury within which the emperor was operating.
34:08When the fire breaks out, Nero is not in Rome, he's in Antium.
34:12Perhaps the best-known phrase associated with Nero is that he fiddled while Rome burned.
34:19This is anachronistic in some ways because the fiddle wasn't invented, but even playing the liar while Rome burned is something that our sources are a little bit split on.
34:31And Nero realizes that with almost all of Rome burned to nothing, he can start again and he can build a huge palace that's far bigger than anyone else has done before.
34:41This is the Domus Aurea, which is named the Golden House for the amount of beautiful gold and other precious materials that are used in it.
34:50The Domus Aurea is impressive as it must have been.
34:54It surely caused a revulsion of feeling.
34:58At a time when so many of the citizens have been made homeless because of the fire, he is there building himself this enormous great palace.
35:07Honestly, I don't imagine people all too terribly impressed with the building of a giant villa in the aftermath of a destructive fire.
35:17It was clear to pretty much everyone, especially Rome's Senate, that he was really losing his grip.
35:21The rumour starts, well, he's taking such advantage of it, it must be because he started the fire so that he could do this.
35:31A lot of our sources do say that it's his agents who set the fire, not him personally, obviously, that would be crazy.
35:38However, Nero's actions afterwards, he does seem to be really concerned and he does instantly set about trying to help as many people as possible.
35:47It seems like Nero was trying to rebuild the city after the fire in a way that would make that kind of event happening again less likely.
36:06As Rome begins to rebuild, Nero chases pleasure and indulges in his personal amusements.
36:17Nero's popularity is certainly taking a hit.
36:24He's not the kind of man that most Romans would respect as their emperor.
36:31And it's partly because of his over-the-top interest in things like chariot races, ladita fights, the theatre.
36:39They're not the kind of pursuits that you really want your emperor to have.
36:43You want him to be more focusing on military conquests, for example, and what is happening politically.
36:54He's too close to the people. He's not sort of paying enough attention to the senators.
36:58And that's the point where the Senate declare Nero as a public enemy.
37:07With the Senate's condemnation, Nero's grip on power crumbles.
37:15And showing loyalty to the fallen emperor is dangerous, even for Spiculus.
37:22Nero, the most powerful man in Rome, has been denounced by the Senate.
37:33He is unable to contain the storm around him.
37:37Nero realises that the game is up.
37:40Once Nero has been declared a public enemy, the options for him are very limited.
37:44All he has left is a few loyal attendants.
37:50As he hears that the Praetorians are on their way to kill him,
37:55and he realises, once you've been declared a public enemy,
37:58that the death is particularly brutal.
38:01He'll be beaten and flogged and dragged through the city.
38:06He realises that really the only option is for him to take his own life.
38:11There are so many instances of Romans, in defence of their honour, committing suicide.
38:19And committing suicide with a sword, falling on their sword,
38:22or stabbing themselves with a sword, is a horrifying way to die.
38:28But he's too scared to kill himself.
38:30So he calls on Spiculus to do it for him.
38:34The fact that Nero wanted to be killed by Spiculus, his favourite gladiator,
38:38could suggest that he wanted to die quickly and well.
38:42And perhaps there's also that sort of case of notoriety,
38:45where the Emperor of Rome was killed by the most famous gladiator of the arena.
38:51He needs to know someone he can trust, I think.
38:54So here's someone that he can trust to do the job as efficiently as possible.
39:01Spiculus, though, can't be found.
39:08Whether he was sort of deliberately keeping out of harm's way,
39:11or whether he really had just abandoned Nero like everyone else, we don't know.
39:22Spiculus, his prized gladiator, is missing.
39:27Nero turns to another member of his inner circle.
39:31He leans on and relies on a freedman named Epaphroditus.
39:41Then, with Epaphroditus' help, Nero commits suicide.
39:51Nero is only 30 years old.
39:54His death ends a 14-year reign marked by self-indulgence and spectacle.
40:02When Nero dies, there's very much a mixed reaction to his death.
40:09Some of the individuals who partook in the entertainments mourn Nero's death.
40:15When Nero dies, he is given a public funeral.
40:19The ordinary people of Rome, they were there at his graveside.
40:22They didn't see this as the good thing that the senators thought.
40:26After Nero's death, there's a clear-out, if you like, of Nero's supporters.
40:34And Spiculus has been too close to Nero.
40:38And it's reported that he's actually crushed beneath various statues of Nero
40:42that are pulled down in the forum.
40:44Nero's reign and its chaotic end is something of a cautionary tale about the excesses of power.
40:57He's also always sort of doomed to go down in history as an absolutely terrible emperor
41:03because he is the last of the Julio-Claudians.
41:06And this makes him the last of the first dynasty of emperors in Rome.
41:11When he dies, there is no heir.
41:13He has had children, but they haven't survived.
41:17So, after Nero's death, we have the year of the four emperors
41:21in which individuals rise to claim the mantle of emperor.
41:25Until ultimately, we're left with Vespasian, the last man standing,
41:29who will initiate the Flavian dynasty.
41:32That dynasty, and Vespasian in particular,
41:37decides what he's going to do is separate himself in every way that he can from Nero.
41:43Vespasian, the new emperor,
41:47is determined to erase all traces of Nero's legacy,
41:51starting with the opulent palace,
41:56built as a monument to Nero's ego
41:58in the ashes of the great fire of Rome.
42:03Nero's golden palace becomes a symbol of everything that's wrong with his reign.
42:07It's excessive.
42:08It's overly focused on Nero himself.
42:11Vespasian wants to wipe the slate clean
42:14and build something that is a people's palace,
42:17not just a palace for a single emperor.
42:20Vespasian takes the opportunity to demolish large parts of the Domus Aurea.
42:29And on the site, part of it,
42:33he starts to construct the Flavian amphitheater.
42:35It was the most strident way, the most powerful way,
42:40he could say that we're under a new regime, a new dynasty.
42:44Vespasian decides to build Rome's first large-scale permanent amphitheater
42:50on the site of Nero's gardens.
42:53And that is the amphitheater that we now know as the Colosseum.
42:57Vespasian's first large-scale permanent amphitheater.
Be the first to comment