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