Harvard University Press, 1 de jul de 2009 - 360 páginas
The Roman emperor Nero is remembered by history as the vain and immoral monster who fiddled while Rome burned. Edward Champlin reinterprets Nero's enormities on their own terms, as the self-conscious performances of an imperial actor with a formidable grasp of Roman history and mythology and a canny sense of his audience.
Nero murdered his younger brother and rival to the throne, probably at his mother's prompting. He then murdered his mother, with whom he may have slept. He killed his pregnant wife in a fit of rage, then castrated and married a young freedman because he resembled her. He mounted the public stage to act a hero driven mad or a woman giving birth, and raced a ten-horse chariot in the Olympic games. He probably instigated the burning of Rome, for which he then ordered the spectacular punishment of Christians, many of whom were burned as human torches to light up his gardens at night. Without seeking to rehabilitate the historical monster, Champlin renders Nero more vividly intelligible by illuminating the motives behind his theatrical gestures, and revealing the artist who thought of himself as a heroic figure.
"Nero" is a brilliant reconception of a historical account that extends back to Tacitus, Suetonius, and Cassius Dio. The effortless style and artful construction of the book will engage any reader drawn to its intrinsically fascinating subject.
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Review: NeroComentário do usuário - Windsor - Goodreads
Rather a disappointing book on Nero. For someone as awesome as Nero, the author is rather boring describing the tyranny of his reign (or lack of doing anything really). Ler resenha completa
Review: NeroComentário do usuário - Kelly Mccullen - Goodreads
This book does a great job analyzing why Nero was fascinating in his time and remembered long after his violent death. This book is not a biography, something the author explains very early in the book. Ler resenha completa
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