Roman emperor Nero was BOTD in AD 37. Born in Rome, his mother Agrippina was the great-granddaughter of Emperor Augustus. After Nero’s father’s death, Agrippina married the Emperor Claudius, who eventually adopted Nero as his heir. When Claudius died in 54 AD, the 17 year-old Nero became Emperor. The early years of his reign were controlled by Agrippina and his tutor Seneca, a period of relatively stable government. After a prolonged power struggle, Nero had Agrippina murdered and Seneca banished. He also ordered the murder of his first wife Octavia so he could marry his mistress Poppaea Sabina. Freed from his mother’s influence, Nero spent lavishly, building himself giant palaces, competing in the Olympic Games (winning all his contests) and hosting lavish popular entertainments. Under his rule, the Roman Empire quashed the rebellion of British warrior Boudica, persecuted Christians (including Saints Peter and Paul) and won a key strategic victory over the Parthian (Iranian) Empire. Nero is infamously associated with the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD. Popular legend claims that he started the fire to clear a site for a new palace and played the fiddle while the city burned, though this is disputed by historians. To raise funds for the rebuilding of Rome, Nero raised taxes and devalued the currency, placing him at odds with the Senate. In 68 AD, two of Nero’s regional governors rebelled against his tax policies. After losing the support of the Praetorian Guard, he was declared a public enemy and condemned to death. He fled Rome and committed suicide in AD 68, aged 30. Like many Roman noblemen, Nero had lovers of both sexes, and had public marriage ceremonies with two of his male lovers: Pythagoras, a freed slave, and Sporus, a young slave whom Nero had castrated. Many texts published after his death, including the Book of Revelation in the New Testament, predicted that Nero would return from the dead as the Antichrist. He has been portrayed many times in art, literature, theatre and film, most notably by Peter Ustinov in the 1951 film Quo Vadis and by Christopher Biggins in the 1976 TV dramatisation of Robert Graves‘ novel I, Claudius.