We live in an era in which war, pain, death are our darkest fears, but,

paradoxically, it is also one of the most peaceful times the earth has ever
witnessed. The serpents bite those who wear no shoes , a quote which, although,
already speaks for itself, dares us to a little brainstorming : it sends us back to the
catastrophes that happened years and years before us due to lack of precaution and
wisdom, to a period that remains in our memories as spotted by blood. History
blessed us with numerous lessons of kindness, but most important, examples of
betrayal, lust and last but not the least, madness. Recognized as a figure of cruelty
and outrageous madness, Emperor Nero is the best example one could bring to light
in order to relieve a dark and reckless chapter of history, The Ancient Rome.

1. A colossal snake came to guard his bed at his birth

Nero was born on 15th December 37AD. Looking at him, his father would have
exclaimed: From me and Agrippina only something detestable and destructive can
be born The story tells that immediately after his birth, a giant snake came from
nowhere to protect him, serpent whose leather was discovered on the little Neros
pillow, and that he would have worn a bracelet in the form of a talisman with the
skin inside of it until the close time of his own death (not weird at all).
2. At only 16 years he participated at inhuman orgies
Young emperor, Nero was often leaving the palace disguised as a woman or man
just to wander the Romes brothels and to engage in the most brutal orgies. Not
only once it happened to even play the role of the prostitute. Therefore, the Capital
once again became a place of savage and heartless orgies. In the same evenings he
was joining in a sinister group of acolytes with whom he was attacking and robbing
the passers just for his entertainment.
3. He married a man and traumatized the whole Rome
Haunted by the phantom of his mother (who he killed), Nero used magic to
appease the Furies. Tormented by Octavias death (who, surprisingly, he killed too),
he picked a teenager named Sporus whose appearance was strikingly resembling
his former wifes and neutered him. This is a grotesque spectacle. The wedding
between Nero and Sporus was made public and the sexual act takes place in the full
view of guests attending the banquet.
4. Nero wanted to be queen, a hero and also a god
Dissatisfied with only being emperor, Nero wanted to be queen. So he chose his
spouse as one individual named Doryphorus and accepted to be his wife in a
ceremony similar to the Sporus had been disgraced. He also wants to be a hero and
a god at the same time and is convinced that even the god Apollo cannot compete
in the art of poetry and music. The spectacles he was organizing took days and a

single recital used to last for days in row. Those who were falling asleep or just
yawning were punished to death. To escape, some in the crowd were pretending to
faint overwhelmed by pleasure and they were carried out of the enclosure. In the
arena, he wanted to prove that he is at least the equal of Hercules and the games
organizers specially prepared him a lion so that the emperor could kill it with a mace
or suffocate it with a mantle, just like the mythological hero(very original indeed).
5. He almost killed himself while trying to prove that he is an Olympic champion
Impatient to wait for the official day of the competition, he changed the date three
years earlier. By entering the race with a chariot pulled by ten horses, which was
forbidden, Nero was nearly killed after falling from it. At the end of the event he was
declared the winner in the cheers of the 5,000 attendants brought in especially from
Rome to applaud him. Touched by his achievement, Emperor granted the freedom of
Greece and gave citizenship to all the arbiters.
6. Nero, the slaughterer of Christians
Fearing the reaction of a population whose patience had reached the end, he seeks
a scapegoat. And he finds the Christians. Thousands of innocent people were
dragged into arenas and circuses subjected to grotesque performances. So many
children, women and elders were thrown in the lions' cages that even the
bloodthirsty plebs felt terrified. To accomplish the perfect revenge, Nero decorated
his own palaces alleys with torches made of living Christians wrapped in cotton
soaked in oil. Their cries of pain became the inspiration for many sinister works of
art of the mad emperor.
7.