Nero

Anthony Everitt’s book “Nero: Matricide, Music, and Murder in Imperial Rome” is a powerful and insightful portrait of the contentious populist emperor and final of the Caesars, Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus. Everitt explores Nero’s life in an intriguing depiction, highlighting the paradoxes that surrounded his rule. Often portrayed as ruthless, conceited, and incapable, Nero is said to have played his lyre as Rome burnt, engaged in incest with his mother, and planned her death.

There remains a mystery, though: flowers were placed on his grave by unidentified hands a long time after his deposition and suicide. Even with his horrible deeds, some people still adored Nero. In addition to looking into Nero’s biography, Everitt wonderfully recreates ancient Rome, complete with its congested streets, scheming politicians, and enormous construction projects that helped to form the city.