Nero
Book description
This book portrays Nero, not as the murderous tyrant of tradition, but as a young man ever-more reluctant to fulfil his responsibilities as emperor and ever-more anxious to demonstrate his genuine skills as a sportsman and artist. This reluctance caused him to allow others to rule, and rule surprisingly well,…
Why read it?
1 author picked Nero as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Did he or did he not fiddle while Rome burned?
In the popular imagination, Nero is the "baddest" Roman emperor of all: megalomaniac, matricide, arsonist, and first persecutor of Christians. The 1951 Hollywood version of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s novel Quo Vadis? summed up the common view: “the Antichrist known to history as the Emperor Nero.”
Historians have voiced doubts, but prejudices are virtually ineradicable. Drinkwater scrupulously examines all the ancient sources, proving that the historical record does not support the Christians’ view of Nero.
But how could anybody have been fiddling when string instruments were plucked but not played with a…
If you love Nero...
Tap Dancing on Everest
Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.
The team attempts a new route up…
Want books like Nero?
Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Nero.
Share your top 3 reads of 2024!
And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.
1,883
readers submitted
so far, will you?
📚 If you like Nero, you might also like...
Caesar’s Soldier
Who was the man who would become Caesar's lieutenant, Brutus' rival, Cleopatra's lover, and Octavian's enemy?
When his stepfather is executed for his involvement in the Catilinarian conspiracy, Mark Antony and his family are disgraced. His adolescence is marked by scandal and mischief, his love affairs are fleeting, and yet,…
Ghosts
Known more for his books on Mayas, Aztecs, and Spanish conquistadors, historian Matthew Restall's latest book takes his deepest dive yet into the history of pop music.
In the late-1970s, three music-obsessed, suburban London teenagers set out to make their own kind of pop music: after years of struggle, success…
