Is Nero Really Evil?

I do not think that I would go as far as to say that this emperor was evil. He started his reign when he was very young and he was under the influence of a controlling, power-hungry mother. I think the influence from his mom was what triggered the horrible things he decided to do. From the little information that is given about her, she seems more evil than him since rumor has it she tried to seduce him to gain more power for herself, and when she heard news of Nero planning on killing her she says "Let him kill me, only let him rule!" She was obsessed with her family having power and I think that planted those thoughts in his mind. Nero seems like he was quite flamboyant, and very self absorbed. These traits led to the events that made his reign come to an end. His paranoia made him make rash decisions and led him down a dark path that he believed was inevitable. Many Roman emperors did horrible things for their own gain, and hurt many people. Nero was not an outlier in this way. I think his actions were, not exaggerate, but accentuated and emphasized to be more horrendous than they actually were, because of the hate he had from the senate. So, I don't believe he was evil but he definitely was not a good man.