Emperor Nero went down in history as the mad and unpredictable ruler of Rome. One of the actions that the senators did not like was the deification of the deceased daughter.
The baby only survived a hundred days; now he was to be counted among the heavenly immortals. Born in January, Klaudia Augusta, the daughter of Emperor Nero and Poppaea Sabina, was greeted with great joy throughout the empire and succumbed to childhood sickness shortly after the spring equinox. The ruler was as immoderate in grief as before in joy; To soothe the pain of desperate parents, the senate voted to grant the child goddess status. Now, drenched in tears, clad in a purple toga with a golden edge, Nero took the waxed rope and dipped it in the fire brought from the temple of Vesta by the six priestesses of her.
Deification of the infant
The assembled members of the senate, without exception, were consuls or praetors, each with a gown folded over their heads - out of respect for the newest deity in the Roman pantheon - watched with appropriate solemnity as the emperor applied the burning wick to the kindling on the altar. The flame took hold; wisps of smoke rose to the ceiling of the new sanctuary next to the Temple of Apollo on the Palatine Hill. It was built without considering the costs seven months after the death of the child by slaves working around the clock , with the personal supervision of the ruler over every detail of the decor. Nero devoted most of his time to this project, completely neglecting state affairs.
The article is an excerpt from the book Vespasian. Holy fire of Rome. This is the eighth volume of the best-selling series that won the hearts of readers
Titus Flavius Sabinus, standing in the front row, fought with himself not to burst out laughing - so grotesque the ceremony seemed to him. He had participated in deification ceremonies more than once and was always uncomfortable with the thought that a few words plus the fire from the holy flame of Rome could make a deceased person come back to life as a god. He knew well that deities are not born like this:they come from a rock in a cave, like his master Mitra. He couldn't believe that a baby who hadn't had time to do anything more than sucked on his mother's tit would have to be worshiped like a goddess. As he watched the two priests of the new cult lead the ribbon-bound sacrificial ram while praying loudly, Sabinus almost lost the fight to the gaiety that grew within him.
- Well, just wait for a public holiday in honor of the divine Claudia Augusta - he muttered to his neighbors, his son-in-law Lucius Caesennius Petus and uncle Gaius Vespasius Pollon, a majestically plump seventy-year-old with numerous folds on his chin and belly.
- Huh? What are you saying, dear boy? Gaius whispered back, without changing his full devotion.
Sabinus repeated.
"Yes, and then I will take my place of honor at the Games, having made more than a generous sacrifice to the divine little one, that the Emperor may see how devout I am." The old man removed a carefully curled curl from his blackened eyebrow. "Perhaps he will be less willing to offer me to open his life, and before that make him heir when he runs out of funds again ... And judging by the quality of the marble and the amount of gold in this temple, it may happen soon," he added, looking at with exaggerated anointing, how one of the priests stuns the victim with a hammer, and the other in the next moment cuts his throat.
Nero's cruelty knew no bounds. The emperor murdered his own mother
Blood spurted into the set bronze bowl. From the stunned animal blow, life was slowly escaping in honor of a tiny goddess who, in human form, would not even know what the creature was.
New prayers flowed. Two acolytes turned the carcass onto its back. With a precise cut, the ram's belly was opened, the skin, flesh and ribs were parted to reveal the heart and liver. Nero in tears, on his knees and with open arms, stared at his entrails, while the masters of ceremonies took out both organs. The first one was immediately put into the fire; the other rested next to it on the altar. The audience held their breath. With slow movements, as if to build tension, the priests washed their hands and forearms, then drained the liver and gave the bloodied cloths to the helpers.
The moment everyone longed for has come:the study of this most important part of the sacrificial animal. The emperor shuddered. Spasmodic sobs shook his body as he tilted his head up and looked out at the bleak gray sky through the high temple window; he raised his right hand and slowly clenched his fingers, as if to grab something invisible, suspended in the air.
The priests felt the liver and looked closely at it. There was an expression of reverent respect on their faces.
Nero began to moan softly with barely suppressed anxiety. After examining the organ from all sides, the priests looked at each other, nodded, and turned to the ruler.
- The gods took the divine Claudia Augusta into their ranks and now she sits among them Announced the elder solemnly.
Nero sighed loudly and fell as if he had passed out, taking care, however, not to be injured when his cheek touched the marble floor. The assembled senators began to cheer and beg the new deity to look after them.
“We owe the gods our gratitude for treating their newest friend so kindly,” Gaius said without a trace of irony, clapping enthusiastically. - Maybe now Nero will finally find time to focus on the affairs of the state.
Sabinus removed the fold of his gown as the religious part of the ceremony was over.
Father of the goddess
"I hope so," he said. - Since the construction of the temple began, he has probably not heard a single appeal and has not accepted any petition. I have at least a hundred convicts or accused people in the city from across the empire waiting for a chance to appeal to the emperor. The Prefect of Rome should not play the guardian of ordinary criminals, even if they are citizens.
"The prefect was always in charge of the prisoners," Petus objected, frowning.
"Yes, with the help of one of the praetors, but they've never been so many at once." Normally there are two or three if the Emperor regularly hears the appeals. The most trouble is that scoundrel Paul of Tarsus. He smears his disgusting letters to whom he falls ... Most are intercepted and destroyed by my agents, but some get through. To my accusations, he replies that until the imperial verdict is passed, he is allowed to correspond with whom he pleases, even if it is subversive and attacking the same law, behind which he brazenly hides. Our law. But now, when Nero returns, I'll finally get it over with. Except… ”Sabinus looked regretfully at his son-in-law. - It also means that you too will have to stand before the emperor.
Nero did not hesitate to sentence people to death
"I was hoping that my return from Armenia would escape his attention," admitted Petus sourly; with sunburned skin during the campaign in the East, his teeth appeared even whiter.
Further comments broke off as Nero raised his hands, pleading for silence. The emotional burden was overwhelming him; he stood there for a while, breathing heavily, relief painted on his face.
- Friends! He finally spoke. - We witnessed a great thing here. Here I am, the son of a god and great-grandson of a god, became the father of the goddess. Your emperor carries divine seed. He held out his hand to his favorite. - My zither, Epaphroditus.
The liberator pulled out from behind the altar a seven-string instrument, which Nero had been practicing for the fifth year.
- To celebrate this day and for the glory of my divine daughter, the fruit of my loins, I have composed a thanksgiving message. The emperor stroked the string and tried to take a similar note, but without success. His weak voice was lost in the great temple.
Sabinus winced and pulled himself together as if before a blow. Gaius nervously looked around for the chair but found none.
After two more chords that shouldn't sound together at all, Nero began a disharmonic lament with a chaotic rhythm and poor rhymes. He continued, line by line, while the elite of Rome listened attentively as befits the lucky ones, whom fate had placed in the company of a genius, unable to believe that they had just been given the gift.
But no one was a novice in this play anymore:for several years the emperor had shamelessly, as if he were a slave or a liberator, playing and singing for a small group of senators. After the death of his mother, executed by his order, and the rejection of Seneca's former mentor, who tried to keep the young princeps in the path of dignity and restraint, Nero realized that he could do literally anything. He killed his mother because she upset him; brother, because he saw a threat in him; and recently a wife, Claudia Octavia, so that Poppaea Sabina could take her place - he even gave the head of her predecessor as a wedding gift to the new empress. Nobody criticized him for these crimes, because there were no such daredevils. The entire patriciate knew that Nero would not bear the knowledge that anyone thinks badly of him; he wanted to be loved by everyone - and those who did not conceal different views had nothing to look for in his city.
Rome was already the city of Nero.
Absolute Ruler
The ruler made no more effort to mask real absolute power, as Augustus had done, and did not pretend that he could not take everything he liked. Even the debauched young Gaius, known by his youthful nickname Caligula, tried to maintain an appearance of law and order :when he wanted someone's fortune, he had so much moderation that he first had a careerist fabricate evidence of the owner's betrayal. For who could oppose a man whose position was secured by ten thousand praetorians? Who would try to temper his desires? If this man wishes to sing a paean in honor of the goddess whom he has fathered himself, let it be to his health. There was no one present who, even the slightest twitch, could tell that what he hears is not the greatest composition of all time, performed by the most beloved of all people who have ever walked on this earth.
The article is an excerpt from the book Vespasian. Holy fire of Rome. This is the eighth volume of the best-selling series that won the hearts of readers
So, after half an hour the chant had come to a gloomy end, the senators were racing who would hurry faster and louder with congratulations and applause for such a talented emperor, who was naturally surprised and touched by his enthusiastic reception and could not resist the numerous requests for an encore.
"My friends ..." Nero croaked in an exhausted voice when the applause faded after the second performance. - Now that I have placed my daughter in the right place in heaven and provided her with a suitable accommodation here in Rome, my thoughts may turn to my own and my wife Augusta Poppaea Sabina's comfort. Putting the back of his hand to his forehead and staring at the wisps of smoke billowing beneath the painted ceiling and its cedar girders, he let out a melodramatic sigh. - But it has to wait, because I have to appear in the senate and I will go there immediately. We need to read Corbulo's report on the course of the renewed war in Armenia, establish policy and further actions in those parts ... since I was already forced to restore his command in the East after the humiliating defeat of Lucius Caesennius Petus in the battle with the party king Vologazes. - He paused to give the audience the opportunity to shout "shame and disgrace".
The article is an excerpt from the book by Vespasian. The Holy Fire of Rome. This is the eighth volume of the best-selling series that won the hearts of readers