takes a clear line about Nero as emperor, depicting his personal behaviour as representing ‘the progressive effect of over-pampered self-indulgence’ (p.
should either take the responsibility for his statements himself, or give explicit references, notably to Gilbert Bagnani’s excellent article, ‘The case of the poisoned mushrooms’ ( Phoenix I 2, 1946, 14-20).
If the case is worth making (and it can be a good example of how to argue a point), S. mentions that Josephus is the single ancient author to express doubts about the poisoning story, and, very reasonably, is sceptical himself, but his phrase ‘It has been pointed out …’, unsupported by any reference, is the worst sort of example for beginners. sometimes gives references to the sources unfortunately thereafter, with one or two exceptions, he gives no more, even for direct quotations, so newcomers to the subject get no guidance about where to find and check the evidence.Ĭlaudius’ death is reached on page 10, and S. 4) that the Julian family ‘were the heirs of the populares of the republic’ while the Claudian family was ‘a natural rallying point for the descendants of the old optimates‘, is less certain not that it matters much, since these two Latin words never appear again in the book apart from the glossary (pp. 3) that not everyone accepted that Augustus’ special position in the state must necessarily be held by a successor after Augustus’ death, or that a Julian (or Julio-Claudian) dynasty was the only answer to Rome’s political problems. does not succeed: any newcomer to the subject would be baffled by the important but unexplained concepts and confusing names which fill these pages.
It is very difficult to explain what the Roman republic was, why it collapsed into civil war, how Augustus re-established peace and ordered government, and what his three immediate successors did, in less than ten pages, and not surprisingly S. must of course set the stage, introduce the main actors and main concepts, and tell ‘the story so far’. Any student who from these pages can get a clear picture of the relationships between the descendants of Augustus, of Octavia, and of Livia, deserves commendation.īefore discussing Nero’s actions, and his squalid end, S. Almost as bad is the omission on the second double page of any indication that the Julia who was grandmother of the various Junii Silani is identical with Julia, the sister of C.
Caesar, their sisters Agrippina and Julia, and their young brother Agrippa Postumus were the children of Agrippa and Augustus’ daughter Julia similarly, the line which should connect Nero’s father and grandfather is not there. It is not easy to draw up a clear genealogical table, but this one is a disaster, most obviously by omitting, on the first double page, the vertical line which would make clear that C. starts badly, with four pages devoted to the stemmata of the Julio-Claudians and various related families-even Vespasian finds a place. Therefore this short book should not be judged as a work of original research, but as a clear and accurate account of the major features of its topic, suitable for reasonably intelligent and motivated readers aged between about sixteen and twenty-one, which preferably also introduces them to the sources and their problems, and explains at least some of the chief controversies.
The book is one of the series ‘Lancaster Pamphlets’, whose avowed purpose is to ‘offer concise and up-to-date accounts of major historical topics, primarily for the help of students preparing for Advanced Level examinations, though they should also be of value to those pursuing introductory courses in universities’. Most obviously, its size: only 82 pages of text, followed by four appendices. So what is special about this new offering? Griffin, Nero: the End of a Dynasty (London 1984) he could equally have mentioned John Bishop,, Nero, the man and the legend (London 1964), Michael Grant, Nero, Emperor in Revolt (New York 1970), and several more. Warmington, Nero: Reality and Legend (London 1969) and M.T. Henderson, The Life and Principate of the Emperor Nero (London 1903), and the newer ones by B.H. S(hotter), in his final appendix on ‘Accounts of Nero’s life and principate’ mentions the old book by B.W. There is no shortage of books about Nero.