-54 AD- Claudius was dead, so Nero was immediately pronounced princeps.
-Unfortunately for the empire, he was only 16 years old and, unlike the others, had had literally zero experience in any kind of government administration (even Caligula had been an honorary quaestor before he became princeps).
-Many immediately suspected Agrippina of killing Claudius, as she had sent Narcissus out of Rome at the time. Also, the speed at which Nero was enthroned was suspicious as well.
-However, it wasn't like Nero was completely illegitimate, as he was the grandson of Germanicus and a direct descendant of Augustus.
-Agrippina then had Claudius' status raised to divinity, with her as the cult's new high priestess.
-Because of her power, she was also allowed to attend meetings at the Senate (as long as she was behind a curtain, for whatever reason).
-Soon after Nero was enthroned, Narcissus was imprisoned and executed on orders by Agrippina (unclear as to how exactly she pulled this off).
-Other important players during this time:
-Pallas- still super rich and living the dream, even more powerful than before (and still banging Agrippina).
-Lucius Annaeus Seneca (Seneca the Younger)- Tutor and adviser to Nero, also a major Roman philosopher.
-Sextus Afranius Burrus- Praetorian prefect and adviser to Nero.
-Eventually, those around Nero split into two rival groups- Agrippina and Pallas vs. Burrus and Seneca.
-It was becoming clear that Agrippina was becoming increasingly overbearing with her fantasy of ruling the empire through Nero.
-55 AD- Nero was married to his stepsister (Claudius' biological daughter) Claudia Octavia, but of course he also had a mistress- the ex-slave Claudia Acte.
-Of course, this pissed off Agrippina, and she forbid Nero from seeing her.
-Nero, a teenager, obviously began to rebel by seeing her in secret.
-Seneca and Burrus realized this rift between Nero and Agrippina, so of course they encouraged Nero to continue to secretly see Claudia Acte.
-They tried to keep this a secret from some because it was important for Nero to maintain his marriage for political reasons.
-However, they also leaked the secret to others because they wanted to squash the rumors that Nero was actually banging his mom!
-Because Agrippina was shut out of Nero's inner circle due to the drama with Claudia Acte, she decided to start cozying up with Britannicus instead (!) to get back at Nero!
-The tension grew worse when Nero fired Pallas as secretary of treasury.
-This royally pissed off Agrippina, so she told Nero that if he continued to shut her out, she would go to the Praetorian Guard and tell them about her role in Claudius' death. This would make Nero an usurper and cause him to be ousted and replaced by Britannicus!
-The problem with Agrippina's plan was that Britannicus wasn't quite yet of age to rule as princeps! This allowed for Nero to plan...
-55 AD- The day before Britannicus came of age (14), he was poisoned at a party and died! Damn!!
-Nero then forced Agrippina to leave the imperial palace in 57 AD, and she retired to a countryside villa in Mesenum (modern-day Bacoli, Campania), where she lived out the rest of her days, although she still continued to remain popular and influential among the general public.
-However, Nero ultimately had her killed in 59 AD, although it's unclear as to why exactly he did this.
-Some of the theories involve her opposition to him divorcing Claudia Octavia in order to marry Poppea Sabina, who was at that time the wife of the courtier Marcus Salvius Otho (although of course she had been secretly banging Nero). However, other theories involve her being killed by Nero due to her support of Nero's cousin, Gaius Rubellius Plautus.
-The official story, under Nero's supervision of course, was that Agrippina had killed herself.
-According to legend, Agrippina said "Smite my womb!" before being killed, apparently meaning that she wanted to first destroy the part of her body that had produced Nero.
-Additionally, Nero allegedly felt so guilty later about having Agrippina murdered that he believed he was haunted by her ghost!
-Anyway, so after Agrippina was killed Nero continued to consolidate his power, showing his advisers that he was, in fact, the one in power, not them.
-So how was his reign?
-It seemed like all he cared about was being popular.
-He had no vision of how to rule or what things should be like, so he just did what he thoguht the people wanted, and of course this meant that his reign was all over the place- a complete mixed bag.
-Thus, he actually succeeded in being popular, but he certainly wasn't the best princeps in the world, as a lot of his policies were stupid because they were sometimes based on the stupid public opinion of the masses.
-Therefore, the people never considered him to be a shitty ruler, unlike, say, Caligula.
-Unfortunately for him, the upper classes absolutely hated Nero! This was in large part due to Nero's obsession with entertainment. In the Roman world, entertainers were the bottom of the barrel in terms of social status, and were also usually dirt poor on top of that. Of course, this didn't stop the elite from seeking out entertainers for entertainment and sex :/
-Nero also had no political, intellectual, or military experience. He also didn't write his own speeches, which is something even Caligula did FFS!
-Nero loved to play the lyre, which was very unusual. He also dreamed of participating as a gladiator.
-As a response to the elites hating him, Nero in turn hated the elites right back. In fact, he could be quite cruel sometimes- if he thought you were against him, he would just straight up have you executed!
-65 AD- a huge conspiracy to kill Nero was uncovered, and Nero had a massive purge (which included even Seneca!).
-Overall ruling the empire would be difficult for Nero, as there were soon revolts in Judea, Britannia, and invasions by the Parthians.
-This doesn't even include the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD...
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