WEBVTT - The Pseudo-Nero: When One Nero Isn't Enough 0:00:01.560 --> 0:00:05.200 Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shonda Land Audio in 0:00:05.280 --> 0:00:13.160 partnership with I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the 0:00:13.160 --> 0:00:16.520 third season of Criminalia. This season, we're exploring the lives 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:20.200 and motivations of some of the most notorious impostors throughout history. 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:24.400 I'm Maria tre Marquis and I'm Holly Fry. Okay, his 0:00:24.480 --> 0:00:29.400 full name was Imperative Nero Claudius Divy Claudius Philius Caesar 0:00:29.440 --> 0:00:34.280 Augustus Germanicus. But we're actually talking about the impostor Nero 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:39.320 Claudius Divvy Claudius, Philius Caesar, Augustus Germanicus. And that's times three. 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:42.239 It's a busy episode, it is, and it's a good thing. 0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:46.200 You have to read that times three. Polly's right, there 0:00:46.200 --> 0:00:51.160 are three documented pseudo neuros, and it's very likely there 0:00:51.200 --> 0:00:53.880 were many others who weren't successful enough to make it 0:00:53.960 --> 0:00:56.840 into the legend. Taking on the story of Nero is 0:00:56.880 --> 0:00:59.840 really it's really quite a big task, and to know 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:03.880 why people pretended to be him, we need to know him. 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:05.759 But I also want to give everybody a quick heads 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:08.280 up here that it won't be a surprise. Really, I 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:11.399 think in the realm of Roman rulers. But there's going 0:01:11.440 --> 0:01:14.200 to be some domestic violence in this episode. We're not 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:16.520 going to linger over any of it, but there is 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:20.240 some mentioned. There is some brutality, particularly the first couple 0:01:20.280 --> 0:01:24.959 of minutes after our first sponsor break. On December fift 0:01:25.240 --> 0:01:27.520 in the year thirty seven of the Common era, the 0:01:27.560 --> 0:01:30.520 man that we most commonly know as Nero was born 0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:34.800 as Lucius Dimidius Ahina Barbus. That's the son of Nius 0:01:34.880 --> 0:01:38.680 Dimidius A. Hino Barbus and Julia Agrippina also known as 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:42.440 Agrippina the Younger. Through his mother, Lucius was the only 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:46.399 living direct male descendant of Emperor Augustus, the first of 0:01:46.440 --> 0:01:49.720 the five Roman emperors, in the year forty eight, when 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:53.320 he was still quite young and still called Lucius. Nero's 0:01:53.360 --> 0:01:57.520 biological father, who was a Roman general and politician, died 0:01:57.960 --> 0:02:01.560 soon after Emperor Claudius took the own. Julia and Claudius, 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:05.080 who was her uncle, married Now I know uncle, but 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:09.239 marriage in Roman times, as we've previously talked about, wasn't 0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:11.639 really how we know it to be today. It was 0:02:11.680 --> 0:02:14.959 almost never romantic, and it was almost always an agreement 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:18.480 between families, and unlike in our modern society. Sometimes that 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:23.799 agreement was within families. So after this marriage, Claudius adopted Lucius, 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:26.680 and that is when Julia began to campaign that her 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:30.440 son should be the successor to the throne, not Claudius's 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:34.480 biological son Britannicus, who was the rightful heir. Not yet 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:37.600 finished with her plans for their family, Julia also convinced 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:42.200 Claudius that his daughter Octavia should marry her son, which 0:02:42.280 --> 0:02:45.880 also helped align Lucius with the throne. Those two were 0:02:45.880 --> 0:02:49.440 in fact married in the year fifty Claudius died just 0:02:49.520 --> 0:02:51.800 a few years later, in the year fifty four, and 0:02:51.880 --> 0:02:55.360 it is widely and I'm using a huge capital letters 0:02:55.400 --> 0:02:59.720 on that suspected that his wife, Julia had poisoned him 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:02.520 with shrooms at a banquet. And so if this sounds familiar, 0:03:02.560 --> 0:03:06.079 we've actually talked about Julia before. Back in our very 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:09.200 first season, we looked at the stories of female poisoners, 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:12.160 and one of the first poisoners that we talked about was, 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:16.520 in fact Julia and her mushrooms. In a very ambitious 0:03:16.520 --> 0:03:21.760 cocktail involving infusing vodka with mushrooms. It was a great idea. 0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:25.919 Still make it for bloody Mary exactly Upon the Emperor's death, 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:29.680 Nero delivered a eulogy in Claudius's honor to the Senate, 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:32.720 who then named him Emperor of Rome. This was the 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:36.040 moment when Lucius became Nero, and Lucius took the name 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:40.000 Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, and he ascended to the 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:45.160 throne on October, just shy of his seventeenth birthday. I 0:03:45.200 --> 0:03:47.720 think a lot of people would be surprised by this, 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:51.160 because what we know, or think we know about Nero 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:54.840 is that he was a tyrant. But when he started out, 0:03:54.920 --> 0:03:58.680 Nero actually wasn't described that way. Nero was a teenager, 0:03:58.880 --> 0:04:02.800 he was considered sense to historians contemporary to him, such 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:07.120 as Sutonius, described him as handsome, with blue gray eyes, freckles, 0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:11.400 and blonde hair, specifically the yellow of the lion's mane. 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:14.600 His hair color, though, is it's actually a bit debated. 0:04:14.800 --> 0:04:17.920 Many accounts referred to his blonde hair, but based off 0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:21.280 of some portraits of the emperor, some experts wonder if 0:04:21.279 --> 0:04:23.440 his hair actually may have been a little more red 0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:26.280 in color. He also had a beard, and although he 0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:30.560 may have tried, it did not cover up his double chin, 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:33.760 so this is all important information if you have a 0:04:33.800 --> 0:04:38.320 plan on pretending to be calm. Nero. So this teenager 0:04:38.440 --> 0:04:41.400 who was possibly a strawberry blonde, but liked going to 0:04:41.440 --> 0:04:44.080 the theater, and he also enjoyed music, and he loved 0:04:44.120 --> 0:04:49.080 horse racing. As emperor, he established and performed in poetry, drama, 0:04:49.160 --> 0:04:54.159 and athletic competitions. He also ended secret political trials, and 0:04:54.240 --> 0:04:58.400 he created a more independent senate. He also banned capital punishment. 0:04:58.600 --> 0:05:00.760 Despite whether the senate a rooved of him or not, 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:03.800 his people actually liked him at this point. There is 0:05:03.839 --> 0:05:07.080 actually some pro Nero evidence out there. So he started 0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:11.200 out quite well, but unfortunately that did not last. When 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:14.279 Nero began his rule, he actually preferred to stick to 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:17.120 his own interests. He preferred to leave the ruling of 0:05:17.160 --> 0:05:19.599 matters outside of his areas of interest to his three 0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:24.120 chief advisors, a major philosophical figure of the time, Seneca 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:28.599 who was also his former tutor, Sextis Eprinus Burris, who 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:32.719 was a prefect of the Praetorian Guard, and Julia, who 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:37.560 we know was his mother. Julia, wrote historian Cassius Dio quote, 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:41.000 managed for him all the business of the empire. She 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:45.600 received embassies and sent letter to various communities, governors, and kings. 0:05:46.600 --> 0:05:49.480 After a falling out of some sort, though or perhaps 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:51.880 it was just that Nero reached the age of eighteen, 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:54.920 he eventually decided his mother was meddling and he did 0:05:54.920 --> 0:05:58.960 not want her influencing his rule. Encouraged by his former 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:03.240 tutor Seneca, Nero began asserting himself. Julia assumed she was 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:06.279 entitled to rule as the mother of an emperor, though, 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:10.839 and she began threatening Nero. Nero, though, was completely unfazed. 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:14.200 The Emperor Trajan, who came to power thirty years after 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:17.960 Nero's death, is said to have spoken about the quinquinium neronis, 0:06:18.240 --> 0:06:21.440 which means the five good years of Nero's fourteen year rule. 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:25.760 There's actually a phrase about it. We're going to take 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:28.400 a break for a word from our sponsor. Nero may 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:41.160 have started out strong, but things changed quickly. Welcome back 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:45.000 to Criminalia. Now we are reaching that time we spoke 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:46.960 of at the top of the show, when Nero's rule 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:50.640 became brutal and violent. It most certainly did, and after 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:55.440 dispensing with his advisors, the empire became violent under him. 0:06:55.600 --> 0:07:00.000 Rumors circulated about him, including everything from how he sedue 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:03.320 married women to how he wandered the streets at night 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:07.440 looking for people to beat or to kill at random. 0:07:07.560 --> 0:07:10.960 Nero was at this point considered to be decadent, ineffectual, 0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:15.960 and tyrannical. He began executing rivals, political rivals, or otherwise 0:07:16.040 --> 0:07:19.880 so do not cross him, and he started to torture 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:24.000 and execute Christians. Nero two had also developed quite a 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:26.960 not at all random hit list. It was also in 0:07:27.040 --> 0:07:33.200 fifty five that Nero's stepbrother, Britannicus, suddenly died under suspicious circumstances. 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:37.520 Four years later, in the year fifty nine, after learning 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:41.080 his mother was allegedly plotting against him, Nero put a 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:44.840 hit on her. First, the plan was to poison her. 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:48.600 Then it was to have her crushed by a falling ceiling, 0:07:48.640 --> 0:07:52.960 which seems very labor intensive, but they all do. Then 0:07:53.400 --> 0:07:55.679 he wanted to have her drowned in a self sinking boat. 0:07:55.920 --> 0:08:01.080 She survived every single attempt. Julia did not, however, survived, 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:04.040 being stabbed to death, a murder disguised as suicide at 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:07.480 the order of her son. Then, in the year sixty two, 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:13.640 Nero exiled then executed his stepsister slash wife Octavia historian 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:17.880 Suetonius wrote that quote. After several vain attempts to strangle her, 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:20.720 he divorced her on the ground of barrenness, and when 0:08:20.720 --> 0:08:23.640 the people took it ill and openly reproached him, he 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:27.360 banished her besides, and finally he had her put to 0:08:27.400 --> 0:08:30.880 death on a charge of adultery that was so shameless 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:35.959 and unfounded. With Octavia gone, Nero married Papaia, who was 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:38.880 a noble woman who was well known for her beauty. 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:43.400 Roman historian Tacitus recorded that in sixty five, Nero kicked 0:08:43.400 --> 0:08:47.199 Papia to death. She was pregnant with their child at 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:50.800 the time. Tacitus went on to describe the act as 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:55.080 and were quoting him here a casual outburst of rage. 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:58.439 In April of the year sixty four, a Roman governor 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:03.720 named Gaius Julius Decks renounced Nero. The Praetorian Guard remember 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:06.120 that is the force that was charged with guarding the 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:10.360 emperor himself, renounced their support for him as well. When 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:13.880 the Romans finally had enough of Nero's behavior, they revolted. 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:17.840 By early June, the Senate declared Nero an enemy of 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:21.520 the people, which basically meant that anyone could kill him 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:25.200 without punishment. Tacitus wrote at the time, and we're gonna 0:09:25.240 --> 0:09:29.400 quote him again. Unlucky birds settled on the capitol houses 0:09:29.480 --> 0:09:32.880 fell in numerous earthquakes, and the week were trampled by 0:09:32.920 --> 0:09:37.720 the fleeing crowd. Nero escaped to the country, where on 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:42.680 June nine he died by suicide. He did not manage 0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:47.080 this on his own, though his secretary at Paphroditos assisted him. 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:50.360 Nero was the fifth Emperor of Rome and, following his death, 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:54.439 the last in the Julio Claudian dynasty. The line is 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:57.040 synonymous with the death of Nero, but it actually wasn't 0:09:57.120 --> 0:10:01.359 until fifty years after that that historians sweeked Oinous reported 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:04.800 that his final words were quote what an artist dies 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:09.679 in me. Political impostors, as we've seen this season, often 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:13.280 pop up when they see a specific circumstance happening. A 0:10:13.400 --> 0:10:17.199 power vacuum, for example, the death of an emperor who 0:10:17.280 --> 0:10:20.960 had no heir, such as Nero, left the door wide 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:24.199 open for people to make all sorts of claims. Claims 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:27.640 to being his heir, claims to being the emperor himself, 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:31.480 more and more claims. I'm sure The year sixty nine 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:34.080 was known as the year of four Emperors, and it 0:10:34.160 --> 0:10:38.199 was named because four emperors ruled Rome in rapid succession 0:10:38.240 --> 0:10:43.080 that year. They were galba Otho, Vitelius, and Vespasian. None 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:45.560 of those men were impostors, but this is when the 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:51.040 impostors started to come forward. Nero may have been a tyrant, 0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:55.320 which actually may be attractive to some impersonators, but most 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:58.600 of all, he was just a powerful man, for better 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:01.520 or for worse. He ruled over the entire Roman Empire 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:05.400 for fourteen years. According to the Glaudian census that took 0:11:05.400 --> 0:11:08.360 place in the year forty seven, the population was just 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:12.160 under seven million people. The Roman Empire was really something 0:11:12.200 --> 0:11:15.679 to behold, and it's hard to know just how accurate 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:19.480 that number really is. There was biased recording, for sure, 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:22.400 and we also don't know whether or not the count 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:26.160 over the years was limited to male citizens, male citizens 0:11:26.160 --> 0:11:29.440 and their families, or maybe it included women, freed men, 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:33.280 enslaved people, anybody else. Either way, we do know he 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:36.760 ruled over a huge amount of people. Even just scratching 0:11:36.760 --> 0:11:41.280 the surface, Nero's rule was, let's call it turbulent, but 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:45.480 there were some really momentous and historically significant events, both 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:49.400 good and bad, mostly bad during his reign, the Great 0:11:49.440 --> 0:11:52.760 Fire of Rome, which some actually claimed that Nero ignited 0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:56.120 the rebellion of Buddhica against the Roman conquerors of Britain, 0:11:56.320 --> 0:11:59.880 the assassination of Nero's mother and his first and second wives, 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:04.080 many many other deaths, of course, and as is synonymous 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:08.600 with Nero's brand, there was extravagant excess and that meant 0:12:09.000 --> 0:12:14.600 tax increases and other unpopular decisions. With that snapshot of 0:12:14.679 --> 0:12:18.000 the man who was Nero, why would anyone ever really 0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:20.880 want to pretend to be him? We're going to find out. 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:22.840 We're going to take a break for a word from 0:12:22.880 --> 0:12:25.120 our sponsor, and when we're back where you're going to 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:37.960 first talk about Nero as the Antichrist. Welcome back to Criminalia. 0:12:38.280 --> 0:12:43.199 Why would anyone want to be Nero? Well maybe power, money, 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:47.080 murder at think list goes on sure murder if you 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:49.040 wanted to do that, do you want to call it that? 0:12:49.520 --> 0:12:53.800 Despite his marriages and lovers, Nero had no air so 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:58.200 almost immediately following his death, rival generals began moving their 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:01.640 troops toward Rome to stake they claims, and it also 0:13:01.679 --> 0:13:05.119 didn't take long before people pretending to be Nero appeared, 0:13:05.280 --> 0:13:09.360 according to historian sweet Tony, as several imperial edicts were 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:13.400 forged under Nero's name after he had died, and with 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:16.800 new evidence who did these forgeries. The signing of those 0:13:16.840 --> 0:13:21.760 documents actually encouraged Nero's followers, who believed a very persistent 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:26.319 prophecy Nero's return was imminent to avenge himself against his enemies. 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:29.360 Please let me have a prophecy like this when I passed. 0:13:31.000 --> 0:13:34.960 This idea of Nero's return was a very popular one. 0:13:35.480 --> 0:13:38.880 In addition to avenging himself against his enemies, there was 0:13:38.920 --> 0:13:41.559 also a belief that was known as the Nero read 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:45.319 of Eva's. That was a legend that assumed that Nero 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:50.000 was somehow still alive. Depending on who you were and 0:13:50.040 --> 0:13:52.920 where you sat in society, this would have been either 0:13:53.000 --> 0:13:56.640 a good or bad prediction. The wealthy, who had plotted 0:13:56.679 --> 0:13:59.360 against him kind of feared that if Nero returned, he 0:13:59.400 --> 0:14:01.320 would come for them first. It's kind of part of 0:14:01.360 --> 0:14:05.040 that avenging himself against his enemies thing. The poor, who 0:14:05.120 --> 0:14:08.000 had benefited from the emperor's public policies believed that he 0:14:08.040 --> 0:14:11.000 had fled to Parthia. Today, that's the region known as 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:14.560 Corazon in Iran. They are in the seat of an 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:17.320 enemy empire. He would have been welcome to build an 0:14:17.440 --> 0:14:20.720 army to destroy not just his enemies, but all of Rome. 0:14:21.280 --> 0:14:24.160 I'm sure that he would have too, because it seems 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:27.760 like he was just into destruction. So there's another thing 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:32.640 going on here. We mentioned earlier that Nero really seemed 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:37.480 to enjoy his torture of Christians, and Christianity was still 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:40.840 new in the first century, and among the Christians who 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:45.160 suffered terrible religious persecution under his rule, it was believed 0:14:45.240 --> 0:14:49.840 Nero was the personification of the Antichrist, as described in 0:14:49.880 --> 0:14:52.280 the Book of Revelations in the New Testament of the 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:55.680 Christian Bible. They believed for centuries, and I believe I 0:14:55.720 --> 0:14:59.440 read it was into the fifth century, maybe the sixth century. 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:02.240 It was a two hundred years that Nero would return 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:07.680 to destroy Christianity. Today, scholars find it debatable whether Emperor 0:15:07.680 --> 0:15:11.480 Nero was ever portrayed or in some way characterized in 0:15:11.520 --> 0:15:14.560 the Bible, and they typically agree that the description of 0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:18.240 the Antichrist in Revelations thirteen is really not similar enough 0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:22.760 to Nero's legacy to prove or suggest anything. Nero impostors 0:15:22.840 --> 0:15:25.160 began to appear just a month or two after his death, 0:15:25.240 --> 0:15:29.200 and continued until the reign of Emperor Demisian began. The 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:32.280 first of the men, known as a pseudo Nero, appeared 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:35.520 in sixty We don't know his name, but what we 0:15:35.560 --> 0:15:37.520 do know is that he appeared in what is modern 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:41.240 day Greece. It's speculated by some historians that this first 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:44.760 impostor decided to appear in Greece based on a trip 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:48.480 that Nero had taken a few years prior. It is 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:52.000 said that Nero absolutely loved Greece, which was then part 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:56.040 of Imperial Rome, and he took part in several Greek festivals. 0:15:56.080 --> 0:15:59.000 The year that he visited, he took home a rumored 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:04.280 eight hundred eight breaths of victory for his artistic presentations. Listen, 0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:07.680 I'm creative. That's a lot to churn out. He should 0:16:07.680 --> 0:16:12.120 be very proud. Nero also competed in the chariot races, 0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:16.240 which he also won, even though he fell from his chariot. 0:16:16.920 --> 0:16:21.520 Nero wins. Nero always wins. But does the fake Nero win? 0:16:22.240 --> 0:16:25.760 It's hard to know. The historian Tacitus wrote that this 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:29.600 first fake Nero could have been an enslaved person from 0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:34.200 Pontus which is located in what's modern day Eastern Black 0:16:34.240 --> 0:16:38.080 Sea region of Turkey or Tacit is considered the man 0:16:38.160 --> 0:16:41.520 may have been a freedman from Italy. In other writings, 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:45.760 because the first pseudo Nero appeared in Greece, he attributed 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:48.680 the whole impostor problem too, and I'm going to quote 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:52.080 him the gullibility of the Greeks got to get a 0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:55.680 jab in. I know common Tacitus and Tacitus had more 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:59.320 to say about the not Nero. It is through Tacitus 0:16:59.400 --> 0:17:02.360 that we know this fake Nero was appealing to Roman 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:05.680 soldiers to become part of his own growing armed forces, 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:09.840 and Tacitus was onto something. The first pseudo Nero was 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:12.680 able to convince a group of army deserters to join 0:17:12.800 --> 0:17:15.240 up with him, believing that he was the real Nero, 0:17:16.000 --> 0:17:18.639 and this group set sail, and then this pseudo Nero 0:17:19.240 --> 0:17:24.360 began his career in piracy. The pseudo Nero's motley group, actually, though, 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:27.040 was blown by a storm to an island off the 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:30.240 coast of modern day Greece. It's here where his crew 0:17:30.320 --> 0:17:34.520 first began acting like pirates. They stole from businesses, they 0:17:34.560 --> 0:17:37.199 even stole from other pirate crews. They were known for 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:41.199 kidnapping the locals. The Romans benefited from piracy during the 0:17:41.240 --> 0:17:44.960 first century, though from a Nero impostor or otherwise, so 0:17:45.240 --> 0:17:47.800 this actually wasn't a bad plan for our Not Nero 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:51.479 pirates supplied the empire with all kinds of things, but 0:17:52.080 --> 0:17:56.320 mostly people they had kidnapped and enslave. During this time, 0:17:56.359 --> 0:18:00.119 piracy spread through the Mediterranean and that became a problem 0:18:00.200 --> 0:18:03.320 for a lot of reasons, but mainly because pirate ships 0:18:03.359 --> 0:18:07.960 made waterways hard or even impossible to navigate, and that 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:11.240 caused a stop or slow in trade. And because of 0:18:11.240 --> 0:18:15.800 the pirates proclivity to steal, then supplies grew scarce. And 0:18:15.880 --> 0:18:17.960 I feel like I just came full circle here. But 0:18:19.040 --> 0:18:23.760 hires the in the Mediterranean, it's a self perpetuating system. 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:26.800 According to records of naval captains at the time, it 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:31.080 was Roman senator Lucius a Supernus who finally ended this ruse. 0:18:31.640 --> 0:18:34.680 He ordered his soldiers to storm the ship and kill 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:38.440 the pseudo Nero, and when the impostor was apprehended, he 0:18:38.560 --> 0:18:42.760 was beheaded. The first pseudo Nero, though never broke character 0:18:43.640 --> 0:18:47.119 and never stopped using the name Nero. I couldn't find this, 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:50.720 but I hope that he used the name pirate Nero 0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:55.000 instead of emperor in this particular situation, but I will 0:18:55.080 --> 0:18:58.520 never know, so we have to wait like ten years 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:01.480 for the second notable Nero imposter to come on the scene. 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:04.840 The second pseudo Nero appeared during the reign of Titus, 0:19:04.960 --> 0:19:09.159 who was emperor from seventy nine to eighty one, and 0:19:09.240 --> 0:19:12.560 this not Nero was a man named Tarenthius Maximus, who 0:19:12.600 --> 0:19:16.000 was a Roman citizen. Almost certain that was the case, 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:20.040 a few things in Tarentius's story get a little jumbled 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:25.080 with time, though. He is, although infrequently, described as resembling 0:19:25.160 --> 0:19:27.960 an Asian man, so this would mean Central Asian in 0:19:28.000 --> 0:19:31.200 this case. It's written that some of his first supporters 0:19:31.240 --> 0:19:34.800 were from Asian regions, and the Roman Empire extended into 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:38.000 Asian regions at this point. Specifically, we're talking about the 0:19:38.040 --> 0:19:40.760 area that was once called Asia Minor and is now 0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:44.879 modern day Turkey. It's written he resembled Nero in appearance 0:19:44.960 --> 0:19:47.320 that at least a bit, and perhaps a bit in 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:51.359 his manner of speaking too, and as the pretend emperor 0:19:51.400 --> 0:19:54.800 he as Nero was known to do, also sang and 0:19:54.920 --> 0:19:58.439 enjoyed playing the lyre, which is basically a small U 0:19:58.520 --> 0:20:01.480 shaped harp, although they still the time period. He was 0:20:01.600 --> 0:20:05.520 probably playing the satara, which is a heavy wooden instrument 0:20:05.600 --> 0:20:09.280 with four to like seven strings, and it's really similar 0:20:09.320 --> 0:20:13.560 to the liar. Aside from playing music, Tarentius had big 0:20:13.560 --> 0:20:17.320 plans as a second pseudo Nero. Tarentius is a pretender 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:19.919 who did have real followers, and quite a lot of them, 0:20:19.960 --> 0:20:24.680 actually spreading across the Euphrates to Parthia. His followers grew 0:20:24.720 --> 0:20:27.159 large enough that he actually led a rebellion, but that 0:20:27.240 --> 0:20:31.880 was quickly suppressed by Titus's forces. Ultimately, he was given 0:20:31.960 --> 0:20:35.280 refuge by Roman rival are Tobanus, the third of Parthia, 0:20:35.640 --> 0:20:39.240 but he was executed when his true identity was revealed. 0:20:39.960 --> 0:20:44.000 And here we are with our third and final impostor. 0:20:44.600 --> 0:20:49.399 The third pseudo Nero appeared twenty yet twenty years after 0:20:49.440 --> 0:20:52.399 the real nero is death. He maybe twenty years closer 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:55.560 to modern times, but we know the least about this 0:20:55.920 --> 0:20:59.560 fake Nero. He arrived on the scene during the reign 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:03.840 of Misian, the Roman emperor from eight one to ninety six. 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:06.520 He was actually just chiefly known for his reign of terror. 0:21:06.960 --> 0:21:10.080 This not Nero was from Parthia and was backed by 0:21:10.119 --> 0:21:13.560 the Parthians and the leaders of the Parthian Empire. The 0:21:13.600 --> 0:21:16.840 Empire was a major political and cultural power in ancient 0:21:16.880 --> 0:21:21.560 Iran between two hundred forty seven b c. Two e. 0:21:22.000 --> 0:21:24.720 The Parthian Empire and the Romans, first as the Roman 0:21:24.760 --> 0:21:28.159 Republic and then as the Roman Empire ward for if 0:21:28.200 --> 0:21:32.600 itally it all up roughly seven hundred years. The Parthian 0:21:32.680 --> 0:21:35.680 Empire stood in the way of the Roman Empire's desire 0:21:35.760 --> 0:21:39.720 for eastern expansion, but that dynasty was a superpower in 0:21:39.760 --> 0:21:43.360 its own right. The Empire stretched from the Mediterranean to India, 0:21:43.520 --> 0:21:48.040 roughly the region located in northeastern Iran today. They didn't 0:21:48.080 --> 0:21:51.520 just fight and win battles against Rome. They were also 0:21:51.600 --> 0:21:55.439 successful at their commercial endeavors. Among other things, they acted 0:21:55.560 --> 0:21:59.960 as intermediaries between Chinese growers and Roman manufacturers on law 0:22:00.119 --> 0:22:03.840 the Silk Road. So the third fake Nero was successfully 0:22:03.880 --> 0:22:06.880 able to convince a large number of people throughout both 0:22:06.960 --> 0:22:11.879 the Parthian and Roman empires that he was actually Nero returned. Remember, 0:22:11.920 --> 0:22:14.040 a lot of them believed this prophecy. They were ready 0:22:14.280 --> 0:22:18.040 for a Nero to show up exactly ultimately as the 0:22:18.080 --> 0:22:23.600 other pseudo Neros. This Nero too disappeared by execution, possibly 0:22:24.359 --> 0:22:26.720 as he was a party in pretending to be a Roman. 0:22:26.920 --> 0:22:30.120 But here's the sort of disappointing part. History doesn't leave 0:22:30.200 --> 0:22:32.920 us that answer. We don't know what actually happened to him. 0:22:33.160 --> 0:22:34.840 It's like a choose your inn adventure. You can make 0:22:34.880 --> 0:22:38.919 it up yourself, which reminds me that sometimes you make 0:22:39.000 --> 0:22:42.320 choose your own adventure. Cocktails and mocktails, and you probably 0:22:42.359 --> 0:22:43.879 don't have one today, but I would love to hear 0:22:43.880 --> 0:22:45.880 about what you do have. I hear there's more than one. 0:22:46.320 --> 0:22:48.680 There's more than one because there's a chooser and adventure 0:22:48.800 --> 0:22:53.240 sort of, but not for the mock tail. The mocktail 0:22:53.320 --> 0:22:57.040 is very simple. Here is where I started thinking about 0:22:57.480 --> 0:23:01.040 what we would do as a doneiro, which is what 0:23:01.080 --> 0:23:02.600 I'm just going to call this one because I really 0:23:02.640 --> 0:23:06.320 love that phrase. Recently, on another podcast, I Do Stuff 0:23:06.359 --> 0:23:09.480 You Missed in History Class, we talked about dire Coquinadia, 0:23:09.560 --> 0:23:12.840 which is the first known cookbook and its recipes from 0:23:12.840 --> 0:23:18.200 the first to the fourth centuries that were combined by 0:23:18.280 --> 0:23:21.719 someone possibly named a pick Us in the early you 0:23:21.760 --> 0:23:25.520 know stages of our history. Anyway, the pick U says 0:23:25.520 --> 0:23:29.520 it's known has some good recipes for drinks, and so 0:23:29.560 --> 0:23:31.800 I went to it first. There are a couple of 0:23:31.880 --> 0:23:34.359 recipes it has, and I want to get credit for 0:23:34.480 --> 0:23:38.359 not doing the path and easy to predict for me 0:23:38.520 --> 0:23:43.960 thing but I wanted to which is rose wine. This 0:23:44.040 --> 0:23:46.360 is not the drink for today, but if you're curious, 0:23:46.560 --> 0:23:50.240 it involves like collecting fresh rose petals and then you 0:23:50.280 --> 0:23:52.560 steep them in wine for like seven days, and then 0:23:52.600 --> 0:23:54.600 you strain it and you steep it for another seven 0:23:54.640 --> 0:23:57.560 days and it I didn't have twenty one days to 0:23:57.600 --> 0:24:02.080 do the whole process. But also has a recipe for 0:24:02.640 --> 0:24:07.000 violet wine, and that sounded yummy and delicious, and again 0:24:07.040 --> 0:24:09.960 I didn't feel like steeping flowers in wine. But I 0:24:10.040 --> 0:24:12.800 have a workaround that makes it quick and easy, and 0:24:12.880 --> 0:24:15.760 that is violet syrup. And if you have never had this, 0:24:15.920 --> 0:24:18.960 it is a majestic addition to your kitchen. You will 0:24:19.000 --> 0:24:21.600 start putting it in everything. It goes great on everything 0:24:21.680 --> 0:24:26.320 from ice cream into ginger ales into like even some 0:24:26.760 --> 0:24:29.480 teas mixed with a violet syrup are very beautiful. I 0:24:29.560 --> 0:24:33.040 just love it. So for the mocktail pseudo neuro, you're 0:24:33.040 --> 0:24:35.119 going to start with three quarters of an ounce of 0:24:35.200 --> 0:24:37.720 violet syrup. I didn't go more than that because that 0:24:37.880 --> 0:24:41.080 is another syrup that will really start to overwhelm. And 0:24:41.119 --> 0:24:43.240 as I like to say, drive the bus, you're gonna 0:24:43.280 --> 0:24:45.119 get flower tastes with three quarters of an ounce, I 0:24:45.160 --> 0:24:48.120 promise you, and then throw that in a glass with ice, 0:24:48.840 --> 0:24:52.040 add about five ounces of cranberry juice. I like to 0:24:52.080 --> 0:24:54.359