His truth or ours?! Still from Quo Vadis (1951)

Image here via https://www.filmaffinity.com/us/movieimage.php?imageId=112460472

Those of you who have done any course on Rome with us over the years may remember that the Roman historians Tacitus and Suetonius did a real hatchet job on the Julio-Claudian emperors (but don’t worry: no prior knowledge is assumed on this course!).

Both writers were serious men and, indeed, serious statesmen, who had held positions of great authority before they turned their hands to chronicling Rome’s recent past. But they were also products of their class and of their times. The senatorial rule of the old days had been steadily eroded. Plots and treason trials had blighted their younger years. No wonder they had a jaundiced view of one-man rule.

They were doubtless the inspiration for Lord Acton’s famous notion that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, and Nero – the last of the Julio-Claudians – might be a text-book example. And of course, the early Christian writers took their Nero and made him even more of a monster. So… we’re going to have to do some real delving if we want to get near to the truth.

We’ll look at what the Roman historians said, try to square that with what we know Nero actually did, and then try to draw some useful conclusions – cutting through the spin, to find … if not the real man, then at least a different version of the man they gave us.

And yes – of course we’ll address the hoary old chestnuts: the mummy issues, the fiddling, the Christian-burning, and the Number of the Beast!

RJW F2436 Online (via Zoom)

A 5-hour short course, delivered via 2 x 2½-hour sessions on consecutive Mondays (Monday 15 & Monday 22 July).

£40 (individual registration); £72 (for two people sharing one screen).