The Quest for Character by Massimo Pigliucci

Author:Massimo Pigliucci [PIGLIUCCI, MASSIMO]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Basic Books
Published: 2022-09-27T00:00:00+00:00

THE MAJOR EVENTS IN THE SENECA-NERO TIMELINE

• 4 BCE: Seneca is born in Corduba, modern Spain.

• 37 CE: Nero is born in Antium, just south of Rome.

• 41 CE: Seneca is sent into exile to Corsica.

• 49 CE: Seneca is recalled to Rome by Agrippina, Claudius’s fourth wife and Nero’s mother.

• 54 CE: Nero ascends to the throne at age seventeen after the death of the emperor Claudius, who was possibly poisoned by Agrippina.

• 54–62 CE: Seneca acts as Nero’s adviser in collaboration with the praetorian prefect Sextus Afranius Burrus.

• 55 CE: Britannicus (son of Claudius and the former empress Messalina) is poisoned, almost certainly on Nero’s order; the death eliminates a possible future competitor for Nero and is probably triggered by Agrippina’s threat to Nero to switch her allegiance to Britannicus.

• 58 CE: Agrippina is murdered on Nero’s orders, possibly in response to her participation in a conspiracy and certainly because of her repeated attempts to assert influence and power.

• 55–60 CE: Nero takes on the role of consul four times in this period, and several ancient historians—as well as the emperor Trajan—speak well of his principate at this point, in contrast with his later rule.

• 62–64 CE: Seneca tries to retire twice and is twice rebuffed by Nero.

• 64 CE: Nero is accused of setting the great fire of Rome and even of playing the lyre while watching his city burn. In reality, he was outside Rome and poured a lot of effort and resources into rebuilding the devastated area.

• 65 CE: Gaius Calpurnius Piso organizes a conspiracy against Nero, which fails.

• 65 CE: Nero suspects Seneca of being part of the Pisonian conspiracy and orders him to commit suicide. Seneca was likely not an active party in the plot but just as likely knew of it and did not alert the emperor.

• 68 CE: Having become increasingly erratic and paranoid, Nero commits suicide or has one of his trusted men kill him. The Julio-Claudian dynasty comes to an end, chaos ensues, and things eventually settle down again with the advent of the emperor Vespasian.

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