Having already arranged for the stoic essayist Seneca to mentor her young son, Agrippina proclaimed Nero a worthy successor to the throne, and in A.D. 54, just shy of age 17, he assumed it.

His rule ended as violently as it had begun. When he became emperor, Nero was a young man who enjoyed the theater, music and horse racing. His dominating mother, Agrippina, had already murdered ...

Few figures in history have been as polarizing as Nero, the infamous Roman emperor who had a love affair with everything ...

As a key member of his court, Seneca found that he and his friends were, in effect, governing Rome. His job was to help Nero become a reasonable emperor – a difficult job given his young age and ...