'NERO' definitions:
Definition of 'Nero'
From: WordNet
noun
Roman Emperor notorious for his monstrous vice and fantastic luxury (was said to have started a fire that destroyed much of Rome in 64) but the Roman Empire remained prosperous during his rule (37-68) [syn: Nero, Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus, Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus]
Definition of 'Nero'
From: GCIDE
- Nero \Ne"ro\ (n[=e]"r[-o]), prop. n. A Roman emperor notorious for debauchery and barbarous cruelty; hence, any profligate and cruel ruler or merciless tyrant. -- {Ne*ro"ni*an} (n[-e]*r[=o]"n[i^]*an), a. [1913 Webster] Nero (originally Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, later Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus). Born at Antium, Italy, Dec. 15, 37 a. d.: committed suicide near Rome, June 9, 68. Roman emperor 54-68, son of Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina (daughter of Germanicus). He was adopted by his stepfather, the emperor Claudius, in
- 50, and in 53 married Octavia, the daughter of Claudius by Messalina. In 54 Claudius was poisoned by Agrippina, who caused her son to be proclaimed to the exclusion of Britannicus, the son of Claudius. His former tutors, the philosopher Seneca and Burrus, commander of the pretorian guards, were placed at the head of the government, and the early years of his reign were marked, on the whole, by clemency and justice. He caused his rival Britannicus to be removed by poison in 55. In 59 he procured the assassination of his mother, of whose control he had become impatient. Burrus died in 62, whereupon Seneca retired from public life. Freed from the restraint of his former advisers, he gave free rein to a naturally tyrannical and cruel disposition. He divorced Octavia in order to marry Poppaea, and shortly afterward put Octavia to death (62). Poppaea ultimately died from the effects of a kick administered by her brutal husband. Having been accused of kindling the fire which in 64 destroyed a large part of Rome, he sought to divert attention from himself by ordering a persecution of the Christians, whom he accused of having caused the Conflagration. He put Seneca to death in 65, and 66-68 visited Greece, where he competed for the prizes as a musician and charioteer in the religious festivals. He was overthrown by a revolt under Galba, and stabbed himself to death with the assistance of his secretary. But the imperial Reign of Terror was limited to a comparatively small number of families in Rome. The provinces ware undoubtedly better governed than in the later days of the Republic, and even in Rome itself the common people strewed flowers on the grave of Nero. --Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders, I. 6. [Century Dict. 1906]
Definition of 'NERO'
From: Easton
- Nero occurs only in the superscription (which is probably spurious, and is altogether omitted in the R.V.) to the Second Epistle to Timothy. He became emperor of Rome when he was about seventeen years of age (A.D. 54), and soon began to exhibit the character of a cruel tyrant and heathen debauchee. In May A.D. 64, a terrible conflagration broke out in Rome, which raged for six days and seven nights, and totally destroyed a great part of the city. The guilt of this fire was attached to him at the time, and the general verdict of history accuses him of the crime. "Hence, to suppress the rumour," says Tacitus (Annals, xv. 44), "he falsely charged with the guilt, and punished with the most exquisite tortures, the persons commonly called Christians, who are hated for their enormities. Christus, the founder of that name, was put to death as a criminal by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea, in the reign of Tiberius; but the pernicious superstition, repressed for a time, broke out again, not only throughout Judea, where the mischief originated, but through the city of Rome also, whither all things horrible and disgraceful flow, from all quarters, as to a common receptacle, and where they are encouraged. Accordingly, first three were seized, who confessed they were Christians. Next, on their information, a vast multitude were convicted, not so much on the charge of burning the city as of hating the human race. And in their deaths they were also made the subjects of sport; for they were covered with the hides of wild beasts and worried to death by dogs, or nailed to crosses, or set fire to, and, when day declined, burned to serve for nocturnal lights. Nero offered his own gardens for that spectacle, and exhibited a Circensian game, indiscriminately mingling with the common people in the habit of a charioteer, or else standing in his chariot; whence a feeling of compassion arose toward the sufferers, though guilty and deserving to be made examples of by capital punishment, because they seemed not to be cut off for the public good, but victims to the ferocity of one man." Another Roman historian, Suetonius (Nero, xvi.), says of him: "He likewise inflicted punishments on the Christians, a sort of people who hold a new and impious superstition" (Forbes's Footsteps of St. Paul, p. 60).
- Nero was the emperor before whom Paul was brought on his first imprisonment at Rome, and the apostle is supposed to have suffered martyrdom during this persecution. He is repeatedly alluded to in Scripture (Acts 25:11; Phil. 1:12, 13; 4:22). He died A.D. 68.
Acronyms for 'NERO'
From: V.E.R.A.
- Neuro-Evolving Robotic Operatives [project]