Nero Nero Nero (; Latin: "Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus"; 15 December 37 – 9 June 68 AD) was the last Roman emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. He was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius and became Claudius' heir and successor. Like Claudius, Nero became emperor with the consent of the Praetorian Guard. Nero's mother, Agrippina the Younger, was likely implicated in Claudius' death and Nero's nomination as emperor. She dominated Nero's early life and decisions until he cast her off. Five years into his reign, he had her murdered. During the early years of his reign, Nero was content to be
Roman emperor of the Empire, thought of Julius Caesar as the first Emperor. At the end of the Roman Republic no new, and certainly no single, title indicated the individual who held supreme power. Insofar as "emperor" could be seen as the English translation of imperator, then Julius Caesar had been an emperor, like several Roman generals before him. Instead, by the end of the civil wars in which Julius Caesar had led his armies, it became clear that there was certainly no consensus to return to the old-style monarchy, but that the period when several officials, bestowed with equal power by