Nero in popular culture

Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus and his reign have been used in music, literature, the arts, and even in business

Anime/Comics/Video Games/Visual Novels

• The Phantom: Nero is said to have been the original owner of The Phantom's "skull ring" ^[1]
• Fate/extra, a PSP visual novel by TYPE-MOON featuring the playable character Saber, whose origin is Nero.
• Eiyuu*Senki (英雄＊戦姫) and its sequel Eiyuu*Senki GOLD (英雄＊戦姫 GOLD), a simulation video game by Tenco featuring Nero as one of the rulers in Europe, along with Caesar (in real life as Nero's ancestor Julia's brother)

Emperor In the video game Ryse, Son of Rome

Art

Statue of Nero by Claudio Valenti, Anzio, Italy (2010)

• Salvador Dalí's "Dematerialization Near the Nose of Nero" (1949)
• Henryk Siemiradzki's "A Christian Dirce" (1897)
  • "Nero's Torches" depicts Christians being martyred on Nero's orders (1876)
• John William Waterhouse's "The Remorse of Nero After the Murder of His Mother" (1878)
• In 2010 Nero's hometown of Anzio dedicated a statue of the Emperor by Claudio Valenti^[2]

Comics

• Nero, the protagonist of the Flemish comic strip series The Adventures of Nero is based on the Roman emperor. The series Nero was originally called The Adventures Of Detective Van Zwam. In the first album "Het Geheim van Matsuoka" ("The Secret of Matsuoka") Detective Van Zwam meets a man who has drank a serum that makes people insane and now thinks he's Emperor Nero. Later the character gets his sanity back and is revealed to be Mr. Heiremans (an inside joke on behalf of the creator, referring to a personal colleague of him who was named Heiremans). Sleen had intended Heiremans to remain an one-off character, but the newspaper readers liked him so much that he became a regular in the series and even became the main protagonist instead of Van Zwam. Strange enough everybody kept calling him Nero from then on, despite the fact that he no longer thought he was the eponymous Roman emperor. Even his wife is referred to as Madame Nero. The only hint referring to the time he thought he was Nero are the laurel leaves behind his ears. Nero also met Emperor Nero in the album "De Rode Keizer" ("The Red Emperor"), in which the cast travels back in time to the Roman Empire, where both men look identical and thus cause a lot of confusion.
• Nero is also featured as the antagonist in the album "Het Geheim van de Gladiatoren" ("The Secret of the Gladiators") in the Flemish comic book seriesSuske en Wiske series by Willy Vandersteen.
• In the Astérix story Asterix and the Secret Weapon Cacofonix leaves the Gauls' village and says: Qualis artifex pereo ("A great artist leaves with me"), which references Nero's famous last words before he committed suicide.
• The British comic strip series Nero and Zero (1930-1940) centered around two bumbling Roman guards called Nero and Zero who protected Julius Caesar. Nero's name was obviously inspired by emperor Nero.

Computers/Software

• Nero AG and its products Nero, Nero Digital, Nero Burning ROM (add an -E to ROM), Nero ShowTime and features a pictogram of a burning Rome.^[3]

Film

• Challenge of the Gladiator: a Nero look-alike fools the Thracians into believing he is the real Emperor.
• The Sign of the Cross: 1932 Pre-Code Cecil B. DeMille epic with Charles Laughton as Nero.
• Star Trek: Eric Bana's character is named Nero; a song on the soundtrack is named "Nero Fiddles, Narada Burns"
• History of the World, Part 1 Dom Deluise portrays a humorous version of Nero.

See also: Nero (Character) imdb.com page

Music

• Karel Kryl's "Bivoj" references Nero (from Karavana mraků)^[4]
• U2's "Mercy" references Nero (from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb) ^[5]

Opera

• Arrigo Boito's Nerone
• George Frideric Handel's Agrippina
• Pietro Mascagni's Nerone
• Claudio Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea
• Anton Rubinstein's Néron
• Alessandro Scarlatti's Nerone fatto Cesare (1695)
• Egidio Duni's Nerone (1735)

Plays

• Anonymous's The Tragedy of Nero (1624) published by Augustine Matthews ^[6]
• Víctor Balaguer's La Mort de Nerón (1894)
• Wilson Barrett's The Sign of the Cross
• Robert Bridges's Nero: From the Death of Burrus to the Death of Seneca. Comprising the Conspiracy of Piso (1894)
• Pietro Cossa's Nero: A Play in Five Acts (1881)
• Amy Freed's You, Nero (2009)
• Nathaniel Lee's The Tragedy of Nero, Emperour of Rome (1675)
• Stephen Phillips's Nero (1906)
• Jean Racine's Britannicus (1669)
• William Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 1: Henry references Nero (Act I, Scene 4)
• William Wetmore Story's Nero: An Historical Play (1872)
• The 1955 musical Damn Yankees features a song titled "Those Were The Good Old Days", in which the Devil laments the days of Nero 'fiddling through those lovely blaze.'

Radio

• "Your Loving Son, Nero," portrayed by William Conrad in an episode of the CBS radio program Crime Classics broadcast on August 31, 1953.

Television

• Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire (Michael Sheen)
• Nero (Hans Matheson)
• Horrible Histories (Jim Howick/Naz Osmanoglu)

See also: Nero (Character) imdb.com page

References

External links

• "Nero Fiddled While Rome Burned" by Mary Francis Gyles The Classical Journal, Jan. 1947 explores the history behind the legend of Nero playing the fiddle as Rome burned