Nero mother Agrippina the Younger
Early life
Nero was born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus on 15 December 37 AD in Antium (modern Anzio).: 87  He was an only-child, the son of the politician Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina the Younger. His mother Agrippina was the sister of the third Roman emperor Caligula.: 5  Nero was also the great-great-grandson of former emperor Augustus (descended from Augustus' only daughter, Julia).: 2 The ancient biographer Suetonius, who was critical of Nero's ancestors, wrote that emperor Augustus had reproached Nero's grandfather for his unseemly enjoyment of violent gladiator games. According to Jürgen Malitz, Suetonius tells that Nero's father was known to be "irascible and brutal", and that both "enjoyed chariot races and theater performances to a degree not befitting their position".: 3  Suetonius also mentions that when Nero's father Domitius was congratulated by his friends for the birth of his son, he replied that any child born to him and Agrippina would have a detestable nature and become a public danger.Domitius died in 40 AD. A few years before his father's death, his father was involved in a serious political scandal.: 3  His mother and his two surviving sisters, Agrippina and Julia Livilla, were exiled to a remote island in the Mediterranean Sea.: 4  His mother was said to have been exiled for plotting to overthrow the emperor Caligula. Nero's inheritance was taken from him, and he was sent to live with his paternal aunt Domitia Lepida the Younger, the mother of later emperor Claudius's third wife, Messalina.: 11After Caligula's death, Claudius became the new Roman Emperor. Nero's mother married Claudius in 49 AD, becoming his fourth wife. By February, 49 AD, his mother had persuaded Claudius to adopt her son Nero.After Nero's adoption by the emperor, "Claudius" became part of his name: Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus. Claudius had gold coins issued to mark the adoption.: 119  Classics professor Josiah Osgood has written that "the coins, through their distribution and imagery alike, showed that a new Leader was in the making.": 231  However, David Shotter noted that, despite events in Rome, Nero's step-brother Britannicus was more prominent in provincial coinages during the early 50s.: 52
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