A Boy Raised for the Throne
Nero was born on 15 December 37 at Antium, on the coast south of Rome, and named Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus. His father came from an old noble family and died when the boy was about three. His mother, Agrippina the Younger, was a great-granddaughter of Augustus and a sister of the emperor Gaius, better known as Caligula. Ambition ran in her blood, and she spent her life making her son emperor.
Caligula banished Agrippina for a time, and the young Lucius was raised partly in the household of an aunt. After Caligula's murder in 41, his uncle Claudius came to power and recalled her. In 49 Agrippina married Claudius, her own uncle, and the next year he adopted her son, who took the name Nero Claudius Caesar. In 53 Nero married Claudius's daughter Octavia. Claudius had a son of his own, Britannicus, but Agrippina made sure that Nero, the elder by several years, was the one presented to the army and the people as heir.
She recalled the Stoic philosopher Seneca from exile to be his tutor, and the praetorian prefect Burrus commanded the guard. When Claudius died in October 54, most ancient writers believed by poison from Agrippina's hand, the guard hailed Nero emperor. He was not yet seventeen.
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