1. Nero Slept With His Mother – And Murdered Her
Nero (37 – 68 AD) was one of history’s perverse rulers. He became emperor as a teenager in 54, and was dominated by his mother, who reportedly controlled him with incest. As one Roman-era writer described it: “whenever he rode in a litter with his mother, he had incestuous relations with her, which were betrayed by stains in his clothing“. That kind of upbringing sheds light on how Nero ended up so depraved. When Nero grew older he tried to assert his independence, but his mother refused to give up her power, and kept meddling in government. So he decided to murder her.
Nero resorted to elaborate schemes to do in his mother, because he wanted to make her death look accidental. He had a roof constructed that was designed to collapse on top of his mother, but she survived. He then gifted her with pleasure barge, that was specially designed to collapse. The barge collapsed in the middle of a lake while Nero watched from his villa, but to his astonishment, his mother made it out of the wreckage, swam like an otter, and made it to shore. Horrified, and dreading the awkwardness of the inevitable confrontation, Nero finally threw in the towel on subtlety. Abandoning all pretense, he sent his henchmen to club his mother to death with oars.
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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading
Ancient History Encyclopedia – Attila the Hun
Ancient History Encyclopedia – Caracalla
Archibald, Elizabeth – Incest and the Medieval Imagination (2001)
Awesome Stories – Ivan the Terrible Murders His Son
Encyclopedia Britannica – George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence
History Vault – The Mystery of Edward II‘s Death
Massie, Peter K. – Peter the Great: His Life and World (1980)
Rejected Princesses – Wu Zetian: China‘s Only Female Empress
Smithsonian Magazine, December, 2010 – Rehabilitating Cleopatra
Suetonius – The Twelve Caesars
