The Roman emperor Nero is remembered by history as the vain and immoral monster who fiddled while Rome burned. Champlin reinterprets Nero's enormities on their own terms, as the self-conscious performances of an imperial actor with a formidable grasp of Roman history and mythology and a canny sense of his audience.
Without seeking to rehabilitate the historical monster, Champlin renders Nero more vividly intelligible by illuminating the motives behind his notorious deeds. 4 halftones. 5 maps.
