Nero

Born in AD 37 to Agrippina the Younger, Nero lost his father at three and became heir to the throne at eleven when his mother married Emperor Claudius. He took power in AD 54, guided at first by his mother, the philosopher Seneca, and his praetorian prefect, but the arrangement didn't hold. The power struggle with Agrippina ended when he had her killed; Roman sources also accuse him of orchestrating the deaths of his wife Claudia Octavia and his stepbrother Britannicus. While his generals managed wars in Parthia and Britain, Nero scandalized Rome's elite by appearing publicly as an actor, poet, and charioteer - roles reserved for slaves and entertainers - though the spectacles won him support among common citizens. After the Great Fire of Rome, many believed he started it to clear land for his Golden House; Tacitus writes that Nero blamed Christians and had them burned alive. When the senator Vindex rebelled in AD 68, Nero was declared a public enemy and fled Rome, committing suicide on 9 June at age thirty.