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Following the modest success of the post-WWII Ralston Tigre MkII, the Ralston company looked to a more ambitious and glamorous execution with the Tigre MkIII, released in 1961.
The basis for the new car, again came from the General Motors' premium division - Cadillac - for the architectural hardware.
The Frame & Underbody was developed from the 1959/60 GM 'C' Bodies - a short-lived production run for GM, hence the availability to the Ralston Company. Wheelbase was set at 130 in (3,302 mm) for the standard sedan, and all the specialty 2-door cars. The long-wheelbase Limousine, Town Car and Specialty models sharing the GM 'D' Body 150 in (3,805 mm) with the Cadillac Series 75 / Fleetwood.
Powertrain was also Cadillac derived, incluing the 390 CID (6.4 Litre) V8 engine. Power was rated the same 345 bhp (257 kW). Cadillac was to retire this engine, with the development of a new engine of the same capacity for 1961. For the MkIII-C of 1967 the V8 engine was enlarged to 429 CID (7.0 litre) with the new OHV Cadillac engine, but power remained the same as the 1961-67 models, while torque rose to 480 lb.ft (650 Nm).
One notable characteristic of all Ralston Tigre MkIII models are the reverse-opening doors. On all two-door cars, the doors operated on special hinges to move backwards along the body, offering easier ingress and egress for all passengers. For the four-door models, the front doors were conventionally hinged, per the originating GM 'C' and 'D' body vehicles, whilst the rear doors adopted the special hinged mechanism to allow rear passengers easier access. The adoption of GM's body-on-frame chassis permitted the omission of a conventional B-pillar on the four-door cars. A rarity at the time, but shared with the contemporary Lincoln saloons.
The real party trick appeared in 1964, with the introduction of the MkIII B. This model, though visually little changed from the MkIII of 1961, incorporated the first (and only) reintroduction of the V12 engine to the US-based motor industry.
Once more, the engine was based on that of a Cadillac.
www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2010/04/the-ohc-v12-that-cadill...
The prototype engines were produced in 7.4 and 8.2 litre forms, originally to support the fitment of the V12 to the upcoming Cadillac Eldorado - Cadillac's first front-wheel-drive vehicle. Ultimately the V12 installation in the Eldorado was cancelled, as the engineering team considered the engine to be transversely installed, until late in the development, where the V12 length would have been a significant disadvantage in terms of installing a matching transmission. Cadillac instead, continued with V8 development at the same swept capacities, even when the Eldorado was ultimately launched with the longitudinal engine installation with the gearbox alongside. As the Eldorado was to be the most premium of premium Cadillacs, the large capacity V8s filtered across to the RWD BOF models, but the V12 was not fitted to any of the division's cars.
This opened the possibility of offering the V12 to another luxury vehicle manufacturer who did not have the funding to develop such an engine on their own.
Ralston, wishing to also continue the production of the V8 models launched in 1961, renamed the V8 as the E I G H T, and offered the V12 engined as a premium model above this. In truth, the engine was the only key difference, as there were very few restriction on the use of either engine in combination with the low-volume bodystyles on offer.
Ralston remained (relatively) conservative on the engine specification, choosing not to lift the power from the original Cadillac specification, nonetheless choosing the larger 8.2 litre capacity engine at a rated 394 hp (296 kW) and 506 lb.ft (686 Nm).
Externally there was noting to differentiate between the fitment of the V8 and V12 engines to the cars, other than the subtle text spelling out or on the side engine vent ahead of the doors. The 1964 introduction coincided with a minor external facelift, key change being the fitment of a third 'X' feature in the front grille, replacing the '5th' headlamp feature fitted on 1961-early 1964 vehicles. Additionally, the modest tailfins were trimmed smaller again, and a more conservative rear licence plate treatment used in place of the 3rd rocket pod in the rear facia.
In 1967, the Tigre MkIII-C underwent further revisions. There were new front fenders, eliminating the large, round double stacked headlamps, replacing them with small corner bumperettes and small double-stacked corner lamps. the headlamps were now hidden behind louvres in the new grille. There was now a single 'X' form at the front of the grille, centrally mounted. At the rear, the existing rocket pod tail lamps were retained. The 1967 MkIII-C reverted to the MkIII 1961-64 trunklid and bumper, but with the central '+' rocket feature supplanted by the licence plate. For all SWB body styles. there were new tapered fender tops (barely fins), recalling the Tigre MkII C & D. Long wheelbase 4-door cars retained the MkIII-B rear fenders as they suited the overall vehicle lines better.
Minor changes to the side of the vehicle included deeper opening doors, and a more open front wheelarch taper. A chrome trim feature led from the front fender vent to the rear rocket pod.
The model shown here is the commonly ordered Hardtop Coupe - a very sharp looking car, despite the origins dating back eight years to 1959 for the basic architecture. The model is one of the 7.0 litre V8s, despite there being little differentiation externally to vehicles fitted with the V12.
A very similar car was used as the prototype vehicle fitted with early versions of the extremely rare V16. These cars were development mules for the proposed Ralston Centaur - to be termed , though ultimately no completed customer cars were ordered, the 21 prototype engines fitted to various Tigre MkIII vehicles were either completed as un-homologated show cars for use by the Ralston family on their various estates, later restored from their mule conditions to rare collector cars, or unfortunately, destroyed. It has been long rumoured that the 13 crushed cars all had their engines removed, so potentially there is a small pool of functioning 10 litre V16s waiting for re-fitment to Ralston chassis.
This Lego miniland-scale Ralston Tigre MkIII C Hardtop Coupe (1967) has been created for Flickr LUGNuts' 95th Build Challenge, - "Designing the Ralston Legacy", - for the design of vehicles under the fictional 'Ralston' company. The models must include a 'X' design feature on the car or bike. A number of Ralston challenge vehicle concepts are possible in this challenge.
[Cadillac V12 engine information taken from 'thetruthaboutcars.com']
www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2010/04/the-ohc-v12-that-cadill...
William H. Stone by Mathew Brady of New York, N.Y., and Washington, D.C. Stone and his Company G of the 144th New York Infantry served as headquarters guard on Aug. 1, 1863, the day a deserter was executed near their camp at Greenwich, Va. The regimental history told the story.
At Greenwich the Regiment was called to take part in the execution of the extreme penalty visited by military law upon soldiers who desert. At a court martial held some time before, six men had been tried for desertion, found guilty and condemned to death. The movements of the Division had been so continuous since that time that no opportunity had been given for carrying the findings into execution. In the meantime five of those condemned had been pardoned. The sixth one, Bradford Butler of the 157th N.Y.V., who had been the ringleader in inducing the others to desert and this added to the fact that it was his second offense, it was felt that he should suffer the extreme penalty of the law. In the afternoon after reaching Greenwich orders were received directing the Division to attend this execution. The Division was formed on three sides of a square. In the center of the fourth side was an open grave.
As soon as the troops were in place, Co. G. of our Regiment, then acting as headquarters guard, under command of Capt. Stone, appeared escorting the prisoner. Immediately preceding the prisoner was an ambulance bearing the prisoner's coffin. On reaching the grave the coffin was placed beside it and the prisoner directed to take his seat upon it when the sentence of the court martial was read by Capt. Stone. The prisoner then kneeled beside his coffin and the Chaplain prayed with him. After the Chaplain had left the prisoner, two soldiers advanced and covering his eyes with a bandage, placed him at the foot of the coffin, facing the firing squad. After these men had retired at a command from the officer in charge, a volley was fired by the shooting detail and the prisoner fell forward on his coffin — dead. The several Regiments of the Division were then marched past the dead body and back to their respective camps.
The day was oppressively hot, and this coupled with all the sad scenes which they witnessed, made the 1st day of Aug., 1863, one to be remembered by every soldier present. Doubtless remembered too by every civilian present for Gen. Gordon in his diary records that
when the British resident at Greenwich learned that the execution was to take place so near his home, he asked permission to attend with his two little boys. Permission having been given he secured a position as near to the place as he could and watched the impressive scene through.
EPILOGUE: Stone fell ill soon afterwards, was granted a leave to go to his home in Margaretville, N.Y. He died before completing the journey.
This image may not be reproduced by any means without permission.
Julian Assange supports NSA whistleblower Ed Snowden in speech transcript - London 22.06.2013
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange released a transcript of a scheduled speech - cancelled suddenly for security reasons - to members of the press and the crowd of Assange and Bradley (now Chelsea) Manning supporters outside the Ecuadorean embassy, in which Assange called for global support for fugitive ex-NSA whistleblower Ed Snowden whose whistleblowing document leaks have shocked the world as it discovered the unimaginably vast scale of illegal eavesdropping and surveillance carried out on ordinary citizens, politicians and businesses by the National Security Agency in tandem with GCHQ in the UK and national security agencies all over Europe and with Mossad in Israel.
All photos © 2013 Pete Riches
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Samuel Page was sworn in as a 'Special Constable' by Manchester Police Constabulary for the weekend of the executions of the 'Manchester Martyrs' - William Allen, Michael O'Brien, and Michael Larkin. The three Fenians were hanged on 23 November 1867 in front of an estimated 10,000 people.
Samuel Page's letter to his mother was recently acquired by the National Library of Ireland and sheds light on events surrounding the hanging which took place in front of the New Bailey Prison in Salford, England. Note that throughout the letter, Page calls O'Brien by the pseudonym he used while in England - William Gould.
Reproduction rights owned by the National Library of Ireland
This is the plaque from Kilmainham Jail in Dublin. It commemorates the executed leaders of the Easter Rising of 1916.
Edouard Manet - Execution of emperor Maximilian (second version, later cropped and still later put together again) [1867-68] - London NG
Who wants to know more about the historical background, why archduke Maximilian of Hapsburg entered in the Mexican adventure may read the following article:
www.holocaustianity.com/hysteria/maximilian.html
More about the history of Manet's paintings:
1) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Execution_of_Emperor_Maximilian
2) www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2006/Manet/
or
www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2006/Manet/detail_f...
Dublin Bus (Summerhill Depot) Leyland Olympian RH31 parks up on Kildare Street operating the Dublin Bus Ghost Tour, March 2014.
Although AV63 has been completed for the tour more problems mean RH 31 will probably last a little longer on the ghost tour than previously thought.
I knelt to take this shot of a cross that commemorates the execution (by firing squad) of one of the leaders of the 1916 Easter Uprising in Kilmainham Gaol (Jail) in Dublin. As I did, a woman tripped over the base of that flagpole and fell.
This is a book design and execution that I created for Susan Kozel's book Closer published by the MIT press.
It was a class assignment for CO
This is a book design and execution that I created for Susan Kozel's book Closer published by the MIT press.
It was an assignment in a UCLA Design | Media Arts Class. The front portion of the book is comprised of all the text and images, clearly setup into a four row system, which aligns to the four flipbooks at the very back of the book.
This is a book design and execution that I created for Susan Kozel's book Closer published by the MIT press.
It was an assignment in a UCLA Design | Media Arts Class. The front portion of the book is comprised of all the text and images, clearly setup into a four row system, which aligns to the four flipbooks at the very back of the book.
Taliban Execution - Three Northern Alliance soldiers fire simultaneously into a Taliban soldier who had been captured while attempting to resist their advance toward Kabul, Afghanistan. A small number of hardline Taliban soldiers chose to stay on the front line and fight the Northern Alliance, and those who didn't escape were killed immediately. The man yelling in the background was encouraging the soldiers in their actions.
Kilmainham Gaol was built in 1796 as a replacement for an older prison. It has a sorrowful past with deplorable conditions. It is the place of imprisonment and subsequent execution of the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising. This yard is where these executions were carried out.
Promenade in paris during holiday season
The Palais de Justice made famous during the French Revolution, the Conciergerie (where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned), the stained glass mastery of the church Saint Chapelle, the famous Pont Neuf Bridge, and the delightful residences and shops of the island Île de Sainte Louis.
Perhaps the most well-known and important of the world's museums, the Louvre has an incomparable collection of art (including the Mona Lisa), statuary and historic artifacts. The beautiful Tuilleries Gardens are nearby, as is the Orangerie that houses Monet's famous Water Lily paintings.
Home of the Sorbonne, the Pantheon, the fabulous Museum of the Middle Ages and the Delacroix Museum, this is the historic, "intellectual capital" of Paris.
The Place de la Concorde and its famous obelisk was once the site of the guillotine and the executions of many of the royalty during the French Revolution.
Champs Elysées - This the romantic heart of Paris and one of the most popular streets for strolling and shopping while gazing at the monumental Arc de Triomphe. Seine River cruises are nearby.
The Saint Louis des Invalides church houses the final resting place of Napoleon I, and many other of France's military heroes. Nearby is the Musée d'Orsay, the grand museum of the Impressionists, as well as the Rodin Museum exhibiting many of the master's works.
Dozens of pickets protesting the pending execution of the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg file past the White House February 14, 1953 after Inaugural stands were removed.
A 24-hour vigil had earlier been restricted to East Executive Drive until the stands were removed.
Some of the picket signs read, “Mr. President The Rosenbergs Maintain Their Innocence!” “Afro-American says there are Grave Doubts in this Case!” “Mr. President 3000 Ministers Appealed to your Conscience! Reconsider Clemency for the Rosenbergs!” and “The electric chair can’t kill the doubts in the Rosenberg case.”
The vigil and picketers were seeking clemency for the Rosenbergs who were convicted of passing atomic secrets to the then wartime ally Soviet Union during 1943-44.
The signs read: “Millions All Over the World Plead: Spare the Rosenbergs,” “Wire-write to President Truman today: clemency for the Rosenbergs,” “While doubt of guilt remains commute the Rosenbergs’ death sentence” and “Justice in the United States must not be more vindictive than in other countries.”
The protest was sponsored by the Committee to Secure Justice for the Rosenbergs that vowed to organize 24-hour vigils until Truman granted clemency. Picket lines in and around the White House were in fact continuous until the Rosenberg’s execution.
The Rosenbergs and a third man, Morton Sobell, were tried together for passing classified information to the Soviet Union related to an atomic bomb.
Part of the prosecution strategy was to emphasize their ties to the Communist Party at a time when hysteria over communists in the U.S. was at an all-time high during the Cold War and with U.S. troops battling in Korea against forces aided by both the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China.
The Rosenbergs were convicted, sentenced to death and then executed June 19, 1953 despite an international outcry for clemency. Sobell served 17 ½ years of a 30-year sentence.
The Rosenbergs were the only people executed by the U.S. for espionage during the Cold War and the only U.S. citizen civilians in modern times executed by the U.S. for their role in passing secrets to another country.
The debate over their sentences continues today, with President Barack Obama refusing to grant posthumous clemency to Ethel Rosenberg while he was in office.
The political climate in the U.S. at the time of their arrest and conviction was one of fear--the onset of the Cold War with the Soviet Union following confrontation in Europe and the Soviet Union’s test of an atomic bomb in 1949.
Leadership at many levels of the Communist Party USA were being sentenced to jail for their beliefs while the rank and file members were blacklisted from employment and persecuted during the second red scare.
At the same time, U.S. forces were fighting in Korea against the communist-led regime centered in North Korea and aided by the People’s Republic of China and the Soviet Union.
While the U.S. and the Soviet Union were allies in World War II, the U.S. did not share information on the atom bomb project.
The Rosenbergs joined the Young Communist League in the late 1930s. According to his former Soviet handler Alexander Feklisov, Julius began passing classified documents to the Soviet Union while at the Army Signal Corps Engineering Laboratories at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey in 1940.
The prosecution saw Julius’ potential cooperation as a chance to break a larger Soviet intelligence group in the U.S. and believed the only way to break Julius was to expose his wife Ethel to the death penalty. The ploy didn’t work.
In imposing the death penalty, Judge Irving Kaufman noted that he held them responsible not only for espionage but also for the deaths of the Korean War:
“I consider your crime worse than murder... I believe your conduct in putting into the hands of the Russians the A-Bomb years before our best scientists predicted Russia would perfect the bomb has already caused, in my opinion, the Communist aggression in Korea, with the resultant casualties exceeding 50,000 and who knows but that millions more of innocent people may pay the price of your treason. Indeed, by your betrayal you undoubtedly have altered the course of history to the disadvantage of our country. No one can say that we do not live in a constant state of tension. We have evidence of your treachery all around us every day for the civilian defense activities throughout the nation are aimed at preparing us for an atom bomb attack.”
Commenting on the sentence given to them, Julius Rosenberg claimed the case was a political frame-up.
“This death sentence is not surprising. It had to be. There had to be a Rosenberg case, because there had to be an intensification of the hysteria in America to make the Korean War acceptable to the American people. There had to be hysteria and a fear sent through America in order to get increased war budgets. And there had to be a dagger thrust in the heart of the left to tell them that you are no longer gonna get five years for a Smith Act prosecution or one year for contempt of court, but we're gonna kill ya!”
An article by Norman Markowitz for Political Affairs in 2008 sums up another point of view.
“These were people who, for ill or for good, admired both Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and President Franklin Roosevelt as advancing the struggle for working-class liberation against fascism. They saw them as helping to bring about more than a “better world,” but a world with a socialist system that fostered equality, peace and social justice. If patriotism in its most simple definition means love of country, this was the America that communists defended and loved, rather than the America of Standard Oil, Herbert and J. Edgar Hoover, the corporate leadership ready and willing to do business with Hitler, Mussolini and the Japanese militarists both to make money and fight socialist revolutions.”
This point of view also holds that providing the Soviets with intelligence on the atomic bomb helped ensure that the U.S. would not launch nuclear weapons again after the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945.
The question of the Rosenberg’s guilt has been debated since their arrest. Evidence uncovered in more recent years that convincingly indicates that Julius was involved in espionage. The evidence against Ethel is less convincing and more circumstantial.
Those charged or implicated with the Rosenbergs include:
Julius Rosenberg: executed June 19, 1953
Ethel Rosenberg: executed June 19, 1953
David Greenglass: served 9 and half years of a 15-year sentence
Ruth Greenglass: not charged, granted immunity
Morton Sobell: served 17 years, nine months of a 30-year sentence
Harry Gold: served 14 years of a 30-year sentence
Klaus Fuchs: served 9 years of a 14-year sentence in Great Britain
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHskkQha2c
Photo by Ranny Routt. The image is courtesy of the D.C. Public Library Washington Star Collection © Washington Post.
Where Marie Antoinette went to the guillotine with remarkable dignity, her father-in-law's mistress Madame Du Barry was far less composed. The spectacle of her absolute terror and her begging for mercy were pitiful, and her last words were "One moment more, Monsieur Executioner, I beg you!"
day 85 – Saddam’s execution has haunted me all day.
My TV is set to wake me in the morning; it is a more gentle way to wake up than the insipid beeping of an alarm clock which, as well as waking you, induces a coronary heart attack.
This morning I woke gently to the news that a man had been executed. At 6am Iraq time Saddam Hussein was hanged. I couldn't quite believe it had happened. I sat up and watched the continuous report on BBC news and all I could think of was that one more person had lost a life.
Saddam, from what little I know, was not a nice man. He was directly and indirectly responsible for literally millions of lost lives. His regime tortured and brutalised a nation and his legacy continues to infect what was once the centre of civilisation.
This presents me with a moral problem. I just can not condone capital punishment. It is a brutal way to carry out justice and no one, and I mean no one, deserves to die in that manner. But in taking that stance I am asking for mercy and compassion for a man that showed none to his victims. I have to admit I briefly thought that his death was a good thing but I quickly retracted that thought. In a modern society we should not execute people. Let’s face it, there is no punishment that befits genocide and mass murder and another death does little to help.
The other disturbing thing about this event is the display of the execution on TV. I remember the uproar when terrorists executed Kenneth Bigley by beheading him. They then distributed the video over the Internet. The world was outraged. Are we any different presenting Saddam’s execution? We need to take a step back and think about what we are looking at. I heard someone say “Oh the hanging is on the Internet, Can I look?” I said “Why?” The reply was slightly chilling “Oh I don’t know. It might be interesting, might be fun.” I was taken aback at the thought that someone I know well could actually see the death of another human as entertaining.
I wonder if we will ever learn.
Exécution sans jugement sous les rois Maures de Grenade (Execution without judgement under the Moorish Kings of Grenada)
1870
By Henri Regnault (1843 - 1871)
Oil on canvas, H. 3.02 ; L. 1.46 m
musée d'Orsay, Paris, France
Regnault’s grand canvas still unsettles many visitors to the Musée d’Orsay. Whereas other nearby paintings in the museum have long since lost their avant-garde capacity to disturb viewers’ expectations, Regnault’s canvas has retained its shock value. One major reason for this response is not so much the bloody scene in the foreground as the viewer’s position vis-à-vis this macabre subject. As Linda Nochlin has pointed out, when the canvas is hung at the correct height, the decapitated corpse rests at the viewer’s own eye level.
My entry for the Vignette 2012 Contest Historic theme. This vignette displays the execution of Murdock. Murdock has stolen food from a towns food reserves that it needed to help bring the folk through the winter. This is a serious crime and is punished by "The Hunger Chain". The thief is chained so that he can almost reach the food and water in front of him. Almost. He will die a slow and terrible death. The Guard ensures that nobody tries to free or kill him. This will teach people not to steal from the food reserves!
f.y.i.: this is a rebuild of an earlier version.
A Young Persons Guide To King Parrot Australian Album Tour 2025
All Ages Show
Singing Bird Studios
Frankston, VIC
Australia
Supports:
Goat Sharman
Wombat
Brutal Execution
Douggy Carpool: hey how r u doin
Kaycee Nightfire: ok
Douggy Carpool: wat u doin out there
Kaycee Nightfire: shooting a bear
Guess I'm not going to Disney World anytime soon .....
this painting is part of a series I am working on exploring what it means to be a Catholic in the North of Ireland.
Knight Elkcrown's squire won a fair battle. But no blood was to be spilled, said the bailiff, and the losing squire's life got spared.
Bronze, AD 1-100
This unique model of a biga (two-horse chariot) shows remarkable detail. The left wheel is different from the right, to allow charioteers faster turns - races were mostly decided at the turning-posts. As children, Nero and his friends reportedly played with wooden chariots. Heavy and expensive, this seems an extravagant toy. Perhaps it was a prized scale model for a wealthy supporter or stable owner.
[British Museum]
Nero: the Man Behind the Myth
(May - Oct 2021)
Nero is known as one of Rome's most infamous rulers, notorious for his cruelty, debauchery and madness.
The last male descendant of the emperor Augustus, Nero succeeded to the throne in AD 54 aged just 16 and died a violent death at 30. His turbulent rule saw momentous events including the Great Fire of Rome, Boudicca's rebellion in Britain, the execution of his own mother and first wife, grand projects and extravagant excesses.
Drawing on the latest research, this major exhibition questions the traditional narrative of the ruthless tyrant and eccentric performer, revealing a different Nero, a populist leader at a time of great change in Roman society.
Through some 200 spectacular objects, from the imperial palace in Rome to the streets of Pompeii, follow the young emperor’s rise and fall and make up your own mind about Nero. Was he a young, inexperienced ruler trying his best in a divided society, or the merciless, matricidal megalomaniac history has painted him to be?
Nero was the 5th emperor of Rome and the last of Rome’s first dynasty, the Julio-Claudians, founded by Augustus (the adopted son of Julius Caesar). Nero is known as one of Rome’s most infamous rulers, notorious for his cruelty and debauchery. He ascended to power in AD 54 aged just 16 and died at 30. He ruled at a time of great social and political change, overseeing momentous events such as the Great Fire of Rome and Boudica’s rebellion in Britain. He allegedly killed his mother and two of his wives, only cared about his art and had very little interest in ruling the empire.
Most of what we know about Nero comes from the surviving works of three historians – Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio. All written decades after Nero’s death, their accounts have long shaped our understanding of this emperor’s rule. However, far from being impartial narrators presenting objective accounts of past events, these authors and their sources wrote with a very clear agenda in mind. Nero’s demise brought forward a period of chaos and civil war – one that ended only when a new dynasty seized power, the Flavians. Authors writing under the Flavians all had an interest in legitimising the new ruling family by portraying the last of the Julio-Claudians in the worst possible light, turning history into propaganda. These accounts became the ‘historical’ sources used by later historians, therefore perpetuating a fabricated image of Nero, which has survived all the way to the present.
Nero was born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus on 15 December AD 37.
He was the son of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina the Younger. Both Gnaeus and Agrippina were the grandchildren of Augustus, making Nero Augustus’ great, great grandson with a strong claim to power.
Nero was only two years old when his mother was exiled and three when his father died. His inheritance was taken from him and he was sent to live with his aunt. However, Nero’s fate changed again when Claudius became emperor, restoring the boy’s property and recalling his mother Agrippina from exile.
In AD 49 the emperor Claudius married Agrippina, and adopted Nero the following year. It is at this point that Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus changed his name to Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus. In Roman times it was normal to change your name when adopted, abandoning your family name in favour of your adoptive father’s. Nero was a common name among members of the Claudian family, especially in Claudius’ branch.
Nero and Agrippina offered Claudius a politically useful link back to Augustus, strengthening his position.
Claudius appeared to favour Nero over his natural son, Britannicus, marking Nero as the designated heir.
When Claudius died in AD 54, Nero became emperor just two months before turning 17.
As he was supported by both the army and the senate, his rise to power was smooth. His mother Agrippina exerted a significant influence, especially at the beginning of his rule.
The Roman historians Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio all claim that Nero, fed up with Agrippina’s interference, decided to kill her.
Given the lack of eyewitnesses, there is no way of knowing if or how this happened. However, this did not stop historians from fabricating dramatic stories of Agrippina’s murder, asserting that Nero tried (and failed) to kill her with a boat engineered to sink, before sending his men to do the job.
Agrippina allegedly told them to stab her in the womb that bore Nero, her last words clearly borrowed from stage plays.
It is entirely possible, as claimed by Nero himself, that Agrippina chose (or was more likely forced) to take her own life after her plot against her son was discovered.
Early in his rule, Nero had to contend with a rebellion in the newly conquered province of Britain.
In AD 60–61, Queen Boudica of the Iceni tribe led a revolt against the Romans, attacking and laying waste to important Roman settlements. The possible causes of the rebellion were numerous – the greed of the Romans exploiting the newly conquered territories, the recalling of loans made to local leaders, ongoing conflict in Wales and, above all, violence against the family of Prasutagus, Boudica’s husband and king of the Iceni.
Boudica and the rebels destroyed Colchester, London and St Albans before being heavily defeated by Roman troops. After the uprising, the governor of Britain Suetonius Paulinus introduced harsher laws against the Britons, until Nero replaced him with the more conciliatory governor Publius Petronius Turpilianus.
The marriage between Nero and Octavia, aged 15 and 13/14 at the time, was arranged by their parents in order to further legitimise Nero’s claim to the throne. Octavia was the daughter of the emperor Claudius from a previous marriage, so when Claudius married Agrippina and adopted her son Nero, Nero and Octavia became brother and sister. In order to arrange their marriage, Octavia had to be adopted into another family.
Their marriage was not a happy one. According to ancient writers, Nero had various affairs until his lover Poppaea Sabina convinced him to divorce his wife. Octavia was first exiled then executed in AD 62 on adultery charges. According to ancient writers, her banishment and death caused great unrest among the public, who sympathised with the dutiful Octavia.
No further motives were offered for Octavia’s death other than Nero’s passion for Poppaea, and we will probably never know what transpired at court. The fact that Octavia couldn’t produce an heir while Poppaea was pregnant with Nero’s daughter likely played an important role in deciding Octavia’s fate.
On 19 July AD 64, a fire started close to the Circus Maximus. The flames soon encompassed the entire city of Rome and the fire raged for nine days. Only four of the 14 districts of the capital were spared, while three were completely destroyed.
Rome had already been razed by flames – and would be again in its long history – but this event was so severe it came to be known as the Great Fire of Rome.
Later historians blamed Nero for the event, claiming that he set the capital ablaze in order to clear land for the construction of a vast new palace. According to Suetonius and Cassius Dio, Nero took in the view of the burning city from the imperial residence while playing the lyre and singing about the fall of Troy. This story, however, is fictional.
Tacitus, the only historian who was actually alive at the time of the Great Fire of Rome (although only 8 years old), wrote that Nero was not even in Rome when the fire started, but returned to the capital and led the relief efforts.
Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio all describe Nero as being blinded by passion for his wife Poppaea, yet they accuse him of killing her, allegedly by kicking her in an outburst of rage while she was pregnant.
Interestingly, pregnant women being kicked to death by enraged husbands is a recurring theme in ancient literature, used to explore the (self) destructive tendencies of autocrats. The Greek writer Herodotus tells the story of how the Persian king Cambyses kicked his pregnant wife in the stomach, causing her death. A similar episode is told of Periander, tyrant of Corinth. Nero is just one of many allegedly ‘mad’ tyrants for which this literary convention was used.
Poppaea probably died from complications connected with her pregnancy and not at Nero’s hands. She was given a lavish funeral and was deified.
Centred on greater Iran, the Parthian empire was a major political and cultural power and a long-standing enemy of Rome. The two powers had long been contending for control over the buffer state of Armenia and open conflict sparked again during Nero’s rule. The Parthian War started in AD 58 and, after initial victories and following set-backs, ended in AD 63 when a diplomatic solution was reached between Nero and the Parthian king Vologases I.
According to this settlement Tiridates, brother of the Parthian king, would rule over Armenia, but only after having travelled all the way to Rome to be crowned by Nero.
The journey lasted 9 months, Tiridates’ retinue included 3,000 Parthian horsemen and many Roman soldiers. The coronation ceremony took place in the summer of AD 66 and the day was celebrated with much pomp: all the people of Rome saw the new king of Armenia kneeling in front of Nero. This was the Golden Day of Nero’s rule
In AD 68, Vindex, the governor of Gaul (France), rebelled against Nero and declared his support for Galba, the governor of Spain. Vindex was defeated in battle by troops loyal to Nero, yet Galba started gaining more military support.
It was at this point that Nero lost the support of Rome’s people due to a grain shortage, caused by a rebellious commander who cut the crucial food supply from Egypt to the capital. Abandoned by the people and declared an enemy of the state by the senate, Nero tried to flee Rome and eventually committed suicide.
Following his death, Nero’s memory was condemned (a practice called damnatio memoriae) and the images of the emperor were destroyed, removed or reworked. However, Nero was still given an expensive funeral and for a long time people decorated his tomb with flowers, some even believing he was still alive.
After Nero’s death, civil war ensued. At the end of the so-called ‘Year of the Four Emperors’ (AD 69), Vespasian became emperor and started a new dynasty: the Flavians.
[Francesca Bologna, curator, for British Museum]
Taken in the British Museum
This is a grim reminder of our past. Located in a glass case inside the church of St Sepulchre Without, is the Newgate Prison execution bell. The handbell would be rung outside the cell of the condemned prisioner, by the church clerk, at midnight on the eve of his execution. The great bell of the church would be rung when an execution was in progress. The former Newgate prison Gallows were nearby to the church. The main church bells are also one of those featured in the children's rhyme 'Oranges and Lemons' as they are the Bells of Old Bailey.
IT was an ancient practice, on the night preceding the execution of condemned criminals, for the bellman of the parish of St Sepulchre to go under Newgate and, ringing his bell, to repeat the following, as a piece of friendly advice to the unhappy wretches under sentence of death:--
"You prisoners that are within, who for wickedness and sin, after many mercies shown you, are now appointed to die tomorrow in the forenoon, give ear and understand that in the morning the greatest bell of St Sepulchre’s shall toll for you in form and manner of a passing bell, to the end that all godly people, hearing that bell and knowing that it is for your going to your deaths, may be stirred up heartily to pray to God to bestow His grace upon you while you live. I beseech you for Jesus Christ’s sake to keep this night in watching and prayer for the salvation of your own souls, while there is yet time for mercy, as knowing tomorrow you must appear before the judgement seat of your Creator, there to give an account of all things done in this life and to suffer eternal torments for your sins committed against Him, unless upon your hearty and unfeigned repentance you find mercy through the merits, death and passion of your only Mediator and Advocate, Jesus Christ, who now sits at the right hand of God to make intercession for as many of you as penitently return to Him."
The following extract from Stowe’s Survey of London, p. 125 of the quarto edition printed in 1618, will prove that the above verses ought to have been repeated by a clergyman instead of a bellman:--
"Robert Dow, Citizen and Merchant Taylor, of London, gave to the parish church of St Sepulchre's, the sum of 50L. That after the several sessions of London, when the prisoners remain in the gaol, as condemned men to death, expecting execution on the morning following; the clerk (that is, the parson) of the church should come in the night time, and likewise early in the morning, to the window of the prison where they lie, and there ringing certain tolls with a hand-bell, appointed for the purpose, he doth afterwards (in most Christian manner) put them in mind of their present condition, and ensuing execution, desiring them to be prepared therefor as they ought to be. When they are in the cart, and brought before the wall of the church, there he standeth ready with the same bell, and after certain tolls rehearseth an appointed prayer, desiring all the people there present to pray for them. The beadle also of Merchant Taylors Hall hath an honest stipend allowed to see that this is duly done."
Commander's log, date 05.03.2735:
My execution came and went. I had been 'cuffed again, and a hood had been put over my head. I was ready to die. I figured I could at least die with the satisfactory knowledge that I hadn't given away any DDF secrets. But then I heard some screams. They were the screams of the guards, as Jim was decapitating them. He rescued me, and I was quite astounded to see him. After all, I had believed him to be dead. But he explained the situation to me. He had actually come across a DM underwater patrol in the pond. It was the DM underwater patrol's blood I had seen, not Jim's. But he had gotten caught on a rock down there, so it was a while before he surfaced. He found a lone DM soldier and killed him to get weapons. Then he gathered intel and found me. And what a relief that was! Now, Jim and I shall return to base to resume our normal activities.
Jeremy Croup, Commander of the DDF, signing out.