Greater Manchester Police proudly welcomed 152 new officers in the force's largest attestation ceremony to date on the evening of Tuesday 22nd October 2019, at Stockport Town Hall.

In front of family and friends, all officers partook in the Police Oath which is their promise to the Queen in front of a magistrate to uphold the office of constable with fairness, integrity, diligence and impartiality.

The ceremony marks the official start of the officers commencing their duties, and is a milestone to be celebrated.

Chief Constable Ian Hopkins was in attendance to welcome each and every new recruit to the force.

Also in attendance were Greater Manchester’s Deputy Mayor, Baroness Beverley Hughes and the Mayor of Stockport, Councillor Laura Booth.

For more information about Policing in Greater Manchester please visit our website. www.gmp.police.uk

To contact Greater Manchester Police for a less urgent matter or make a report online you can also visit www.gmp.police.uk.

You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information. Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give evidence.

Greater Manchester Police proudly welcomed 152 new officers in the force's largest attestation ceremony to date on the evening of Tuesday 22nd October 2019, at Stockport Town Hall.

In front of family and friends, all officers partook in the Police Oath which is their promise to the Queen in front of a magistrate to uphold the office of constable with fairness, integrity, diligence and impartiality.

The ceremony marks the official start of the officers commencing their duties, and is a milestone to be celebrated.

Chief Constable Ian Hopkins was in attendance to welcome each and every new recruit to the force.

Also in attendance were Greater Manchester’s Deputy Mayor, Baroness Beverley Hughes and the Mayor of Stockport, Councillor Laura Booth.

For more information about Policing in Greater Manchester please visit our website. www.gmp.police.uk

To contact Greater Manchester Police for a less urgent matter or make a report online you can also visit www.gmp.police.uk.

You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information. Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give evidence.

Greater Manchester Police proudly welcomed 152 new officers in the force's largest attestation ceremony to date on the evening of Tuesday 22nd October 2019, at Stockport Town Hall.

In front of family and friends, all officers partook in the Police Oath which is their promise to the Queen in front of a magistrate to uphold the office of constable with fairness, integrity, diligence and impartiality.

The ceremony marks the official start of the officers commencing their duties, and is a milestone to be celebrated.

Chief Constable Ian Hopkins was in attendance to welcome each and every new recruit to the force.

Also in attendance were Greater Manchester’s Deputy Mayor, Baroness Beverley Hughes and the Mayor of Stockport, Councillor Laura Booth.

For more information about Policing in Greater Manchester please visit our website. www.gmp.police.uk

To contact Greater Manchester Police for a less urgent matter or make a report online you can also visit www.gmp.police.uk.

You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information. Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give evidence.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has welcomed 100 new police officers to the ranks.

The new recruits were sworn in at an attestation ceremony at Harrop Fold School in Worsley last night. It is the first time an event of this kind has been held at a community venue.

Chief Constable Ian Hopkins, Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd and Magistrates Peter Rogerson and Zahid Maqbool were in attendance at the legally binding event.

Family and friends of the new officers watched on proudly as each of them made an oath to uphold the office of constable with fairness, integrity, diligence and impartiality.

Chief Constable Ian Hopkins chose to hold the attestation at Harrop Fold School, rather than a police building, to emphasise to the new recruits what it means to be a police constable.

He said: “The primary role of each officer is to help and serve the public, therefore it is only right that we hold this attestation at the heart of community, where it should be.

“I would like to thank Harrop Fold School for allowing us to hold our ceremony here.”

On what lies ahead for the new officers, Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said: “Policing is now more challenging and complex than ever before, with significantly more scrutiny now being placed on officers, which is rightly to be expected.

“Due to the rigorous selection process and training involved, plus the emphasis we place on supporting each other at GMP, I have no doubts that these officers will meet any challenges that lie ahead.

“I am sure at the end of their careers they can proudly say that they left the Force and the communities of Greater Manchester in a better place than when they started.”

All of the new recruits have previously been employees with GMP, either as Police Community Support Officers (PCSO), Special Constables, apprentices or police staff, and will build upon their existing skills and knowledge involved with policing.

The 100 new officers joining GMP will maintain the total overall number of officers at current levels.

Join in the conversation on social media using the hashtag #newrecruits

To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit our website. www.gmp.police.uk

You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information. Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give a statement.

Declaration of 4,000 MPs, including majorities of 30 parliaments

Moreover, a deceleration by over 4,000 MPs from 40 countries across the globe in support of the Iranian Resistance and especially Ashraf residents was unveiled at the gathering. The MPs, including the majority of the European Parliament, the majority of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and majorities of 28 national parliaments, called for the urgent protection of Ashraf by the UN, U.S. and EU, the immediate lifting of the siege on Ashraf – especially ensuring free access to medical services – and an impartial, comprehensive and independent investigation into the crimes committed on April 8th in Ashraf

In a large and exhilarating gathering held in the Villepinte Auditorium near Paris on Saturday afternoon, 18 June 2011, Iranians called for the immediate protection of Ashraf by the UN with assistance provided by the U.S. and EU. They also condemned any kind of displacement of Ashraf residents inside Iraq, and declared their support for Europe’s peaceful long-term solution for Ashraf. The participants described maintaining the terrorist tag against the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) by the US State Department as an illegal measure and tantamount to participating in the repression of the Iranian people and Resistance. The attendees called on the U.S. government to comply with last July's verdict of the U.S. Court of Appeals in D.C. and immediately revoke the PMOI's terrorist designation.

Hundreds of prominent politicians and MPs representing a broad range of political views from countries in five continents of the globe also took part in the largest gathering of its kind by Iranian exiles. In addition to expressing their support for the Iranian Resistance and defending Ashraf’s rights, the high-profile dignitaries also called for the recognition of the National Council of Resistance by the international community

Rudolph Giuliani, former New York City Mayor and Presidential Candidate (2008); US Congressman Bob Filner; Rita Sussmouth, former Speaker of the German Parliament (1988-1998); Judge Michael Mukasey, former US Attorney General (2007-2009); Ambassador John Bruton, former Prime Minister of Ireland (1994-1997) and EU ambassador to the US (2004-2005); Jean-Pierre Brard, Member of French National Assembly; Andrew Card, White House Chief of Staff of President George Bush (2001-2006); Tom Ridge, first US Secretary of Homeland Security (2003-2005); Alejo Vidal Quadras, European Parliament Vice President; Geir Haarde, former Prime Minister of Iceland (2006-2009); Lord Corbett of Castle Vale, Head of the Labour Peers group in the House of Lords; Nariman al-Rousan, Member of Jordanian Parliament; Aude de Thuin, author and founder of the Women Forum; Sid Ahmed Ghozali, former Prime Minister of Algeria; Robert Torricelli, former U.S. Senator; Carlo Ciccioli, Member of the Italian Parliament; Jean-Charles Rielle, Member of the Swiss Federal Parliament; and Henry Leclerc, Honorary President of the Human Rights League of France.

A number of French mayors, including Jean-Pierre Béquet, Mayor of Auvers-sur-Oise; Nelly Rolland, Mayor of Villepinte; and Maurice Boscavert, Mayor of Taverny, delivered speeches and declared the support of 5,000 French mayors for the Iranian Resistance.

The ceremony was held on the eve of June 20th, the Day of Martyrs and Political Prisoners in Iran. The master of ceremony for the first part of the event was Congressman Patrick Kennedy, Member of US House of Representatives until 2011. David Amess, Member of British Parliament from the Conservative Party, took over the event for the second part.

While being accompanied by Mrs. Rezaii (the mother of 7 martyrs), Mahin Saremi and a number of French MPs, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi honored the memory of 120,000 martyrs of the Iranian people, who have fallen during the three decade struggle against the clerical dictatorship, including the martyrs of the past two years and those who lost their lives as a result of the recent criminal attack against Ashraf.

Mrs. Mahin Saremi, the wife of PMOI supporter Ali Saremi, also took part in the gathering. Ali Saremi was Iran’s most prominent political prisoner and was hanged last year by the Iranian regime after enduring 24 years of imprisonment and torture. Mrs. Saremi, who herself was arrested and imprisoned several times since the 1980s, was recently condemned to 10 years of imprisonment but managed to flee from the Iranian regime and reach Paris. Akbar, the son of Ali and Mahin Saremi, is among the residents of Ashraf.

Declaration of 4,000 MPs, including majorities of 30 parliaments

Moreover, a deceleration by over 4,000 MPs from 40 countries across the globe in support of the Iranian Resistance and especially Ashraf residents was unveiled at the gathering. The MPs, including the majority of the European Parliament, the majority of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and majorities of 28 national parliaments, called for the urgent protection of Ashraf by the UN, U.S. and EU, the immediate lifting of the siege on Ashraf – especially ensuring free access to medical services – and an impartial, comprehensive and independent investigation into the crimes committed on April 8th in Ashraf

In a large and exhilarating gathering held in the Villepinte Auditorium near Paris on Saturday afternoon, 18 June 2011, Iranians called for the immediate protection of Ashraf by the UN with assistance provided by the U.S. and EU. They also condemned any kind of displacement of Ashraf residents inside Iraq, and declared their support for Europe’s peaceful long-term solution for Ashraf. The participants described maintaining the terrorist tag against the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) by the US State Department as an illegal measure and tantamount to participating in the repression of the Iranian people and Resistance. The attendees called on the U.S. government to comply with last July's verdict of the U.S. Court of Appeals in D.C. and immediately revoke the PMOI's terrorist designation.

Hundreds of prominent politicians and MPs representing a broad range of political views from countries in five continents of the globe also took part in the largest gathering of its kind by Iranian exiles. In addition to expressing their support for the Iranian Resistance and defending Ashraf’s rights, the high-profile dignitaries also called for the recognition of the National Council of Resistance by the international community

Rudolph Giuliani, former New York City Mayor and Presidential Candidate (2008); US Congressman Bob Filner; Rita Sussmouth, former Speaker of the German Parliament (1988-1998); Judge Michael Mukasey, former US Attorney General (2007-2009); Ambassador John Bruton, former Prime Minister of Ireland (1994-1997) and EU ambassador to the US (2004-2005); Jean-Pierre Brard, Member of French National Assembly; Andrew Card, White House Chief of Staff of President George Bush (2001-2006); Tom Ridge, first US Secretary of Homeland Security (2003-2005); Alejo Vidal Quadras, European Parliament Vice President; Geir Haarde, former Prime Minister of Iceland (2006-2009); Lord Corbett of Castle Vale, Head of the Labour Peers group in the House of Lords; Nariman al-Rousan, Member of Jordanian Parliament; Aude de Thuin, author and founder of the Women Forum; Sid Ahmed Ghozali, former Prime Minister of Algeria; Robert Torricelli, former U.S. Senator; Carlo Ciccioli, Member of the Italian Parliament; Jean-Charles Rielle, Member of the Swiss Federal Parliament; and Henry Leclerc, Honorary President of the Human Rights League of France.

A number of French mayors, including Jean-Pierre Béquet, Mayor of Auvers-sur-Oise; Nelly Rolland, Mayor of Villepinte; and Maurice Boscavert, Mayor of Taverny, delivered speeches and declared the support of 5,000 French mayors for the Iranian Resistance.

The ceremony was held on the eve of June 20th, the Day of Martyrs and Political Prisoners in Iran. The master of ceremony for the first part of the event was Congressman Patrick Kennedy, Member of US House of Representatives until 2011. David Amess, Member of British Parliament from the Conservative Party, took over the event for the second part.

While being accompanied by Mrs. Rezaii (the mother of 7 martyrs), Mahin Saremi and a number of French MPs, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi honored the memory of 120,000 martyrs of the Iranian people, who have fallen during the three decade struggle against the clerical dictatorship, including the martyrs of the past two years and those who lost their lives as a result of the recent criminal attack against Ashraf.

Mrs. Mahin Saremi, the wife of PMOI supporter Ali Saremi, also took part in the gathering. Ali Saremi was Iran’s most prominent political prisoner and was hanged last year by the Iranian regime after enduring 24 years of imprisonment and torture. Mrs. Saremi, who herself was arrested and imprisoned several times since the 1980s, was recently condemned to 10 years of imprisonment but managed to flee from the Iranian regime and reach Paris. Akbar, the son of Ali and Mahin Saremi, is among the residents of Ashraf.

Powerful Portadown profit from poor performanceby Roger Corbett

A powerful Portadown side gained revenge for their defeat by Bangor in the Junior Cup last season by taking advantage of the home team’s poor performance and deservedly finishing ahead by 24-43.

With a number of changes to the side that did so well against Dromore last week, a young Bangor side got this second round Junior Cup fixture underway. The playing conditions were good, with the breeze blowing across the pitch and not benefiting either side. From the outset, Portadown played the game at a fast pace, and pushed Bangor back into their own half for long periods. Both sides, however, made many unforced errors and as a result promising attacks were halted.

After 10 minutes of play, it was Bangor who got the scoreboard started, when Portadown conceded a penalty for being offside and Mark Thompson converted the kicking opportunity. Portadown then resumed their attacks and it looked like they would score next. However, from a lineout on the Portadown twenty two, the ball was taken by Freddie Black before the rest of the pack formed around him and started to drive for the line. The rolling maul moved slowly forwards and sideways until one final push saw captain Jamie Clegg carried over to score to the right of the Portadown posts. The conversion by Neil Cuthbertson was successful and Bangor were now 10-0 ahead.

Even an impartial observer might have commented that this score was against the run of play, but to Bangor’s credit they took their chances well. Unfortunately, just 5 minutes later Bangor were reduced to 14 men after Black was yellow carded. From the resulting penalty, Portadown kicked for touch, and secured the ball from the lineout. They patiently worked the ball through their forwards until a gap opened up in the Bangor defence, allowing an easy run through to score under the Bangor posts. With the conversion, the score was now 10-7.

With only a few minutes of the first half remaining, Portadown continued to push forward and from a good cross field kick, they took advantage of the reduced Bangor cover and scored in the left hand corner. The tricky kick into the wind was successful, and Portadown were now in front by 10-14. To add to Bangor’s woes, scrum half Danny Diamond had to retire injured with what looks like a broken collar bone, and front row forward Phil Whyte limped off with a bad calf injury – we wish both a full and speedy recovery. Undeterred, Bangor tried to fight back and came very close in the final minute when more good forward play got the ball over the Portadown line, but it wasn’t able to be grounded.

As the teams turned around, Bangor would probably have been the happier with the scoreline, especially given the amount of possession Portadown had enjoyed in the first half. However, over the course of the following 20 odd minutes, and largely as a result of their own mistakes, their task became much harder. It started with another poor Bangor lineout which Portadown won and simply broke through to score in the right hand corner. The kick was good, extending the lead to 10-21. Then Bangor lost the ball in contact in the centre of the pitch, allowing the Portadown backline to quickly move the ball wide to their winger who rounded the Bangor defence to score under the posts.

Finally, from their scrum, Portadown took advantage of some missed tackles to open up a gap and score again under the Bangor posts. The score was now 10-35, and Bangor had a mountain to climb.

If the game looked lost at this point, nobody had obviously told Jamie Clegg. From Mark Thompson’s restart, Clegg ran in pursuit and managed to snatch the ball from the Portadown receiving player. He then had just enough time to pass outside to Neil Cuthbertson who managed to negotiate 3 Portadown defenders to score, and reduce the deficit to 17-35, with 26 minutes gone.

Shortly afterwards, the Portadown hooker was yellow carded. However, instead of capitalising on this advantage, Bangor then conceded another penalty, this time in front of their posts. The Portadown kicker gratefully took the 3 points, making the score 17-38.

It was around this point that it was starting to look like Portadown were paying the price for their furious onslaught in the first half. Bangor sensed the weakness and started to play their best rugby of the game so far. Patient build-ups by the forwards, accompanied by strong runs from the backs, produced the opportunity for full back Davy Charles to dive under his tacklers to score beside the posts. Cuthbertson’s quick kick was good, and the score was now 24-38.

As the final play approached, and the end result no longer in question, yet another lineout mix-up gave Portadown possession again. With the Bangor defence largely flat footed, Portadown cut through and, despite a desperate covering tackle by Charles, touched down for the final score of the game. Although the kick was missed, Portadown’s victory was by an emphatic 24-43 margin.

This young Bangor side can learn much from their older, wiser opponents. While fitness and commitment is not in question, consistency of technique in basic set pieces, and retention of the ball when in contact would need to improve, or at least return to levels seen in earlier games. While the disappointment of an early exit from the Junior Cup cannot be denied, the focus will now be wholly on returning to success in the league, the next fixture being a home meeting with Cooke.

Bangor side: P Whyte (P Dornan), A Jackson, J Harrison, R Meeke, F Black, M Coey, J Clegg (c), C Stewart, D Diamond (P Nicol), M Thompson, M Widdowson, M Aspley, M Weir, N Cuthbertson, D Charles

Subs: P Nicol, P Dornan

Bangor scores: J Clegg (1T), N Cuthbertson (1T), D Charles (1T), M Thompson (1P, 3C)

The Mobility Roadshow –

why visit?

Presenting the finest in mobility innovation for 30 years, the national Mobility Roadshow is the original hands-on mobility event, showcasing the best possible products and services for an independent lifestyle. Whether you want to test drive, have a go at sport, driving experiences, rock climbing or just find out what’s new in the mobility market – it’s all here!

Inspirational - be amazed at life-changing productsand new ideas for YOUR independent lifestyle

Informative - gain a wealth of expert help, information and advice

Interactive - test drive vehicles, wheelchairs, powerchairs, scooters, cycles; join in sport, watch demonstrations, activities for all the family

What is it?

The UK’s most comprehensive event of its kind, it is THE annual mobility and lifestyle consumer event, showcasing a huge variety of products and services to aid an independent lifestyle. The Mobility Roadshow aims to give anyone with a mobility problem - drivers, passengers, adults or children - the chance to assess what is available to help solve that problem and most importantly to try out and evaluate the options in a ‘no pressure’ environment

Whether you have a disability that affects your mobility, or you’re an older person who is finding mobility that little bit more restricted than it used to be, the Mobility Roadshow is your one-stop shop for independence and freedom. It offers, quite simply, the best possible showcase of mobility products and services anywhere in the UK.

When and where is the next show?

Telford International Centre, 27th-29th June 2013

Who organises it?

The Mobility Roadshow is organised by registered charity Mobility Choice.

How much does it cost to get in?

Admission, parking and showguide are free, as are all activities on site.

Is it just for people with disabilities?

Not at all - there are all kinds of devices that could help people of any age who may be experiencing mobility problems through something like arthritis or stiffening joints – swivel seats make getting in and out of a car much easier, while lightweight portable scooters that fit easily in the boot of a car can be a real help for shopping or leisure activities for the less mobile.

Who exhibits at the Roadshow?

Around 160 companies and organisations, including several of the major car companies, plus vehicle adaptation and conversion specialists, mobility aids manufacturers, scooter and wheelchair manufacturers, information and advice services, charities, mobility insurance specialists; sport, leisure and holiday companies; plus a range of equipment and services for an independent lifestyle.

What sort of products will I see?

Latest cars and converted vehicles fitted with adaptations; the widest range of wheelchair-accessible vehicles (WAVS); lightweight, sports, power and manual wheelchairs; hand controls; hoists; car seats; commercial vehicles; battery chargers; trikes and scooters; walkers; rotating car seats; specialist wheels and tyres; suspension systems; ramps; seat clamps; wheelchair restraints; independent living aids and numerous gizmos and gadgets to make life easier for anyone with a mobility problem.

Can I have a go on things?

Yes, this is the original ‘hands-on’ mobility event for consumers. There are opportunities to test drive adapted vehicles and specialist wheelchair-accessible conversions, scooters and wheelchairs and to try out products before you even think about buying, so you can compare all the available options. As well as test driving vehicles, you can try out wheelchairs and scooters on a dedicated Mobility Test Track, plus interactive Sports Arena, and our ever-popular accessible rock-climbing wall with experienced helpers to get you to the top!

You mean I actually get to test drive vehicles?

Yes – many of the major motor manufacturers and conversion specialists will have a range of adapted vehicles available to try out – make sure you bring your driving licence with you. For the first time in the Roadshow's 30-year history, test drives will take place on the public roads around the International Centre, accompanied by a professional driver at all times and dual controls fitted to each vehicle (full licence holders only). You can register to test drive in advance, either through the website or by post.

Is it just for Motability customers?

No. The Roadshow is for anyone who has a mobility problem, whether you have a vehicle through the Motability scheme or you own one privately.

Can I bring the kids?

Yes, it`s a fun day out for all the family. There’s a variety of entertainment such as jugglers, clowns, magicians, face painters or balloon sculptors – plenty to see and do for everyone.

What about sport?

The Roadshow’s interactive Sports Arena offers you a chance to really get involved in a range of sports such as basketball, rugby, sledge hockey, and find out about what’s available in your area.

Can I hire a wheelchair or scooter?

Yes. Wheelchairs and scooters can be pre-booked (subject to availability), and some will be available on the day.

Will I really get impartial advice?

Yes. The Roadshow is all about choice and opportunity. A large number of charitable organisations and information services will be offering impartial advice on a range of mobility issues.

Did you know?

* There are over 10 million disabled people in the UK, that’s over 15% of the population.

* There are 2.3 million blue badge holders in the UK, indicating that they have a significant mobility problem.

* Mobility vehicles represent around 20% of the UK car market.

* Over 5.5 million disabled people are of working age, which represents 16% of the working population. However only 50% of disabled people of working age are in employment compared to 87% of non-disabled people of working age.

*Around 40% of the UK population is over 45 - the age at which the incidence of disability begins to increase significantly.

* The estimated annual purchasing power of people with disabilities is £40-£50 billion

* Over half the population over 75 has some kind of disability – 70% have difficulty walking or climbing stairs.

* 85% of disabled people in the UK were not born disabled, but became so in later life through accident or illness.

* 66% of disabled people are older people. In the next 50 years the number of over 60s will double and the number of over 80s will treble.

www.mobilityroadshow.co.uk/

This decorated cavalry helmet was possibly war booty ritually deposited in a marsh by a Briton. Alternatively, it may represent a votive offering made by a Roman soldier adopting practices similar to those of the native population.

[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

Greater Manchester Police proudly welcomed 152 new officers in the force's largest attestation ceremony to date on the evening of Tuesday 22nd October 2019, at Stockport Town Hall.

In front of family and friends, all officers partook in the Police Oath which is their promise to the Queen in front of a magistrate to uphold the office of constable with fairness, integrity, diligence and impartiality.

The ceremony marks the official start of the officers commencing their duties, and is a milestone to be celebrated.

Chief Constable Ian Hopkins was in attendance to welcome each and every new recruit to the force.

Also in attendance were Greater Manchester’s Deputy Mayor, Baroness Beverley Hughes and the Mayor of Stockport, Councillor Laura Booth.

For more information about Policing in Greater Manchester please visit our website. www.gmp.police.uk

To contact Greater Manchester Police for a less urgent matter or make a report online you can also visit www.gmp.police.uk.

You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information. Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give evidence.

Globethics.net celebrated the 10th anniversary since its founding workshop in 2004 with an event in Geneva, Switzerland on Wednesday 10 December 2014. The event was organised on 10 December, international Human Rights Day deliberately with the topic "Access to Information as a Human Right: The Ethics of Regulation and Freedom". Globethics.net is committed to the principle of open access, to the sharing of knowledge and information for the benefit of all.

Information as a human right: debating the path to improved access (video link)

Access to information is an inalienable human right that should be promoted but needs to be respected, nurtured and used appropriately if it is to be used for the greatest benefit, panellists at a discussion to mark the 10th anniversary of Globethics.net agreed. Speakers from international and regional broadcast and communications bodies, as well as NGOs, examined the question of access to information, in a panel discussion moderated by Dr Stephen Brown, programme director, Online Libraries, at Globethics.net.

Director General of the European Broadcasting Union, Ingrid Deltenre, said the EBU was very similar to Globethics.net in that it defended the notion of information as a human right. "This is continuous and never stops. We have to defend those rights every day. But it will only happen if a society wants this and supports this. It's all vital for developing a civilised society but it needs to be treated with great care and defended every day."

Eroded editorial independence, control of media by groups wishing to overthrow governments, and the spread of information that is not impartial were weapons that could be turned against the people. The internet was today the strongest force for democracy. However, a democratic and pluralist society cannot depend on blogs and social media alone, since not everything found on the internet is true. Media are needed that serve the public by verifying information and adding context. In 2012, the EBU created a set of values of universality, diversity, independence and accountability that were unanimously adopted by its members.

Preetam Maloor, strategy and policy advisor, corporate strategy division, of the International Telecommunications Union, said Information and Communication Technologies were not only channels for communication but opened the door to an enormous, variable and easily accessible source of information and opportunities for all.

However, although the number of Internet users kept growing, with two thirds from the developing world, the internet was still far from ubiquitous. More than 4.4 billion people were offline and even those online did not always have access to the same opportunities. In many places, broadband was too expensive, and social media, apps and e-commerce platforms were not available. Services were not offered in the local language, he said.

World Association for Christian Communication board of directors' member Marianne Ejdersten said WACC's key concerns included media diversity, equal and affordable access to communication and media and gender justice. Broadcasters had to work much harder for a just world, one that included more gender-based productions. "But we can do that together. We can try to connect different organisations and companies to strengthen the role of women and men in this," she said.

During the discussion, Globethics.net and WACC launched "More or Less Equal: How Digital Platforms Can Help Advance Communication Rights", a critical look at the challenges widespread internet use poses for societies worldwide.

Kenneth Mtata, study secretary for Lutheran Theology and Practice at the Lutheran World Federation drew parallels with his son, who is about to turn 10 and is already overwhelmed by the information confronting him. "The extreme production of information results in him developing patterns of consumption. Certain things on TV and the internet interest him and he has a growing appetite for celebrity and gossip." As a parent, he finds himself facing ethical dilemmas. Should the family turn the television off when an image of a naked man lying on a bed suffering from Ebola is shown or let their son experience the reality of the world?

People in the global south were increasingly watching and hearing content produced in other parts of the world but he warned that access to information could only be a right when information was contextualised and allowed local people to use it for economic empowerment. "We must commend Globethics.net. Not only for making sure there is an increase in open access but also that other parts of the world produce information and access it."

www.globethics.net/10th-anniversary

The Mobility Roadshow –

why visit?

Presenting the finest in mobility innovation for 30 years, the national Mobility Roadshow is the original hands-on mobility event, showcasing the best possible products and services for an independent lifestyle. Whether you want to test drive, have a go at sport, driving experiences, rock climbing or just find out what’s new in the mobility market – it’s all here!

Inspirational - be amazed at life-changing productsand new ideas for YOUR independent lifestyle

Informative - gain a wealth of expert help, information and advice

Interactive - test drive vehicles, wheelchairs, powerchairs, scooters, cycles; join in sport, watch demonstrations, activities for all the family

What is it?

The UK’s most comprehensive event of its kind, it is THE annual mobility and lifestyle consumer event, showcasing a huge variety of products and services to aid an independent lifestyle. The Mobility Roadshow aims to give anyone with a mobility problem - drivers, passengers, adults or children - the chance to assess what is available to help solve that problem and most importantly to try out and evaluate the options in a ‘no pressure’ environment

Whether you have a disability that affects your mobility, or you’re an older person who is finding mobility that little bit more restricted than it used to be, the Mobility Roadshow is your one-stop shop for independence and freedom. It offers, quite simply, the best possible showcase of mobility products and services anywhere in the UK.

When and where is the next show?

Telford International Centre, 27th-29th June 2013

Who organises it?

The Mobility Roadshow is organised by registered charity Mobility Choice.

How much does it cost to get in?

Admission, parking and showguide are free, as are all activities on site.

Is it just for people with disabilities?

Not at all - there are all kinds of devices that could help people of any age who may be experiencing mobility problems through something like arthritis or stiffening joints – swivel seats make getting in and out of a car much easier, while lightweight portable scooters that fit easily in the boot of a car can be a real help for shopping or leisure activities for the less mobile.

Who exhibits at the Roadshow?

Around 160 companies and organisations, including several of the major car companies, plus vehicle adaptation and conversion specialists, mobility aids manufacturers, scooter and wheelchair manufacturers, information and advice services, charities, mobility insurance specialists; sport, leisure and holiday companies; plus a range of equipment and services for an independent lifestyle.

What sort of products will I see?

Latest cars and converted vehicles fitted with adaptations; the widest range of wheelchair-accessible vehicles (WAVS); lightweight, sports, power and manual wheelchairs; hand controls; hoists; car seats; commercial vehicles; battery chargers; trikes and scooters; walkers; rotating car seats; specialist wheels and tyres; suspension systems; ramps; seat clamps; wheelchair restraints; independent living aids and numerous gizmos and gadgets to make life easier for anyone with a mobility problem.

Can I have a go on things?

Yes, this is the original ‘hands-on’ mobility event for consumers. There are opportunities to test drive adapted vehicles and specialist wheelchair-accessible conversions, scooters and wheelchairs and to try out products before you even think about buying, so you can compare all the available options. As well as test driving vehicles, you can try out wheelchairs and scooters on a dedicated Mobility Test Track, plus interactive Sports Arena, and our ever-popular accessible rock-climbing wall with experienced helpers to get you to the top!

You mean I actually get to test drive vehicles?

Yes – many of the major motor manufacturers and conversion specialists will have a range of adapted vehicles available to try out – make sure you bring your driving licence with you. For the first time in the Roadshow's 30-year history, test drives will take place on the public roads around the International Centre, accompanied by a professional driver at all times and dual controls fitted to each vehicle (full licence holders only). You can register to test drive in advance, either through the website or by post.

Is it just for Motability customers?

No. The Roadshow is for anyone who has a mobility problem, whether you have a vehicle through the Motability scheme or you own one privately.

Can I bring the kids?

Yes, it`s a fun day out for all the family. There’s a variety of entertainment such as jugglers, clowns, magicians, face painters or balloon sculptors – plenty to see and do for everyone.

What about sport?

The Roadshow’s interactive Sports Arena offers you a chance to really get involved in a range of sports such as basketball, rugby, sledge hockey, and find out about what’s available in your area.

Can I hire a wheelchair or scooter?

Yes. Wheelchairs and scooters can be pre-booked (subject to availability), and some will be available on the day.

Will I really get impartial advice?

Yes. The Roadshow is all about choice and opportunity. A large number of charitable organisations and information services will be offering impartial advice on a range of mobility issues.

Did you know?

* There are over 10 million disabled people in the UK, that’s over 15% of the population.

* There are 2.3 million blue badge holders in the UK, indicating that they have a significant mobility problem.

* Mobility vehicles represent around 20% of the UK car market.

* Over 5.5 million disabled people are of working age, which represents 16% of the working population. However only 50% of disabled people of working age are in employment compared to 87% of non-disabled people of working age.

*Around 40% of the UK population is over 45 - the age at which the incidence of disability begins to increase significantly.

* The estimated annual purchasing power of people with disabilities is £40-£50 billion

* Over half the population over 75 has some kind of disability – 70% have difficulty walking or climbing stairs.

* 85% of disabled people in the UK were not born disabled, but became so in later life through accident or illness.

* 66% of disabled people are older people. In the next 50 years the number of over 60s will double and the number of over 80s will treble.

www.mobilityroadshow.co.uk/

I have visited Minster perhaps more than any other village in Kent. This is because the station is an excellent spot from which to snap steam tours as they manoeuvre to take the avoiding chord to Deal and Dover. And each time I go I try to get into St Mary the Virgin and I find the door locked fast.

The week before whilst visiting Monkton, I met one of the wardens who assured me that Minster would be open every Saturday morning for bellringing practice.

Saturday morning came round and so I headed to Minster with my friend Will to snap it, if it was open. Although it appeared to be locked, the door was just stiff and soon gave way to the wonders inside.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Minster Abbey on the Isle of Thanet was founded in AD 669 by Domneva, niece of King Erconbert of Kent. The enormous parish church, built some distance to the south-west of the abbey, dates from two distinct periods. The nave is Norman, a magnificent piece of twelfth-century arcading with tall cylindrical pillars. The chancel and transepts are thirteenth century, with a three-light east window, each one double shafted inside. This end of the church has a simple stone vaulted ceiling which adds greatly to the grandeur. The glass is by Thomas Willement and dates from 1861. Ewan Christian restored the church in 1863 and added vaulted ceilings to the transepts. They had been intended by the medieval designers, but were never built. There is a set of eighteen fifteenth-century stalls with misericords and an excellent sixteenth-century font and cover.

kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Minster+in+Thanet

------------------------------------------------------

he history of Minster church is entwined with that of Minster Abbey. The abbey was founded in 670AD, when Ermenburga of Mercia accepted a gift of land from Egbert of Kent as weregild for the murder of her younger brothers at the king's court, so that she could found a nunnery on the Isle of Thanet. According to legend, the boundary of the land granted to Ermenburga was determined by the course her pet deer took when released to wander on its own. With the addition of later grants of land the estates of Minster Abbey encompassed about half of Thanet. The abbey was ransacked by the Danes, and abandoned for a time before it was refounded by the monks of Canterbury, who rebuilt the Saxon timber buildings in stone. Throughout this early part of the abbey's history the monastic church served both the nuns and the townsfolk as a parish church. For a more detailed history of Minster Abbey see our article on the abbey.

There is some confusion over what part of the church is the oldest; the nave dates to 1150, and the chancel may be slightly earlier. The tower is said to be Saxon; it certainly has old stonework and a very odd turret stair, but the material is Caen stone which only truly became popular after the Norman Conquest. So it may not be as old as it appears at first glance. The turret may have simply been a shipping lookout, for in the Middle Ages Minster had a busy port and the Wentsum Channel lapped at the base of the churchyard wall. The tower and the nave walls also contain Roman bricks.

But that's nitpicking; the church is very obviously of ancient origin and even more obviously an impressive example of medieval architecture, with features covering every century since the Norman invasion - and probably before.

We've already mentioned the 12th century nave, which has remained almost unaltered since it was built. The north aisle pillars have capitals decorated with foliage carvings, while in the aisle is a wall monument to Thomas Paramore (d. ). At the north end of the aisle is the Thorne Chapel, with the 13th century tomb of Aedile de Thorne. Look up at the lancet windows and you will see a stained glass depiction of a stag, the symbol of Thanet after the story of Ermenburga's deer.

The chancel is a true highlight; one of the finest of any parish churches in Kent. It is primarily in Early English style, with a much later Victorian east window by Thomas Willement, the “Father of Victorian Stained Glass”.

But the real highlight in the chancel are the wonderful medieval misericords that decorate the choir stalls. The early 15th century stalls feature no fewer than 18 carved misericords. These 'mercy seats' were used to provide a comfortable place for monks to rest during long services. There are 18 misericords here, probably carved in 1410, and they cover an array of subjects including a cook with a ladle, an angel playing a stringed instrument, a serpent eating its own tail, a king, dragons, lions, and other strange beasts. Perhaps the strangest, a certainly the one that tells us most about medieval society, is a depiction of a 'scold's bridle'; a woman with a bit in her mouth, intended to stop her from speaking. Together these make up one of the finest collection of misericords in the south east of England.

There are several interesting bits and bobs in the south aisle, including a cover of a wooden chained Bible in a glass display case. At the west end is a 12th century Norman font near an ancient iron-bound muniment chest, unusually made of fir with a lid of elm.

Spare a glance for the list of vicars by the door. I seldom pay these long lists much attention, but in this case there are several interesting characters among the incumbents at Minster. One was Seth Travis (1547), the first appointment made by the Archbishop of Canterbury after the Dissolution of the Monastery. Richard Clerk (1597) was one of those learned scholars named by James I to hammer out the details of the King James Bible. Then there is Meric Casaubon (1634) who was deposed by Parliament in 1644 for his Royalist sympathies. In 1652 Cromwell asked him to write a history of the war, setting down impartially 'nothing but matters of fact'. He declined. When Charles II came to the throne at the Restoration, Casaubon was reinstated as vicar of Minster.

While Casaubon was suspended during the war, however, Minster was saddled with Richard Culmer, aka 'Blue Dick'. Culmer was a virulent iconoclast, and a bitter enemy of Episcopy. He was best known for destroying monuments and breaking up stained glass at Canterbury Cathedral. So unpopular was his appointment among the townsfolk that he had trouble collecting church tithes. His name is conspicuous by its absence from the list of vicars. And speaking of such lists, Henry Wharton (1688) was the first to popularise the making of such lists of incumbents, an act he thought might impart a sense of continuity to Church of England churches. A later vicar, John Lewis (1708) wrote over a thousand sermons in his time at Minster. On his death he ordered them destroyed, fearing that vicars who followed him might find the temptation of plagiarising his works too great.

www.britainexpress.com/counties/kent/churches/minster.htm

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

AD 1-100

The Roman governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus was campaigning in Wales when local discontent finally erupted into rebellion. Boudica attacked Camulodunum (Colchester), defeating the Ninth Legion when it attempted to rescue the town.

This decorated cavalry helmet was possibly war booty ritually deposited in a marsh by a Briton. Alternatively, it may represent a votive offering made by a Roman soldier adopting practices similar to those of the native population.

[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

Greater Manchester Police proudly welcomed 152 new officers in the force's largest attestation ceremony to date on the evening of Tuesday 22nd October 2019, at Stockport Town Hall.

In front of family and friends, all officers partook in the Police Oath which is their promise to the Queen in front of a magistrate to uphold the office of constable with fairness, integrity, diligence and impartiality.

The ceremony marks the official start of the officers commencing their duties, and is a milestone to be celebrated.

Chief Constable Ian Hopkins was in attendance to welcome each and every new recruit to the force.

Also in attendance were Greater Manchester’s Deputy Mayor, Baroness Beverley Hughes and the Mayor of Stockport, Councillor Laura Booth.

For more information about Policing in Greater Manchester please visit our website. www.gmp.police.uk

To contact Greater Manchester Police for a less urgent matter or make a report online you can also visit www.gmp.police.uk.

You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information. Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give evidence.

Greater Manchester Police proudly welcomed 152 new officers in the force's largest attestation ceremony to date on the evening of Tuesday 22nd October 2019, at Stockport Town Hall.

In front of family and friends, all officers partook in the Police Oath which is their promise to the Queen in front of a magistrate to uphold the office of constable with fairness, integrity, diligence and impartiality.

The ceremony marks the official start of the officers commencing their duties, and is a milestone to be celebrated.

Chief Constable Ian Hopkins was in attendance to welcome each and every new recruit to the force.

Also in attendance were Greater Manchester’s Deputy Mayor, Baroness Beverley Hughes and the Mayor of Stockport, Councillor Laura Booth.

For more information about Policing in Greater Manchester please visit our website. www.gmp.police.uk

To contact Greater Manchester Police for a less urgent matter or make a report online you can also visit www.gmp.police.uk.

You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information. Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give evidence.

Chief Constable Ian Hopkins welcomes the new recruits.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has welcomed 100 new police officers to the ranks.

The new recruits were sworn in at an attestation ceremony at Harrop Fold School in Worsley last night. It is the first time an event of this kind has been held at a community venue.

Chief Constable Ian Hopkins, Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd and Magistrates Peter Rogerson and Zahid Maqbool were in attendance at the legally binding event.

Family and friends of the new officers watched on proudly as each of them made an oath to uphold the office of constable with fairness, integrity, diligence and impartiality.

Chief Constable Ian Hopkins chose to hold the attestation at Harrop Fold School, rather than a police building, to emphasise to the new recruits what it means to be a police constable.

He said: “The primary role of each officer is to help and serve the public, therefore it is only right that we hold this attestation at the heart of community, where it should be.

“I would like to thank Harrop Fold School for allowing us to hold our ceremony here.”

On what lies ahead for the new officers, Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said: “Policing is now more challenging and complex than ever before, with significantly more scrutiny now being placed on officers, which is rightly to be expected.

“Due to the rigorous selection process and training involved, plus the emphasis we place on supporting each other at GMP, I have no doubts that these officers will meet any challenges that lie ahead.

“I am sure at the end of their careers they can proudly say that they left the Force and the communities of Greater Manchester in a better place than when they started.”

All of the new recruits have previously been employees with GMP, either as Police Community Support Officers (PCSO), Special Constables, apprentices or police staff, and will build upon their existing skills and knowledge involved with policing.

The 100 new officers joining GMP will maintain the total overall number of officers at current levels.

Join in the conversation on social media using the hashtag #newrecruits

To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit our website. www.gmp.police.uk

You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information. Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give a statement.

The Bill of Rights is the collective name for the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. Proposed to assuage the fears of Anti-Federalists who had opposed Constitutional ratification, these amendments guarantee a number of personal freedoms, limit the government's power in judicial and other proceedings, and reserve some powers to the states and the public. While originally the amendments applied only to the federal government, most of their provisions have since been applied to the states by way of the Fourteenth Amendment, a process known as incorporation.

The amendments were introduced by James Madison to the 1st United States Congress as a series of legislative articles. They were adopted by the House of Representatives on August 21, 1789, formally proposed by joint resolution of Congress on September 25, 1789, and came into effect as Constitutional Amendments on December 15, 1791, through the process of ratification by three-fourths of the states. While twelve amendments were proposed by Congress, only ten were originally ratified by the states. Of the remaining two, one was adopted 203 years later as the Twenty-seventh Amendment, and the other technically remains pending before the states.

The Bill of Rights enumerates freedoms not explicitly indicated in the main body of the Constitution, such as freedom of religion, freedom of speech, a free press, and free assembly; the right to keep and bear arms; freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, security in personal effects, and freedom from warrants issued without probable cause; indictment by a grand jury for any capital or "infamous crime"; guarantee of a speedy, public trial with an impartial jury; and prohibition of double jeopardy. In addition, the Bill of Rights reserves for the people any rights not specifically mentioned in the Constitution and reserves all powers not specifically granted to the federal government to the people or the States. The Bill was influenced by George Mason's 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights, the English Bill of Rights 1689, and earlier English political documents such as Magna Carta (1215).

The Bill of Rights had little judicial impact for the first 150 years of its existence, but was the basis for many Supreme Court decisions of the 20th and 21st centuries. One of the first fourteen copies of the Bill of Rights is on public display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

George Washington had fourteen handwritten copies of the Bill of Rights made, one for Congress and one for each of the original thirteen states. The copies for Georgia, Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania went missing. The New York copy is thought to have been destroyed in a fire, whereas the Pennsylvania copy was taken by a soldier sometime in April 1865.Two unidentified copies of the missing four (thought to be the Georgia and Maryland copies) survive; one is in the National Archives, and the other is in the New York Public Library. North Carolina's copy was stolen by a Union soldier in April 1865 and returned to North Carolina in 2005 by FBI Special Agent Robert King Wittman.

The National Archives and Records Administration copy of the Bill of Rights is on display in the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom. The Rotunda itself was constructed in the 1950s and dedicated in 1952 by President Harry S. Truman, who said, "Only as these documents are reflected in the thoughts and acts of Americans, can they remain symbols of power that can move the world. That power is our faith in human liberty".

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bill_of_Rights

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_...

Declaration of 4,000 MPs, including majorities of 30 parliaments

Moreover, a deceleration by over 4,000 MPs from 40 countries across the globe in support of the Iranian Resistance and especially Ashraf residents was unveiled at the gathering. The MPs, including the majority of the European Parliament, the majority of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and majorities of 28 national parliaments, called for the urgent protection of Ashraf by the UN, U.S. and EU, the immediate lifting of the siege on Ashraf – especially ensuring free access to medical services – and an impartial, comprehensive and independent investigation into the crimes committed on April 8th in Ashraf

In a large and exhilarating gathering held in the Villepinte Auditorium near Paris on Saturday afternoon, 18 June 2011, Iranians called for the immediate protection of Ashraf by the UN with assistance provided by the U.S. and EU. They also condemned any kind of displacement of Ashraf residents inside Iraq, and declared their support for Europe’s peaceful long-term solution for Ashraf. The participants described maintaining the terrorist tag against the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) by the US State Department as an illegal measure and tantamount to participating in the repression of the Iranian people and Resistance. The attendees called on the U.S. government to comply with last July's verdict of the U.S. Court of Appeals in D.C. and immediately revoke the PMOI's terrorist designation.

Hundreds of prominent politicians and MPs representing a broad range of political views from countries in five continents of the globe also took part in the largest gathering of its kind by Iranian exiles. In addition to expressing their support for the Iranian Resistance and defending Ashraf’s rights, the high-profile dignitaries also called for the recognition of the National Council of Resistance by the international community

Rudolph Giuliani, former New York City Mayor and Presidential Candidate (2008); US Congressman Bob Filner; Rita Sussmouth, former Speaker of the German Parliament (1988-1998); Judge Michael Mukasey, former US Attorney General (2007-2009); Ambassador John Bruton, former Prime Minister of Ireland (1994-1997) and EU ambassador to the US (2004-2005); Jean-Pierre Brard, Member of French National Assembly; Andrew Card, White House Chief of Staff of President George Bush (2001-2006); Tom Ridge, first US Secretary of Homeland Security (2003-2005); Alejo Vidal Quadras, European Parliament Vice President; Geir Haarde, former Prime Minister of Iceland (2006-2009); Lord Corbett of Castle Vale, Head of the Labour Peers group in the House of Lords; Nariman al-Rousan, Member of Jordanian Parliament; Aude de Thuin, author and founder of the Women Forum; Sid Ahmed Ghozali, former Prime Minister of Algeria; Robert Torricelli, former U.S. Senator; Carlo Ciccioli, Member of the Italian Parliament; Jean-Charles Rielle, Member of the Swiss Federal Parliament; and Henry Leclerc, Honorary President of the Human Rights League of France.

A number of French mayors, including Jean-Pierre Béquet, Mayor of Auvers-sur-Oise; Nelly Rolland, Mayor of Villepinte; and Maurice Boscavert, Mayor of Taverny, delivered speeches and declared the support of 5,000 French mayors for the Iranian Resistance.

The ceremony was held on the eve of June 20th, the Day of Martyrs and Political Prisoners in Iran. The master of ceremony for the first part of the event was Congressman Patrick Kennedy, Member of US House of Representatives until 2011. David Amess, Member of British Parliament from the Conservative Party, took over the event for the second part.

While being accompanied by Mrs. Rezaii (the mother of 7 martyrs), Mahin Saremi and a number of French MPs, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi honored the memory of 120,000 martyrs of the Iranian people, who have fallen during the three decade struggle against the clerical dictatorship, including the martyrs of the past two years and those who lost their lives as a result of the recent criminal attack against Ashraf.

Mrs. Mahin Saremi, the wife of PMOI supporter Ali Saremi, also took part in the gathering. Ali Saremi was Iran’s most prominent political prisoner and was hanged last year by the Iranian regime after enduring 24 years of imprisonment and torture. Mrs. Saremi, who herself was arrested and imprisoned several times since the 1980s, was recently condemned to 10 years of imprisonment but managed to flee from the Iranian regime and reach Paris. Akbar, the son of Ali and Mahin Saremi, is among the residents of Ashraf.

The Mobility Roadshow –

why visit?

Presenting the finest in mobility innovation for 30 years, the national Mobility Roadshow is the original hands-on mobility event, showcasing the best possible products and services for an independent lifestyle. Whether you want to test drive, have a go at sport, driving experiences, rock climbing or just find out what’s new in the mobility market – it’s all here!

Inspirational - be amazed at life-changing productsand new ideas for YOUR independent lifestyle

Informative - gain a wealth of expert help, information and advice

Interactive - test drive vehicles, wheelchairs, powerchairs, scooters, cycles; join in sport, watch demonstrations, activities for all the family

What is it?

The UK’s most comprehensive event of its kind, it is THE annual mobility and lifestyle consumer event, showcasing a huge variety of products and services to aid an independent lifestyle. The Mobility Roadshow aims to give anyone with a mobility problem - drivers, passengers, adults or children - the chance to assess what is available to help solve that problem and most importantly to try out and evaluate the options in a ‘no pressure’ environment

Whether you have a disability that affects your mobility, or you’re an older person who is finding mobility that little bit more restricted than it used to be, the Mobility Roadshow is your one-stop shop for independence and freedom. It offers, quite simply, the best possible showcase of mobility products and services anywhere in the UK.

When and where is the next show?

Telford International Centre, 27th-29th June 2013

Who organises it?

The Mobility Roadshow is organised by registered charity Mobility Choice.

How much does it cost to get in?

Admission, parking and showguide are free, as are all activities on site.

Is it just for people with disabilities?

Not at all - there are all kinds of devices that could help people of any age who may be experiencing mobility problems through something like arthritis or stiffening joints – swivel seats make getting in and out of a car much easier, while lightweight portable scooters that fit easily in the boot of a car can be a real help for shopping or leisure activities for the less mobile.

Who exhibits at the Roadshow?

Around 160 companies and organisations, including several of the major car companies, plus vehicle adaptation and conversion specialists, mobility aids manufacturers, scooter and wheelchair manufacturers, information and advice services, charities, mobility insurance specialists; sport, leisure and holiday companies; plus a range of equipment and services for an independent lifestyle.

What sort of products will I see?

Latest cars and converted vehicles fitted with adaptations; the widest range of wheelchair-accessible vehicles (WAVS); lightweight, sports, power and manual wheelchairs; hand controls; hoists; car seats; commercial vehicles; battery chargers; trikes and scooters; walkers; rotating car seats; specialist wheels and tyres; suspension systems; ramps; seat clamps; wheelchair restraints; independent living aids and numerous gizmos and gadgets to make life easier for anyone with a mobility problem.

Can I have a go on things?

Yes, this is the original ‘hands-on’ mobility event for consumers. There are opportunities to test drive adapted vehicles and specialist wheelchair-accessible conversions, scooters and wheelchairs and to try out products before you even think about buying, so you can compare all the available options. As well as test driving vehicles, you can try out wheelchairs and scooters on a dedicated Mobility Test Track, plus interactive Sports Arena, and our ever-popular accessible rock-climbing wall with experienced helpers to get you to the top!

You mean I actually get to test drive vehicles?

Yes – many of the major motor manufacturers and conversion specialists will have a range of adapted vehicles available to try out – make sure you bring your driving licence with you. For the first time in the Roadshow's 30-year history, test drives will take place on the public roads around the International Centre, accompanied by a professional driver at all times and dual controls fitted to each vehicle (full licence holders only). You can register to test drive in advance, either through the website or by post.

Is it just for Motability customers?

No. The Roadshow is for anyone who has a mobility problem, whether you have a vehicle through the Motability scheme or you own one privately.

Can I bring the kids?

Yes, it`s a fun day out for all the family. There’s a variety of entertainment such as jugglers, clowns, magicians, face painters or balloon sculptors – plenty to see and do for everyone.

What about sport?

The Roadshow’s interactive Sports Arena offers you a chance to really get involved in a range of sports such as basketball, rugby, sledge hockey, and find out about what’s available in your area.

Can I hire a wheelchair or scooter?

Yes. Wheelchairs and scooters can be pre-booked (subject to availability), and some will be available on the day.

Will I really get impartial advice?

Yes. The Roadshow is all about choice and opportunity. A large number of charitable organisations and information services will be offering impartial advice on a range of mobility issues.

Did you know?

* There are over 10 million disabled people in the UK, that’s over 15% of the population.

* There are 2.3 million blue badge holders in the UK, indicating that they have a significant mobility problem.

* Mobility vehicles represent around 20% of the UK car market.

* Over 5.5 million disabled people are of working age, which represents 16% of the working population. However only 50% of disabled people of working age are in employment compared to 87% of non-disabled people of working age.

*Around 40% of the UK population is over 45 - the age at which the incidence of disability begins to increase significantly.

* The estimated annual purchasing power of people with disabilities is £40-£50 billion

* Over half the population over 75 has some kind of disability – 70% have difficulty walking or climbing stairs.

* 85% of disabled people in the UK were not born disabled, but became so in later life through accident or illness.

* 66% of disabled people are older people. In the next 50 years the number of over 60s will double and the number of over 80s will treble.

www.mobilityroadshow.co.uk/

The Mobility Roadshow –

why visit?

Presenting the finest in mobility innovation for 30 years, the national Mobility Roadshow is the original hands-on mobility event, showcasing the best possible products and services for an independent lifestyle. Whether you want to test drive, have a go at sport, driving experiences, rock climbing or just find out what’s new in the mobility market – it’s all here!

Inspirational - be amazed at life-changing productsand new ideas for YOUR independent lifestyle

Informative - gain a wealth of expert help, information and advice

Interactive - test drive vehicles, wheelchairs, powerchairs, scooters, cycles; join in sport, watch demonstrations, activities for all the family

What is it?

The UK’s most comprehensive event of its kind, it is THE annual mobility and lifestyle consumer event, showcasing a huge variety of products and services to aid an independent lifestyle. The Mobility Roadshow aims to give anyone with a mobility problem - drivers, passengers, adults or children - the chance to assess what is available to help solve that problem and most importantly to try out and evaluate the options in a ‘no pressure’ environment

Whether you have a disability that affects your mobility, or you’re an older person who is finding mobility that little bit more restricted than it used to be, the Mobility Roadshow is your one-stop shop for independence and freedom. It offers, quite simply, the best possible showcase of mobility products and services anywhere in the UK.

When and where is the next show?

Telford International Centre, 27th-29th June 2013

Who organises it?

The Mobility Roadshow is organised by registered charity Mobility Choice.

How much does it cost to get in?

Admission, parking and showguide are free, as are all activities on site.

Is it just for people with disabilities?

Not at all - there are all kinds of devices that could help people of any age who may be experiencing mobility problems through something like arthritis or stiffening joints – swivel seats make getting in and out of a car much easier, while lightweight portable scooters that fit easily in the boot of a car can be a real help for shopping or leisure activities for the less mobile.

Who exhibits at the Roadshow?

Around 160 companies and organisations, including several of the major car companies, plus vehicle adaptation and conversion specialists, mobility aids manufacturers, scooter and wheelchair manufacturers, information and advice services, charities, mobility insurance specialists; sport, leisure and holiday companies; plus a range of equipment and services for an independent lifestyle.

What sort of products will I see?

Latest cars and converted vehicles fitted with adaptations; the widest range of wheelchair-accessible vehicles (WAVS); lightweight, sports, power and manual wheelchairs; hand controls; hoists; car seats; commercial vehicles; battery chargers; trikes and scooters; walkers; rotating car seats; specialist wheels and tyres; suspension systems; ramps; seat clamps; wheelchair restraints; independent living aids and numerous gizmos and gadgets to make life easier for anyone with a mobility problem.

Can I have a go on things?

Yes, this is the original ‘hands-on’ mobility event for consumers. There are opportunities to test drive adapted vehicles and specialist wheelchair-accessible conversions, scooters and wheelchairs and to try out products before you even think about buying, so you can compare all the available options. As well as test driving vehicles, you can try out wheelchairs and scooters on a dedicated Mobility Test Track, plus interactive Sports Arena, and our ever-popular accessible rock-climbing wall with experienced helpers to get you to the top!

You mean I actually get to test drive vehicles?

Yes – many of the major motor manufacturers and conversion specialists will have a range of adapted vehicles available to try out – make sure you bring your driving licence with you. For the first time in the Roadshow's 30-year history, test drives will take place on the public roads around the International Centre, accompanied by a professional driver at all times and dual controls fitted to each vehicle (full licence holders only). You can register to test drive in advance, either through the website or by post.

Is it just for Motability customers?

No. The Roadshow is for anyone who has a mobility problem, whether you have a vehicle through the Motability scheme or you own one privately.

Can I bring the kids?

Yes, it`s a fun day out for all the family. There’s a variety of entertainment such as jugglers, clowns, magicians, face painters or balloon sculptors – plenty to see and do for everyone.

What about sport?

The Roadshow’s interactive Sports Arena offers you a chance to really get involved in a range of sports such as basketball, rugby, sledge hockey, and find out about what’s available in your area.

Can I hire a wheelchair or scooter?

Yes. Wheelchairs and scooters can be pre-booked (subject to availability), and some will be available on the day.

Will I really get impartial advice?

Yes. The Roadshow is all about choice and opportunity. A large number of charitable organisations and information services will be offering impartial advice on a range of mobility issues.

Did you know?

* There are over 10 million disabled people in the UK, that’s over 15% of the population.

* There are 2.3 million blue badge holders in the UK, indicating that they have a significant mobility problem.

* Mobility vehicles represent around 20% of the UK car market.

* Over 5.5 million disabled people are of working age, which represents 16% of the working population. However only 50% of disabled people of working age are in employment compared to 87% of non-disabled people of working age.

*Around 40% of the UK population is over 45 - the age at which the incidence of disability begins to increase significantly.

* The estimated annual purchasing power of people with disabilities is £40-£50 billion

* Over half the population over 75 has some kind of disability – 70% have difficulty walking or climbing stairs.

* 85% of disabled people in the UK were not born disabled, but became so in later life through accident or illness.

* 66% of disabled people are older people. In the next 50 years the number of over 60s will double and the number of over 80s will treble.

www.mobilityroadshow.co.uk/

TWI is a global leader in technology engineering providing research and consultancy to its members.

Respected for its expertise, professionalism, impartiality and confidentiality, TWI works with the most influential companies worldwide across all industry sectors.

For more information www.twi.co.uk/

If you wish to use this image each use should be accompanied by the credit line and notice, "Courtesy of TWI Ltd".

Writing a Ange Kagame biography for someone is both a great gesture and a great gift. In case the biography writing project is for a family member or friend, and you do not think you don't think you have the necessary writing experience, remember that there are biography writing services out there to help you out. As a biography is an account of another person's life, in a way it is easier to write, because you being the outsider can write Kagame's Daughters impartially without having the emotional attachment.visit our www.hope-mag.com/news.php?option=lnews&ca=1&a=1157 site for more information on Ange Kagame Images

Greater Manchester Police proudly welcomed 152 new officers in the force's largest attestation ceremony to date on the evening of Tuesday 22nd October 2019, at Stockport Town Hall.

In front of family and friends, all officers partook in the Police Oath which is their promise to the Queen in front of a magistrate to uphold the office of constable with fairness, integrity, diligence and impartiality.

The ceremony marks the official start of the officers commencing their duties, and is a milestone to be celebrated.

Chief Constable Ian Hopkins was in attendance to welcome each and every new recruit to the force.

Also in attendance were Greater Manchester’s Deputy Mayor, Baroness Beverley Hughes and the Mayor of Stockport, Councillor Laura Booth.

For more information about Policing in Greater Manchester please visit our website. www.gmp.police.uk

To contact Greater Manchester Police for a less urgent matter or make a report online you can also visit www.gmp.police.uk.

You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information. Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give evidence.

Powerful Portadown profit from poor performanceby Roger Corbett

A powerful Portadown side gained revenge for their defeat by Bangor in the Junior Cup last season by taking advantage of the home team’s poor performance and deservedly finishing ahead by 24-43.

With a number of changes to the side that did so well against Dromore last week, a young Bangor side got this second round Junior Cup fixture underway. The playing conditions were good, with the breeze blowing across the pitch and not benefiting either side. From the outset, Portadown played the game at a fast pace, and pushed Bangor back into their own half for long periods. Both sides, however, made many unforced errors and as a result promising attacks were halted.

After 10 minutes of play, it was Bangor who got the scoreboard started, when Portadown conceded a penalty for being offside and Mark Thompson converted the kicking opportunity. Portadown then resumed their attacks and it looked like they would score next. However, from a lineout on the Portadown twenty two, the ball was taken by Freddie Black before the rest of the pack formed around him and started to drive for the line. The rolling maul moved slowly forwards and sideways until one final push saw captain Jamie Clegg carried over to score to the right of the Portadown posts. The conversion by Neil Cuthbertson was successful and Bangor were now 10-0 ahead.

Even an impartial observer might have commented that this score was against the run of play, but to Bangor’s credit they took their chances well. Unfortunately, just 5 minutes later Bangor were reduced to 14 men after Black was yellow carded. From the resulting penalty, Portadown kicked for touch, and secured the ball from the lineout. They patiently worked the ball through their forwards until a gap opened up in the Bangor defence, allowing an easy run through to score under the Bangor posts. With the conversion, the score was now 10-7.

With only a few minutes of the first half remaining, Portadown continued to push forward and from a good cross field kick, they took advantage of the reduced Bangor cover and scored in the left hand corner. The tricky kick into the wind was successful, and Portadown were now in front by 10-14. To add to Bangor’s woes, scrum half Danny Diamond had to retire injured with what looks like a broken collar bone, and front row forward Phil Whyte limped off with a bad calf injury – we wish both a full and speedy recovery. Undeterred, Bangor tried to fight back and came very close in the final minute when more good forward play got the ball over the Portadown line, but it wasn’t able to be grounded.

As the teams turned around, Bangor would probably have been the happier with the scoreline, especially given the amount of possession Portadown had enjoyed in the first half. However, over the course of the following 20 odd minutes, and largely as a result of their own mistakes, their task became much harder. It started with another poor Bangor lineout which Portadown won and simply broke through to score in the right hand corner. The kick was good, extending the lead to 10-21. Then Bangor lost the ball in contact in the centre of the pitch, allowing the Portadown backline to quickly move the ball wide to their winger who rounded the Bangor defence to score under the posts.

Finally, from their scrum, Portadown took advantage of some missed tackles to open up a gap and score again under the Bangor posts. The score was now 10-35, and Bangor had a mountain to climb.

If the game looked lost at this point, nobody had obviously told Jamie Clegg. From Mark Thompson’s restart, Clegg ran in pursuit and managed to snatch the ball from the Portadown receiving player. He then had just enough time to pass outside to Neil Cuthbertson who managed to negotiate 3 Portadown defenders to score, and reduce the deficit to 17-35, with 26 minutes gone.

Shortly afterwards, the Portadown hooker was yellow carded. However, instead of capitalising on this advantage, Bangor then conceded another penalty, this time in front of their posts. The Portadown kicker gratefully took the 3 points, making the score 17-38.

It was around this point that it was starting to look like Portadown were paying the price for their furious onslaught in the first half. Bangor sensed the weakness and started to play their best rugby of the game so far. Patient build-ups by the forwards, accompanied by strong runs from the backs, produced the opportunity for full back Davy Charles to dive under his tacklers to score beside the posts. Cuthbertson’s quick kick was good, and the score was now 24-38.

As the final play approached, and the end result no longer in question, yet another lineout mix-up gave Portadown possession again. With the Bangor defence largely flat footed, Portadown cut through and, despite a desperate covering tackle by Charles, touched down for the final score of the game. Although the kick was missed, Portadown’s victory was by an emphatic 24-43 margin.

This young Bangor side can learn much from their older, wiser opponents. While fitness and commitment is not in question, consistency of technique in basic set pieces, and retention of the ball when in contact would need to improve, or at least return to levels seen in earlier games. While the disappointment of an early exit from the Junior Cup cannot be denied, the focus will now be wholly on returning to success in the league, the next fixture being a home meeting with Cooke.

Bangor side: P Whyte (P Dornan), A Jackson, J Harrison, R Meeke, F Black, M Coey, J Clegg (c), C Stewart, D Diamond (P Nicol), M Thompson, M Widdowson, M Aspley, M Weir, N Cuthbertson, D Charles

Subs: P Nicol, P Dornan

Bangor scores: J Clegg (1T), N Cuthbertson (1T), D Charles (1T), M Thompson (1P, 3C)

I have visited Minster perhaps more than any other village in Kent. This is because the station is an excellent spot from which to snap steam tours as they manoeuvre to take the avoiding chord to Deal and Dover. And each time I go I try to get into St Mary the Virgin and I find the door locked fast.

The week before whilst visiting Monkton, I met one of the wardens who assured me that Minster would be open every Saturday morning for bellringing practice.

Saturday morning came round and so I headed to Minster with my friend Will to snap it, if it was open. Although it appeared to be locked, the door was just stiff and soon gave way to the wonders inside.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Minster Abbey on the Isle of Thanet was founded in AD 669 by Domneva, niece of King Erconbert of Kent. The enormous parish church, built some distance to the south-west of the abbey, dates from two distinct periods. The nave is Norman, a magnificent piece of twelfth-century arcading with tall cylindrical pillars. The chancel and transepts are thirteenth century, with a three-light east window, each one double shafted inside. This end of the church has a simple stone vaulted ceiling which adds greatly to the grandeur. The glass is by Thomas Willement and dates from 1861. Ewan Christian restored the church in 1863 and added vaulted ceilings to the transepts. They had been intended by the medieval designers, but were never built. There is a set of eighteen fifteenth-century stalls with misericords and an excellent sixteenth-century font and cover.

kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Minster+in+Thanet

------------------------------------------------------

he history of Minster church is entwined with that of Minster Abbey. The abbey was founded in 670AD, when Ermenburga of Mercia accepted a gift of land from Egbert of Kent as weregild for the murder of her younger brothers at the king's court, so that she could found a nunnery on the Isle of Thanet. According to legend, the boundary of the land granted to Ermenburga was determined by the course her pet deer took when released to wander on its own. With the addition of later grants of land the estates of Minster Abbey encompassed about half of Thanet. The abbey was ransacked by the Danes, and abandoned for a time before it was refounded by the monks of Canterbury, who rebuilt the Saxon timber buildings in stone. Throughout this early part of the abbey's history the monastic church served both the nuns and the townsfolk as a parish church. For a more detailed history of Minster Abbey see our article on the abbey.

There is some confusion over what part of the church is the oldest; the nave dates to 1150, and the chancel may be slightly earlier. The tower is said to be Saxon; it certainly has old stonework and a very odd turret stair, but the material is Caen stone which only truly became popular after the Norman Conquest. So it may not be as old as it appears at first glance. The turret may have simply been a shipping lookout, for in the Middle Ages Minster had a busy port and the Wentsum Channel lapped at the base of the churchyard wall. The tower and the nave walls also contain Roman bricks.

But that's nitpicking; the church is very obviously of ancient origin and even more obviously an impressive example of medieval architecture, with features covering every century since the Norman invasion - and probably before.

We've already mentioned the 12th century nave, which has remained almost unaltered since it was built. The north aisle pillars have capitals decorated with foliage carvings, while in the aisle is a wall monument to Thomas Paramore (d. ). At the north end of the aisle is the Thorne Chapel, with the 13th century tomb of Aedile de Thorne. Look up at the lancet windows and you will see a stained glass depiction of a stag, the symbol of Thanet after the story of Ermenburga's deer.

The chancel is a true highlight; one of the finest of any parish churches in Kent. It is primarily in Early English style, with a much later Victorian east window by Thomas Willement, the “Father of Victorian Stained Glass”.

But the real highlight in the chancel are the wonderful medieval misericords that decorate the choir stalls. The early 15th century stalls feature no fewer than 18 carved misericords. These 'mercy seats' were used to provide a comfortable place for monks to rest during long services. There are 18 misericords here, probably carved in 1410, and they cover an array of subjects including a cook with a ladle, an angel playing a stringed instrument, a serpent eating its own tail, a king, dragons, lions, and other strange beasts. Perhaps the strangest, a certainly the one that tells us most about medieval society, is a depiction of a 'scold's bridle'; a woman with a bit in her mouth, intended to stop her from speaking. Together these make up one of the finest collection of misericords in the south east of England.

There are several interesting bits and bobs in the south aisle, including a cover of a wooden chained Bible in a glass display case. At the west end is a 12th century Norman font near an ancient iron-bound muniment chest, unusually made of fir with a lid of elm.

Spare a glance for the list of vicars by the door. I seldom pay these long lists much attention, but in this case there are several interesting characters among the incumbents at Minster. One was Seth Travis (1547), the first appointment made by the Archbishop of Canterbury after the Dissolution of the Monastery. Richard Clerk (1597) was one of those learned scholars named by James I to hammer out the details of the King James Bible. Then there is Meric Casaubon (1634) who was deposed by Parliament in 1644 for his Royalist sympathies. In 1652 Cromwell asked him to write a history of the war, setting down impartially 'nothing but matters of fact'. He declined. When Charles II came to the throne at the Restoration, Casaubon was reinstated as vicar of Minster.

While Casaubon was suspended during the war, however, Minster was saddled with Richard Culmer, aka 'Blue Dick'. Culmer was a virulent iconoclast, and a bitter enemy of Episcopy. He was best known for destroying monuments and breaking up stained glass at Canterbury Cathedral. So unpopular was his appointment among the townsfolk that he had trouble collecting church tithes. His name is conspicuous by its absence from the list of vicars. And speaking of such lists, Henry Wharton (1688) was the first to popularise the making of such lists of incumbents, an act he thought might impart a sense of continuity to Church of England churches. A later vicar, John Lewis (1708) wrote over a thousand sermons in his time at Minster. On his death he ordered them destroyed, fearing that vicars who followed him might find the temptation of plagiarising his works too great.

www.britainexpress.com/counties/kent/churches/minster.htm

This decorated cavalry helmet was possibly war booty ritually deposited in a marsh by a Briton. Alternatively, it may represent a votive offering made by a Roman soldier adopting practices similar to those of the native population.

[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

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

Writing a Ange Kagame biography for someone is both a great gesture and a great gift. In case the biography writing project is for a family member or friend, and you do not think you don't think you have the necessary writing experience, remember that there are biography writing services out there to help you out. As a biography is an account of another person's life, in a way it is easier to write, because you being the outsider can write Kagame's Daughters impartially without having the emotional attachment.visit our www.hope-mag.com/news.php?option=lnews&ca=1&a=1157 site for more information on Ange Kagame Images

Composing a Ange Kagame biography for a person is both a great gesture and a fantastic gift. In case the biography composing project is for a family member or guest, and you do not believe you do not believe you have the needed writing experience, bear in mind that there are bio writing services around to aid you out. As a biography is an account of one more person's life, in a way it is less complicated to write, because you being the outsider could write Kagame's Daughters impartially without having the psychological attachment.visit our www.hope-mag.com/news.php?option=lnews&ca=1&a=1157 site for more information on Ange Kagame photos

The Mobility Roadshow –

why visit?

Presenting the finest in mobility innovation for 30 years, the national Mobility Roadshow is the original hands-on mobility event, showcasing the best possible products and services for an independent lifestyle. Whether you want to test drive, have a go at sport, driving experiences, rock climbing or just find out what’s new in the mobility market – it’s all here!

Inspirational - be amazed at life-changing productsand new ideas for YOUR independent lifestyle

Informative - gain a wealth of expert help, information and advice

Interactive - test drive vehicles, wheelchairs, powerchairs, scooters, cycles; join in sport, watch demonstrations, activities for all the family

What is it?

The UK’s most comprehensive event of its kind, it is THE annual mobility and lifestyle consumer event, showcasing a huge variety of products and services to aid an independent lifestyle. The Mobility Roadshow aims to give anyone with a mobility problem - drivers, passengers, adults or children - the chance to assess what is available to help solve that problem and most importantly to try out and evaluate the options in a ‘no pressure’ environment

Whether you have a disability that affects your mobility, or you’re an older person who is finding mobility that little bit more restricted than it used to be, the Mobility Roadshow is your one-stop shop for independence and freedom. It offers, quite simply, the best possible showcase of mobility products and services anywhere in the UK.

When and where is the next show?

Telford International Centre, 27th-29th June 2013

Who organises it?

The Mobility Roadshow is organised by registered charity Mobility Choice.

How much does it cost to get in?

Admission, parking and showguide are free, as are all activities on site.

Is it just for people with disabilities?

Not at all - there are all kinds of devices that could help people of any age who may be experiencing mobility problems through something like arthritis or stiffening joints – swivel seats make getting in and out of a car much easier, while lightweight portable scooters that fit easily in the boot of a car can be a real help for shopping or leisure activities for the less mobile.

Who exhibits at the Roadshow?

Around 160 companies and organisations, including several of the major car companies, plus vehicle adaptation and conversion specialists, mobility aids manufacturers, scooter and wheelchair manufacturers, information and advice services, charities, mobility insurance specialists; sport, leisure and holiday companies; plus a range of equipment and services for an independent lifestyle.

What sort of products will I see?

Latest cars and converted vehicles fitted with adaptations; the widest range of wheelchair-accessible vehicles (WAVS); lightweight, sports, power and manual wheelchairs; hand controls; hoists; car seats; commercial vehicles; battery chargers; trikes and scooters; walkers; rotating car seats; specialist wheels and tyres; suspension systems; ramps; seat clamps; wheelchair restraints; independent living aids and numerous gizmos and gadgets to make life easier for anyone with a mobility problem.

Can I have a go on things?

Yes, this is the original ‘hands-on’ mobility event for consumers. There are opportunities to test drive adapted vehicles and specialist wheelchair-accessible conversions, scooters and wheelchairs and to try out products before you even think about buying, so you can compare all the available options. As well as test driving vehicles, you can try out wheelchairs and scooters on a dedicated Mobility Test Track, plus interactive Sports Arena, and our ever-popular accessible rock-climbing wall with experienced helpers to get you to the top!

You mean I actually get to test drive vehicles?

Yes – many of the major motor manufacturers and conversion specialists will have a range of adapted vehicles available to try out – make sure you bring your driving licence with you. For the first time in the Roadshow's 30-year history, test drives will take place on the public roads around the International Centre, accompanied by a professional driver at all times and dual controls fitted to each vehicle (full licence holders only). You can register to test drive in advance, either through the website or by post.

Is it just for Motability customers?

No. The Roadshow is for anyone who has a mobility problem, whether you have a vehicle through the Motability scheme or you own one privately.

Can I bring the kids?

Yes, it`s a fun day out for all the family. There’s a variety of entertainment such as jugglers, clowns, magicians, face painters or balloon sculptors – plenty to see and do for everyone.

What about sport?

The Roadshow’s interactive Sports Arena offers you a chance to really get involved in a range of sports such as basketball, rugby, sledge hockey, and find out about what’s available in your area.

Can I hire a wheelchair or scooter?

Yes. Wheelchairs and scooters can be pre-booked (subject to availability), and some will be available on the day.

Will I really get impartial advice?

Yes. The Roadshow is all about choice and opportunity. A large number of charitable organisations and information services will be offering impartial advice on a range of mobility issues.

Did you know?

* There are over 10 million disabled people in the UK, that’s over 15% of the population.

* There are 2.3 million blue badge holders in the UK, indicating that they have a significant mobility problem.

* Mobility vehicles represent around 20% of the UK car market.

* Over 5.5 million disabled people are of working age, which represents 16% of the working population. However only 50% of disabled people of working age are in employment compared to 87% of non-disabled people of working age.

*Around 40% of the UK population is over 45 - the age at which the incidence of disability begins to increase significantly.

* The estimated annual purchasing power of people with disabilities is £40-£50 billion

* Over half the population over 75 has some kind of disability – 70% have difficulty walking or climbing stairs.

* 85% of disabled people in the UK were not born disabled, but became so in later life through accident or illness.

* 66% of disabled people are older people. In the next 50 years the number of over 60s will double and the number of over 80s will treble.

www.mobilityroadshow.co.uk/

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

Marble, AD 50-70

Following Poppaea's death, Nero quickly remarried. Despite being in mourning, he needed an heir. Statilia Messalina, Nero's third wife, outlived him. Little is known about her. This portrait displays extraordinary craftsmanship, particularly in the rendering of the hairstyle, which reflects the luxury and refinement of the period. It may show Statilia Messalina, however the identification is not certain.

[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

Coin, AD 64

Ostia was Rome's sea port, from which goods from overseas were shipped up the river Tiber into the city. Claudius constructed major new facilities, which Nero improved. Using a novel bird's eye perspective, this coin shows the new harbour, Portus. A porticoed pier (left) and breakwaters (right) encircle the basin, which bustles with ships. A statue surmounts a lighthouse. Below is a personification of the river.

[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

Bronze (AD 54-9)

Almost none of Nero's full-length statues survive. This small bronze gives a rare sense of a complete sculpture. It shows the emperor seated and in full military garb, with a decorated breastplate and cloak. It probably formed part of a larger, multi-figured scene. Nero's pose, with his right arm extended, implies that he was receiving emissaries or prisoners of war. Parallels suggest that the figure was originally attached to a bronze monument.

[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

Bronze (AD 54-9)

Almost none of Nero's full-length statues survive. This small bronze gives a rare sense of a complete sculpture. It shows the emperor seated and in full military garb, with a decorated breastplate and cloak. It probably formed part of a larger, multi-figured scene. Nero's pose, with his right arm extended, implies that he was receiving emissaries or prisoners of war. Parallels suggest that the figure was originally attached to a bronze monument.

[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

SUBJECT: RESTMIND (HAVE A BLANK MIND IN THE MORNING) NO BAD TRIP

HM3_Y meditation for Deppresion-17.50

Courtest Ref: www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_bHsDSuoP0

sound background://

WELCOME..,

IN THIS EXERCISE WE WILL GUIDE YOU THRU

WHAT MAYBE A NEW WAY FOR YOU TO ADDRESS

THE COMMON AND NATURAL EXPERIENCED OF DEPRESSION [00:11]

sound background://

IT WILL BE FOCUSING ON YOUR BREATHE AND ATTENDING TO YOUR THOUGHTS

AND FEELING IN A HELPFUL WAY, WHEN YOUR FINISH

YOU MAY FEEL MORE HOPEFUL immediately WITH REAPEATED USE [00:23]

YOU MAY FEEL depressed LESS FREQUENTLY AND EXPERIENCED IT LESS SEVERELY WHEN YOU DO.

sound background://

YOU CAN DO THIS EXERCISE ANYTIME AND ANYWHERE.

IT IS ALSO AVAILABLE IN DIFFERENT LENGHTS [00:33]

FOR THE MOST PROFOUND RESULT FIND CONFORTABLE, AND quiet PLACE

TO PRACTISE REGULARLY

LETS BEGIN..,[00:43]

FIND THE CREATE A quiet PLACE NOW

IF POSSIBLE, CHOOSE SOMEWHERE YOU CAN CLOSE YOUR EYES WITHOUT CONCERN [00:53]

IF YOU LIKE SIT ON A CUSHION WITH YOU LEGS FOLDED INFRONT OF YOU.

YOU CAN ALSO SIT UPRIGHT IN A CHAIR WITHOUT USING A BACK REST [01:01]

LEANING BACK IS FINE TOO.., JUST TRY TO KEEP YOUR BACK STRAIGHT AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE [01:06]

NOW LOSSEN ANY RESTRICTIVE CLOTHING, TURN OFF ANY RINGERS

AND SWITCH YOUR MOBILE PHONE OR TABLET TO AIRPLANE MODE. [01:16]

WE WILL RIMIND YOU THEIR OFF WHEN THE SESSION IS OVER.

[01:47]

"FEEL YOUR BELLY FILLING ON THE IN-BREATHE, LET IT EMPTY ON THE OUT-BREATHE"[01:55]

[02:04]

NOW LET GO CONTROL OF YOUR BREATHE, AND JUST BREATHE NATURALLY"

LET THE BREATHE determine ITS OWN LENGHT, AND BEGIN TO NOTICE YOUR PHYSICAL BODY TOO

FEEL YOUR WEIGHT AGAINST YOUR SIT, FEEL YOUR UPRIGHT POSTURE,

FEEL YOUR WHOLE BODY JUST HANGING FROM YOUR FRAME

[02:27]

NOW CONTINUE BREATHING NATURALLY

WHILE WE PROVIDE BACKGROUND INFORMATION [02:32]

DEPRESSION IS UNIVERSAL HUMAN EXPERIENCED. IT AFFECTS OUR THOUGHTS,

OUR FEELINGS, OUR BODIES TOO.

WHEN WERE DEPPRESSED WE FEEL A CLUSTER OF EMOTION [02:44]

ALONG WITH FEELING SAD YOU MAY FEEL anxious, OR irritated,

HOPELESS OR SELF CRITICAL, GUILTY OR ASHAME.

YOUR THOUGHT MAY ALL BE NEGATIVE, AND THEY BECOME OBSESSIVE TOO.

YOU MAY SLEEP CREATE TO MUCH OR ELSE TO LITTLE.

WITHDRAWAL FROM SOCIAL INTERACTION OR LOSE YOUR INTEREST IN

AND ENERGY FOR LIFE, DEPPRESSION IS ALSO A NORMAL AND EVEN ADAPTIVE

REACTION TO LOSS AND OTHER LIFE EVENTS IT CAN TURN YOU INWARD

TO FOCUS ON THE PROBLEM OR RE-EVALUATE AND MAKE ADJUSTMENT IN YOUR LIFE [03:20]

OR MAY YOU FEEL DEPPRESSED FOR NO APPARENT REASON.

EITHER WAY THE THINGS YOU THINK AND FEEL ARE NORMAL, WE ALL GET DEPPRESSED FROM

TIME-TO-TIME IT'S JUST A PART OF BEING HUMAN. BUT TOO MUCH DEPPRESSION ISN'T HELPFUL

IT ISN'T HEALTHY OR ENJOYABLE. AND DEPPRESSION CAN perpetuate ITSELF LEAVING YOU

DEPPRESSED FOR LONGER THAN YOU NEED TO BE. FURTUNATELY THERE'S A SIMPLE WAY TO

WORK WITH YOUR DEPPRESSION. AND THERE IS HOPE THE TECHNIQUE YOU ARE ABOUT TO USE [03:54]

CAN BE LEARN. "IN THIS EXERCISE YOU WON'T IGNORE, SUPPRESSED OR DENIED DISPARING THOUGHTS

AND FEELINGS NOR YOU ARE TRY TO FIGURE OUT WHERE THEY CAME FROM OR WHY THEY'RE HERE.

NON OF THAT GETS TO THE ROOTS OF YOUR CONCERNED. INSTEAD OF TRYING TO READ YOURSELF

OF NEGATIVE THOUGHTS. YOU WILL CHANGE YOUR RELATIONSHIP TO THEM INSTEAD OF REPRESSING

HOPELESS FEELINGS YOU MAKE SPACE FOR THEM, AND WATCH THEM LOSE THEIR POWER OVER YOU

LETS TRY IT NOW..>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

BREATHE DEEPLY AND BE SURE YOU ARE IN COMPORTABLE AND STABLE POSITION

YOU WANT TO BE RELAX BUT ALERT. NOW BREATHE NATURALLY AND PLACE YOUR ATTENTION [04:43]

AT THE ENTRANCE TO YOUR NOSE, NOTICE HOW IT FEELS JUST INSIDE YOUR NOSE

WHEN YOU BREATHE." FEEL THE COOL AIR GOING IN, FEEL THE WARM AIR GOIN OUT

> DO JUST THIS FOR A FEW MORE MOMENTS NOW

KEEP YOUR ATTENTION ON A PLACE JUST INSIDE YOUR NOSE WHERE YOU MOST FEEL

YOUR BREATHE. BE CURIOUS, impartial LET THE BREATHE, BREATHE ITSELF, YOU JUST WATCH

AND EXPERIENCED.

HAVE YOUR EXPERIENCED AND OBSERVE YOURSELF HAVING IT AT THE SAME TIME

IF THE BREATH IS SHORT AND SWALLOW FEEL AND NOTICE THAT, IF THE BREATHE IS LONG AND DEEP

FEEL AND NOTICE THAT. NOTICE IF IT STAY THE SAME, NOTICE IF IT CHANGES [06:17]

NO MATTER HOW WELL YOU FOCUSED ON YOUR BREATHE SOONER OR LATER YOU WILL LOSE YOUR FOCUS

WHEN YOU DO, THE IMPORTANT THING IS NOT TO JUDGE OR criticize YOURSELF, WE ALL GOT DISTRACTED [06:44]

DISTRACTION ARE ANYTHING THAT TAKES YOUR FOCUS FROM YOUR BREATHING

THEY CAN ONLY COMES FROM YOUR 5-SENSES PLUS YOUR THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS

YOU WILL HEAR SOUNDS, YOU WILL FEEL SENSATION IN YOUR BODY, YOU WILL REALIZED YOUR THINKING.

WE WILL TREAT THEM ALL THE SAME. SIMPLY NOTICE EACH ONE ARISES THEN LET IT GO".

AND GENTLY RETURN YOUR ATTENTION TO YOUR BREATHE.

>>

WHATEVER interrupt YOU NEXT, JUST NOTICE IT [07:17]

LET IT GO".

AND RE-FOCUS ON YOUR BREATHING. "TRY IT FOR A MOMMENT NOW". [07:24]

{ NO SOUND ///MUTE } [07:49]

LET IT GO DOES NOT MEAN PUSH IT AWAY, BE CALM, BE NEUTRAL

NEITHER PURSUE DISTRACTION, NOR REPEL THEM, NOR JUDGE YOURSELF FOR HAVING THEM.

WHEN YOUR MIND WANDERS, SIMPLY NOTICE THAT IT IS WANDERED, AND GENTLY BRING IT BACK.

PLACE YOUR ATTENTION BACK INSIDE YOUR NOSE AND WATCH AND FEEL YOUR BREATHE [08:13]

TRY IT AGAIN NOW.

{ NO SOUND ///MUTE } [08:36]

YOU MAY HAVE LEARN OR HAVE THE URGE NAME THE THING DISTRACTING YOU

TO SAY A SILENT WORDS INSIDE YOUR MIND,

YOU MAY SAY BARKING IF THE DOG BARK.OR ITCHING IF YOU FEEL AN ITCH.

OR YOU MAY NAME THE PROCESS RATHER THAN THE THING ITSELF

YOU SAY JUST HEARING FOR THE DOG, FEELING FOR THE ITCH, OR SIMPLY

THINKING FOR A THOUGHT. BOTH OF THIS ARE FINE, BUT FOR THIS EXERCISE

TRY SOMETHING EVEN SIMPLER, TRY NAMING JUST ONE THING,

WHEN YOU LOSE YOUR FOCUS SIMPLY NOTICE THAT AND NOT THE THING

DISTRACTING YOU. IF YOU SAY A MENTAL WORD JUST SAY "DISTRACTED"

OR WANDERING TO DISCRIBE YOUR MIND [09:26]

THEN GENTLY BRING YOUR MIND BACK TO YOUR BREATHE

TRY IT FOR A MOMMENT NOW [09:32]

{ NO SOUND ///MUTE } [09:45]

FINALLY [09:58]

TRY USING NO INTERNAL WORDS AT ALL, JUST NOTICE THAT YOU LOSS

YOUR FOCUS ANG GENTLY BRING IT BACK,

BACK TO YOUR NOSE AND FEELING OF YOUR BREATHE

TRY THIS FOR A LONGER MOMENT NOW [10:11]

{ NO SOUND ///MUTE } [XX:XX]

NOW WE GO A LITTLE DEEPER [10:45]

WITH DEPPRESSION THOUGHTS AND FEELING ARE THE DISTRACTION

ARE MOST LIKELY TO INTRUDE, THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS ARE WE

MOST COMMONLY EXPERIENCED DEPPRESSION. IT IS FROM THEM THAT WE

MOST OFTEN SEEK relief. SO NOW WE'LL WORK specifically WITH DEPPRESSIVE

THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS.

CONTINUE BREATHING NATURALLY, IF NEGATIVE THOUGHT ARISE BRIEFLY

MOVE YOUR ATTENTION TO THE THOUGHT, SEE YOUR THOUGHT AS SOMETHING

AS ARISES ON HIS OWN, NOTICE THAT IT OCCURS AND LET IT PASS.

THEN GENTLY, blamelessly RETURN YOUR ATTENTION TO YOUR BREATHING

JUST INSIDE YOUR NOSE

TRY IT FOR A MOMENT NOW [11:29]

{ NO SOUND ///MUTE } [11:58]

WHEN YOU FOCUS ON YOUR BREATHE, YOU LIVE IN THE PRESENT

WHEN YOUR DEPPRESSED YOUR THOUGHTS TAKES YOU TO THE PAST, THE FUTURE

WHAT PARTS OF LIFE HAS LOSS ALREADY,

WHAT LITTLE HOPE THE FUTURE SEEMS TO HOLD.

STAYING IN THE PRESENT BY KEEPING YOUR ATTENTION ON THE BREATHE

HOPE YOU STAY BALANCE, TRY THE BIT MORE NOW.

BE PRESENT TO EACH SUCCESSES moment OF YOUR NEXT FEW BREATHE [12:22]

{ NO SOUND ///MUTE } [12:48]

YOU ARE LIKELY BE DISTRACTED BY EMOTIONS TOO, YOU MAY FEEL SAD OR EMPTY

OR YOU MAY FEEL OTHER THINGS AS WELL, ANXIOUS, ANGRY, EVEN HOPELESS OR ASHAME

IF YOU LOOK CLOSELY YOU WILL SEE WHAT WE CALL EMOTIONS ARE JUST

"COMBINATION OF SENSATION IN YOUR BODY, AND THOUGHTS IN YOUR MIND"

DEPRESSION ITSELF IS SUCH A PAIRING, WHEN DEPPRESSIVE FEELING ARISE

NOTICE THE TWO PARTS FIRST FEEL THE FEELING IN YOUR BODY

YOU MAY FEEL AN ACHE IN YOUR CHEST A WEIGHT IN YOUR BELLY, FATIGUE IN YOUR

ARMS OR DULLNESS IN YOUR HEAD, JUST EXPERIENCED WHATEVER YOUR FEELING IN YOUR BODY

WITHOUT TRYING TO CHANGE IT

TRY IT FOR A MOMENT NOW [13:37]

{ NO SOUND ///MUTE } [14:04]

NEXT, SEE THE THOUGHTS IN YOUR MIND. NOTICE HOW THE THOUGHT GO WITH THE FEELINGS

TRY IT FOR A MOMENT NOW [14:11]

{ NO SOUND ///MUTE } [14:33]

NOW CHOOSE TO REST YOUR ATTENTION ON THE FEELING IN YOUR BODY

NOT THE THOUGHT IN YOUR MIND [14:38]

{ NO SOUND ///MUTE } [14:51]

AS WITH THE BREATHE NOTICE IF THE FEELING CHANGES

NOTICE IF IT STAY THE SAME

unpleasant FEELING OFTEN WITH THERE UNDER THIS KIND OF CALM ATTENTION

WATCH AND FEEL WHAT HAPPEN FROM THE MOMENT NOW [15:04]

{ NO SOUND ///MUTE } [15:28]

FINALLY GENTLY LEAVE THE FEELING AND RETURN YOUR ATTENTION TO YOUR BREATHE

AND THE NOSE, FEEL THE COOL AIR AND THE WARM AIR ONCE AGAIN

DO THIS FOR A MOMENT NOW [15:41]

{ NO SOUND ///MUTE } [16:05]

IN A FEW MOMENTS WE WILL COMPLETE THIS EXERCISE

BEFORE WE DO, REMEMBER A FEW FOR WHEN YOU LISTEN TO IT AGAIN.

"WHEN YOUR DEPRESSED BOTH UNPLEASANT THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS MAYBE PRESENT,

THINKING THE DISTRESSING THOUGHTS, ONLY MAKES THE FEELING STRONGER

BUT WHEN INSTEAD YOU FOCUS ON THE FEELINGS IN YOUR BODY

DISTRESSING THOUGHTS diminished. SO FOCUS ON YOUR FEELINGS

BUT AS YOU DO BE SURE TO FOCUS ON THE PHYSICAL SENSATION AND NOT

THE NAME EMOTION. WITHOUT THERE WORDS AND STORIES FEELINGS FADE

AND BRING RELIEF,

FINALLY NOTICE THE RETURNING TO THE BREATHE GIVE YOU THE MOST RELIEF OF ALL

AND KNOW THAT YOUR EXPERIENCES ARE NOT YOU

"THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS" JUST THINGS YOU EXPERIENCED WITH YOUR MIND AND BODY

THE SAME AS YOU EXPERIENCED THE SOUND WITH YOUR EAR OR SMELL WITH YOUR NOSE

BUT THEY ARE NOT YOU

sound background://

>>

WHEN YOU'RE READY, SLOWLY OPEN YOUR EYES IF THEY HAVE BEEN CLOSED

NOTICES HOW YOU FEEL COMPARE WHEN YOU HAVE STARTED

APPRECIATE YOUR EFFORT, WHATEVER YOU ARE ABLE TO DO,

OR HOWEVER YOUR MIND WONDERED THE TIME YOU TOOK TODAY ITSELF IS YOUR SUCCESS

KNOW THAT YOU CAN REPEAT AS OFTEN AS YOU LIKE,

AND RETURN TO THIS PLACE INSIDE YOURSELF WHENEVER YOU CHOOSE.

>>\

REMEMBER THAT YOUR RINGER AND MOBILE DEVICES HAVE BEEN TURN-OFF.

WE HOPE YOU FOUND THIS EXERCISE HELPFUL...,"

rmr3.usrd//// nothing follows

Co. D, 21st MO. Infantry

Enlisted July 15, 1861 at Knox County, Missouri

Mustered in February 1, 1862 at Canton, Missouri

Promoted to First Sergeant on July 1, 1862 and promoted to 1st Lieutenant Sept. 30, 1865.

Pages 589-591 from A Twentieth century history and biographical record of Crawford County, Kansas, by Home Authors; Illustrated. Published by Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, IL : 1905.

CHARLES L. NORTON.

Charles L. Norton, justice of the peace at Cherokee and one of the well known and old-time citizens of Crawford county, was born in Allegany county, New York, August 16, 1839. During his lifetime of sixty-five years he has had a varied yet successful career, having been a farmer, soldier and public official, and having shown himself worthy of the esteem and confidence of his fellow citizens in whatever relation of life he has been placed.

He was the son of Leonard Norton, also a native of New York state and a descendant of ancestors who, in the early history of the country, crossed the Atlantic and became pioneer settlers on Martha's Vineyard. The mother, Margaret (Carr) Norton, was the daughter of a Revolutionary soldier, who was captured at the historic Wyoming Massacre and held captive by the Indians for seven years. Leonard Norton died at the age of eighty-two, and his wife at the age of seventy-three. They were farmers, and people of the highest integrity and honor.

Mr. Norton, being reared in New York to the age of eighteen, early learned the trade of plasterer and mason, and was also a first-class general mechanic, and he followed his trade for years. The family came out to Knox county, Missouri, in 1858, and he was there at the time the Civil war broke out. He enlisted at Edina, in Knox county, in Company D, Twenty-first Missouri Infantry, under Captain Nick Murrow and Colonel Dave Moore. Going into camp at Athens, Missouri, they were then sent to Hannibal, and thence to Pittsburg Landing and took part in the battle of Shiloh and were under Grant at Corinth; also at Columbus, Kentucky, at Memphis, on the Meridian raid under Sherman, and thence back to Memphis. In 1863 he went home on a furlough as a veteran and then went back to the front again. He was in numerous operations, being at Tupelo, Holly Springs, and Oxford, Mississippi; was then sent to Memphis, to Cairo, and on to St. Louis; fought Generals Price and Marmaduke in Missouri and Arkansas; was at Harrisonville, Pleasant Hill and Lexington, Missouri, and at numerous other campaigning points throughout the Mississippi valley, it is estimated that the regiment, in marches, boat and railroad travel, made fourteen thousand miles during its active service, as it was almost constantly on the move and the endurance of its hardened veterans was tested to the utmost. Mr. Norton was promoted first to orderly sergeant and then to first lieutenant of his company, and came out of the war with a gallant and enviable record in all departments of his service. After the war he was a resident of McDonough county, Illinois, until 1880, since which year he has been a resident of Crawford county. He is a stanch Republican. He has served as justice of the peace for some years, and his judicial rulings have been made with utmost impartiality and on the firmest basis of equity, so that he has dignified his office and made it as worthy of honor and consideration as the higher courts. He is frank and genial as a business man and citizen, and has gained a large acquaintance in the county and has many warm friends.

Mr. Norton was first married in Missouri, to Miss C. Fowler, a daughter of R. T. Fowler of Ohio. She died in Missouri, leaving two children, Gertie Lessenbee, of Cherokee, and Alzena, of California. In 1882 Mr. Norton married Rachel Clugstat, a native of McDonough county, Illinois, and a daughter of Robert and Isabel Clugstat, of that state. They are the parents of two children, Jessie Davis, of Cherokee, and Ada, at home.

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

Speaking to the BBC, Ms Williams said: "We organised this event because we are witnessing increasing discontent over BBC referendum coverage and we felt we needed to stand against this unhealthy bias.

"Whether Scotland votes 'Yes' or 'No', let it be based on facts provided in a fair and accurate way, not because people have been misguided."

She added: "The BBC should be doing what it says in its job description - being unbiased and impartial."

Composing a Ange Kagame biography for a person is both a great gesture and a fantastic gift. In case the biography composing project is for a family member or guest, and you do not believe you do not believe you have the needed writing experience, bear in mind that there are bio writing services around to aid you out. As a biography is an account of one more person's life, in a way it is less complicated to write, because you being the outsider could write Kagame's Daughters impartially without having the psychological attachment.visit our www.hope-mag.com/news.php?option=lnews&ca=1&a=1157 site for more information on Ange Kagame photos

Greater Manchester Police proudly welcomed 152 new officers in the force's largest attestation ceremony to date on the evening of Tuesday 22nd October 2019, at Stockport Town Hall.

In front of family and friends, all officers partook in the Police Oath which is their promise to the Queen in front of a magistrate to uphold the office of constable with fairness, integrity, diligence and impartiality.

The ceremony marks the official start of the officers commencing their duties, and is a milestone to be celebrated.

Chief Constable Ian Hopkins was in attendance to welcome each and every new recruit to the force.

Also in attendance were Greater Manchester’s Deputy Mayor, Baroness Beverley Hughes and the Mayor of Stockport, Councillor Laura Booth.

For more information about Policing in Greater Manchester please visit our website. www.gmp.police.uk

To contact Greater Manchester Police for a less urgent matter or make a report online you can also visit www.gmp.police.uk.

You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information. Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give evidence.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has welcomed 100 new police officers to the ranks.

The new recruits were sworn in at an attestation ceremony at Harrop Fold School in Worsley last night. It is the first time an event of this kind has been held at a community venue.

Chief Constable Ian Hopkins, Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd and Magistrates Peter Rogerson and Zahid Maqbool were in attendance at the legally binding event.

Family and friends of the new officers watched on proudly as each of them made an oath to uphold the office of constable with fairness, integrity, diligence and impartiality.

Chief Constable Ian Hopkins chose to hold the attestation at Harrop Fold School, rather than a police building, to emphasise to the new recruits what it means to be a police constable.

He said: “The primary role of each officer is to help and serve the public, therefore it is only right that we hold this attestation at the heart of community, where it should be.

“I would like to thank Harrop Fold School for allowing us to hold our ceremony here.”

On what lies ahead for the new officers, Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said: “Policing is now more challenging and complex than ever before, with significantly more scrutiny now being placed on officers, which is rightly to be expected.

“Due to the rigorous selection process and training involved, plus the emphasis we place on supporting each other at GMP, I have no doubts that these officers will meet any challenges that lie ahead.

“I am sure at the end of their careers they can proudly say that they left the Force and the communities of Greater Manchester in a better place than when they started.”

All of the new recruits have previously been employees with GMP, either as Police Community Support Officers (PCSO), Special Constables, apprentices or police staff, and will build upon their existing skills and knowledge involved with policing.

The 100 new officers joining GMP will maintain the total overall number of officers at current levels.

Join in the conversation on social media using the hashtag #newrecruits

To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit our website. www.gmp.police.uk

You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information. Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give a statement.

Chief Constable Ian Hopkins welcomes the new recruits.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has welcomed 100 new police officers to the ranks.

The new recruits were sworn in at an attestation ceremony at Harrop Fold School in Worsley last night. It is the first time an event of this kind has been held at a community venue.

Chief Constable Ian Hopkins, Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd and Magistrates Peter Rogerson and Zahid Maqbool were in attendance at the legally binding event.

Family and friends of the new officers watched on proudly as each of them made an oath to uphold the office of constable with fairness, integrity, diligence and impartiality.

Chief Constable Ian Hopkins chose to hold the attestation at Harrop Fold School, rather than a police building, to emphasise to the new recruits what it means to be a police constable.

He said: “The primary role of each officer is to help and serve the public, therefore it is only right that we hold this attestation at the heart of community, where it should be.

“I would like to thank Harrop Fold School for allowing us to hold our ceremony here.”

On what lies ahead for the new officers, Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said: “Policing is now more challenging and complex than ever before, with significantly more scrutiny now being placed on officers, which is rightly to be expected.

“Due to the rigorous selection process and training involved, plus the emphasis we place on supporting each other at GMP, I have no doubts that these officers will meet any challenges that lie ahead.

“I am sure at the end of their careers they can proudly say that they left the Force and the communities of Greater Manchester in a better place than when they started.”

All of the new recruits have previously been employees with GMP, either as Police Community Support Officers (PCSO), Special Constables, apprentices or police staff, and will build upon their existing skills and knowledge involved with policing.

The 100 new officers joining GMP will maintain the total overall number of officers at current levels.

Join in the conversation on social media using the hashtag #newrecruits

To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit our website. www.gmp.police.uk

You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information. Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give a statement.

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

Pergamon, AD 50-54; Knossos, AD 54-68

Nero's portrait began to be given prominence over Claudius's natural children on imperial coins. No-one in Rome could doubt that Nero would be emperor.

Images of Nero and Britannicus together continued only on coins minted in the provinces. Nero's position was further cemented through marriage to Claudius's daughter, Claudia Octavia.

[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

Marble, AD 1-100

The young boy's job was to light the way at night with his lantern. He had fallen asleep, dutifully waiting for his master. The reality was starkly different. In AD 61, a distinguished senator was murdered by one of his household staff. Despite protests by the people, Nero backed the senate's decision to upholad an existing law. It stipulated that all enslaved members of the owner's household should be executed - a ruthless collective punishment intended as a deterrent.

[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

On Holocaust Memorial Day, I thought I would share pictures of a memorial to one of my heroes, Raoul Wallenberg.

Raoul Wallenberg was a Swedish businessman who in 1944 accepted an assignment from the US War Refugee Board to help save members of the Jewish Community in Budapest, Hungary from the Nazis. Classed as a “Diplomat”, he did this by issuing protective passports and setting up “safe houses” as Swedish diplomatic missions. He has been attributed to saving more than 100,000 Jews.

However, Raoul Wallenberg did not enjoy freedom after the war. In January 1945 he was arrested by the Soviet Union. From this time onwards he was lost in the Soviet prison system. It appears that the Soviets considered him a spy, and despite many sightings after 1945, it took many years for the Soviet Union to admit they had arrested him.

Eventually the Soviet Union produced a death certificate, stating he died in Lubyanka Prison on 17 July 1947. However, witnesses have reported seeing Raoul Wallenberg as late as 1980. Research to find out what actually happened is still being chased by the Wallenberg family, but until the archives in Russia are opened to impartial researchers, the truth of what happened to Raoul will never be known.