L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 18 L'Italo-Americano N e r o , a m a d m a n ! P o p u l a r b e l i e f - - a n d many a "sword- a n d - s a n d a l " classics -- convinced us all t h e r e d - h a i r e d s o n o f Agrippina the Younger and last Emperor of the Julio- Claudian dynasty was far from sane, but is this the historical truth? B o r n L u c i u s D o m i t i u s Ahenobarbus in 37 AD, he b e c a m e N e r o C l a u d i u s C a e s a r A u g u s t u s Germanicus when adopted by Emperor Claudius, who had married Agrippina. The n a m e w e k n o w h i m w i t h , Nero, comes from the ancient Sabine language and means "courageous," "valiant;" it w a s c h o s e n f o r h i m b y Emperor Claudius himself. From a young age, Nero showed a liking for the arts: music, theater, singing, you name it, and didn't disdain t o b e o n s t a g e . H e w o u l d often perform plays or recite poetry he had composed. Did he enjoy being at the heart of attention? Very much so, but this didn't make of him a madman. Once he became emperor, Nero finally walked onto a stage where everyone could see and appreciate him: that of history. Little did he know that wasn't going to happen, a t l e a s t f o r a g o o d t w o thousand years. N o t o r i o u s l y , N e r o w a s considered for centuries the mind behind the Great Fire of Rome, which destroyed the Eternal City on the 19th o f J u l y 6 4 A D , w h i c h , a p p a r e n t l y , h e h a d excogitated as an excuse to openly persecute and kill Rome's increasingly larger Christian population. While modern historians agree, t o d a y , t h a t N e r o w a s n o t responsible for the fire, it c a n n o t b e d e n i e d h i s persecution of Christians was one of the bloodiest: Saint Paul and Saint Peter were both martyrized under his rule. Nero was long considered o n e o f t h e m o s t r u t h l e s s , cruelest leaders in Roman antiquity: he had his own mother, Agrippina, his friend and educator, Seneca, and his first wife, Octavia, killed. Some believe even his second wife, beloved Poppaea, was k i l l e d b y N e r o i n a f i t o f anger, while pregnant with their first child. Indeed, it is the aftermath of Poppaea's death that, for centuries, was c o n s i d e r e d t h e t r i g g e r o f Nero's descent into madness: Roman sources told us he would force slaves to dress like his defunct wife and that it wasn't unusual for him to do it, too; losing Poppaea a l s o m a d e h i m m o r e p r o m i s c u o u s a n d o f t e n v i o l e n t w i t h h i s l o v e r s . Politically, Roman historians painted him as a heartless tyrant, who thought nothing o f h a v i n g h i s a d v e r s a r i e s k i l l e d a n d h i s s u b j e c t s starved. One image represents this Nero better than any other: the poster of the 1913 movie Quo Vadis, where he's seen p l a y i n g h i s l y r e w h i l e watching Rome burning. But was this the real Nero? Contemporary historians are quite adamant that, no, the darkest of all Emperors w a s n ' t t h a t d a r k , w h e n looking at him with unbiased eyes. Much as it has been h a p p e n i n g f o r h i s u n c l e Caligula, possibly the greatest fiend of ancient Rome -- at least according to popular culture -- Nero's figure is going through a process of h i s t o r i c a l r e h a b i l i t a t i o n : while in power, he reformed the tax system in favor of the poorest, he promoted several p u b l i c w o r k s f o r t h e upkeeping of the city and was, at least up to the great Christian persecution after t h e f i r e , q u i t e t o l e r a n t towards other religions in the Empire. Speaking of the fire, it is today known that he hadn't been responsible for it and that, in fact, he managed the t r a g e d y q u i t e w e l l , supporting the quick and safe reconstruction of the city. Contrary to what historians c o e v a l t o h i m t o l d u s , common people were quite fond of Nero, to the point that his tomb, which once stood where Santa Maria del Popolo church is today, was cared for lovingly for the longest time by his former subjects. " B u t h e h a d h a l f o f h i s family killed," some of you may say: yes, he had, but we shouldn't forget how, in those time more than ever, being on top was a dog-eat-dog game, and you couldn't trust anyone, not even your own mother (quite literally, for Nero, in fact). He wasn't the f i r s t n o r t h e l a s t r u l e r i n history who murdered people close to him, nor was he the o n l y o n e w h o e x p l o i t e d o t h e r s b e c a u s e o f h i s position. W a s N e r o a p l e a s a n t human being? Who can say… but he wasn't mad, and no more evil or malicious than other emperors or kings of our history. He was, however, a v i c t i m o f t h e n o t o r i o u s habit of ancient historians to e x e r c i s e d a m n a t i o m e m o r i a e , o r c h a r a c t e r assassination, as we would call it today: no longer in charge and despised by those who rose to the throne after him, Nero had to be damned: if not in Hades, at least in the memory of history. T oday's word may b e a t a d c o n f u s i n g t o some, because it h a s m o r e meanings and all of them are very common -- well, besides o n e , w h i c h i s p r o b a b l y a favorite only among Dante's aficionados. Fiera (fee-ai- rah) is mostly used in two ways: as a noun and as an adjective. L e t ' s g o i n o r d e r a n d begin with the one you may be more familiar with, fiera t h e n o u n , w h i c h i s e a s i l y translated in English with the word "fair." Just like in English, fiera represents any f o r m o f l a r g e g a t h e r i n g dedicated to a specific topic, product, or produce: we can h a v e a f i e r a d ' E s t a t e ( a s u m m e r f a i r ) , b u t a l s o a f i e r a d e l f u n g o ( a mushroom fair) and a fiera del cioccolato (a chocolate fair). But it doesn't have to b e a b o u t f o o d : f i e r e d e l m o b i l e ( d e d i c a t e d t o f u r n i t u r e ) o r f i e r e d e l l ' a r t i g i a n a t o ( c r a f t - smanship fairs) are all the rage, too, these days. With this meaning, the word fiera derives from the L a t i n f e r i a , w h i c h m e a n t "holiday" or "celebration," and it came to be through the metathesis of the original Latin (that's a fancy word to say that sounds in a word change position) sometimes in the mid-13th century. Fiera, we said, can also b e a n a d j e c t i v e , m o r e p r e c i s e l y t h e f e m i n i n e s i n g u l a r o f f i e r o , w h i c h means "proud." We say, for instance, that sono fiera di t e : h a i f a t t o u n o t t i m o lavoro (I'm proud of you: you did a great job!), but also è u n a d o n n a f i e r a d e l l e proprie radici (she is proud of her roots). L a s t b u t n o t l e a s t , w e shouldn't forget that fiera can also mean "beast:" while old-fashioned, it is iconic in Italian because of the use D a n t e m a d e o f i t i n t h e D i v i n e C o m e d y , m o r e specifically in the first Canto of the Inferno, where he encounters three wild beasts, an allegorical representation o f l u s t , a r r o g a n c e a n d avarice, which he calls fiere. -- Andiamo alla fiera del gelato questo weekend? -- Shall we go to the ice cream fair this weekend? -- Ben fatto! Sono fiera di te! -- Well done! I am proud of you! - - D e v i e s s e r e f i e r a d i q u e s t o r i s u l t a t o , h a i lavorato duro per ottenerlo. - - B e p r o u d o f t h i s achievement, you worked hard to get here! LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE W o r d o f t h e d a y : fi e r a , I t a l y ' s favorite place Italian curiosities: was Emperor Nero really mad? Emperor Nero: a classical case of ancient character assassination (Photo: Florence Leandri/Dreamstime) © Viacheslav Iacobchuk | Dreamstime.com

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