ABSTRACT
Nero's philhellenism seems particularly difficult to elucidate in terms of the pressures imposed on him by the political system, for the tendency was deeply rooted in his personality. Nero was a philhellene from his earliest years and, as we have seen, pursued his tastes and notions, despite strong opposition, from the start of his Principate. Yet we have also noted manifestations of his enthusiasm for things Greek which seem akin to the displays of cruelty and extravagance that we have analysed in institutional terms. Just as Nero could brook no rival in pedigree or largesse, so he set great store by his victories in the Greek contests which, in Rome, were to involve the defeat of his social peers. Just as he compensated for his lack of traditional achievements by ascendancy in magnificence and luxury, so he clearly conceived the celebration for his victories on the Greek tour as an answer to the Roman triumph. Is it possible that Nero's philhellenism, like much ofhis cruelty and extravagance, was, in part, a response to features of the Augustan Principate?
