ABSTRACT
Nero was the last member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty to rule in Rome. The Julian and Claudian families were both of ancient origin, and both were from the highest level of the nobility, the patriciate. Nero's family linked the Julii and the Claudii: his mother, the Younger Agrippina, was a daughter of Germanicus Caesar and the Elder Agrippina. The Elder Agrippina was herself a daughter of Julia, Augustus' daughter by his first marriage to Scribonia. Julia played an important and continuing part in her father's dynastic plans, although little good fortune attended these. Nero's paternal family was, through Augustus' sister, Octavia, part of the extended Julio-Claudian network. Suetonius provides a selective synopsis of the family-history and characteristics of the Domitii, and suggests that many of Nero's vices were inherited, and that he made a caricature of the family's virtues. Many of Nero's problems as Emperor were self-generated, the Julian and Claudian families did not cease to prove disruptive.
