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70 free Nero trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Nero trivia quiz covers the last emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, from his birth at Antium and adoption by Claudius to a fire that burned for nine days, a palace with a thirty-metre statue, a bribed Olympic Games and a suicide in a freedman's villa. The easy questions cover the famous outline: his tutor, his mother, the fire, the instrument of legend, the queen who rose in Britain and the chaos that followed his death. The harder half is for readers of Tacitus and Suetonius: the shipwreck that failed to kill Agrippina, the poison-maker Locusta, the freedman he married at the Saturnalia, the song he supposedly sang while Rome burned, the tribute imposed to rebuild it, the expedition to find Dido's gold, the ten-horse chariot he fell out of and still won with, the Talmudic tale of his conversion, the pope who scattered his ashes, and the impostors who claimed to be Nero returned. Every answer was checked against Nero's encyclopaedia entry before publishing. If you enjoy this, try our Augustus, Roman Empire and Cleopatra quizzes next.
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Q 01What was Nero's birth name?
Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus
He was born at Antium, modern Anzio, in December AD 37.
Q 02Who was Nero's mother?
Agrippina the Younger
His father reportedly said any child of theirs would have a detestable nature and become a public danger.
Q 03Nero's maternal uncle was which reigning emperor?
Caligula
That uncle exiled Nero's mother to an island and seized the boy's paternal inheritance.
Q 04Which emperor married Nero's mother and adopted Nero as his heir in AD 50?
Claudius
Gold coins were struck to mark the adoption; Nero was eleven when his mother remarried.
Q 05How old was Nero when he became emperor in AD 54?
16
His first speech to the Senate, promising to follow the Augustan model, was written by his tutor.
Q 06Which Stoic philosopher was Nero's tutor and early adviser?
Seneca
He wrote very positively of his pupil, and prepared Nero's first speech to the Senate.
Q 07Which praetorian prefect guided Nero alongside his tutor in the early reign?
Burrus
After his death in AD 62 Nero appointed Faenius Rufus and Ofonius Tigellinus in his place.
Q 08According to Tacitus, which poison-maker prepared the toxin that killed Nero's adoptive father in AD 54?
Locusta
The servant Halotus reportedly served it, and the doctor Xenophon stood by in case the emperor survived.
Q 09Which stepbrother of Nero was poisoned in AD 55 after Agrippina threatened to side with him?
Britannicus
He had been more prominent than Nero on provincial coins in the early 50s.
Q 10Whom did the 16-year-old Nero marry, his own step-sister?
Claudia Octavia
He later divorced her for infertility, then had her executed on a charge of adultery.
Q 11According to Suetonius, Nero's first attempt to kill his mother in AD 59 involved what?
A staged shipwreck
She swam ashore, and the freedman Anicetus then had her executed and reported it as suicide.
Q 12According to Tacitus, Nero's affair with which woman led to the conflict that ended in his mother's murder?
Poppaea Sabina
Modern historians note he did not marry her until AD 62, three years after the matricide.
Q 13Which later emperor described Nero's first five years as a model of good government?
Trajan
Those years saw fiscal reforms that put tax collectors under stricter local supervision.
Q 21Suetonius and Cassius Dio claim Nero sang which piece, in stage costume, while the city burned?
The Sack of Ilium
The story that he played while Rome burned is at least partly Flavian propaganda.
Q 22According to the popular legend, which instrument did Nero play while Rome burned?
The lyre
The fiddle of later versions did not exist; Nero played the cithara, a type of lyre.
Q 23How tall was the Colossus of Nero, the statue planned for his new palace grounds?
30 metres
The site of the statue later gave its name, misapplied, to the Flavian Amphitheatre.
Q 14What well-meant but incompetent initiative did Nero propose in AD 58?
Abolishing all taxes
He also allowed slaves to file complaints about their treatment after the Pedanius Secundus affair.
Q 15At which villa near Rome did Nero have three artificial lakes built, with waterfalls and bridges?
Subiaco
He also rebuilt his birthplace villa at Antium on an imperial scale with its own theatre.
Q 16During the Saturnalia of AD 64, Nero is said to have gone through a marriage with which freedman?
Pythagoras
Three years later he married the castrated boy Sporus with dowry and bridal veil.
Q 17On what date did the Great Fire of Rome begin?
The night of 18–19 July AD 64
It burned for over seven days, died down, then flared up for three more.
Q 18The Great Fire probably started in merchant shops beside which structure?
The Circus Maximus
The shops were timber-framed and sold flammable goods, and the Circus's outer seating was wooden.
Q 19How many of Rome's 14 districts did the fire destroy outright?
Three
Seven more were severely damaged.
Q 20According to Suetonius, why did Nero start the fire?
To clear land for his Golden House
Tacitus, by contrast, records that Nero was away at Antium when it began and paid for relief from his own funds.
Q 24The Colossus of Nero eventually gave its name to which famous building?
The Colosseum
Posterity misappropriated the word for the Flavian Amphitheatre built nearby.
Q 25According to Tacitus, Nero deflected suspicion for the fire onto which group?
Christians
Tacitus says they were thrown to beasts, crucified and burned alive, out of cruelty rather than justice.
Q 26According to Tacitus, what did Nero do for the homeless after the fire?
Opened his palaces to shelter them
He also organised food supplies to prevent starvation among survivors.
Q 27What was the name of the vast palace complex Nero built in the area cleared by the fire?
The Domus Aurea
The Domus Transitoria was his earlier palace project, begun around AD 60 to link the imperial estates.
Q 28To help pay for rebuilding Rome, Nero did what to the currency, an imperial first?
Devalued it
The move increased inflationary pressure, and heavy tribute was imposed on the provinces.
Q 29Who organised the AD 65 conspiracy against Nero with the help of a Praetorian tribune and centurion?
Gaius Calpurnius Piso
The freedman Milichus betrayed the plot to Nero's secretary and the conspirators were executed.
Q 30Which poet was executed for his part in the AD 65 conspiracy?
Lucan
Ironically he had written one of the kindest surviving accounts of Nero's rule.