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Historical person
30–65
Poppaea Sabina was the second wife of Nero and empress of Rome. Ancient sources connect her rise with the fall of Octavia and portray her as influential at court, though their accounts are shaped by moralising hostility.
Before marrying Nero, Poppaea had been married to Rufrius Crispinus and then to the future emperor Otho. She became Nero’s wife in 62 after the removal of Octavia and received the title Augusta after the birth of their daughter Claudia, who died in infancy. Poppaea herself died in 65 while pregnant; hostile ancient accounts blame Nero, but the circumstances remain uncertain.
In Margaret George’s Emperor Nero, With Poppaea Sabina beside him, Nero promotes public games, music and ambitious building projects, but the Great Fire of Rome in 64 CE turns his vision of a renewed capital into a source of suspicion.
Series
Margaret George’s Nero duology reconstructs the life of Rome’s last Julio-Claudian emperor, beginning with a childhood in which imperial blood makes Nero a target and ending with the collapse of his reign. Told largely through Nero’s own perspective, the series follows his passage through the courts of Caligula…
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