Was this guy really as evil as history makes him out to be?

Probably not. It's important to note that nearly all of the history we read from ancient rome was written by the senatorial class and as such their writings were heavily influenced by the relationship between the emperor and the Senate.

As such, emperors who openly disregarded and/or disdained the senate and their friends were made cartoonishly evil.

In reality, we know Nero was unpopular and he was most likely a selfish asshole on a power trip. I can't imagine giving teenager ultimate power to the single greatest state in the world at the time. But the whole 'started the great fire to make room for his ebin construction project', take it with some healthy skepticism.

Same goes for Caligula, Commodus, etc. The only emperor I can think of that openly conflicted with the Senate and didn't get slandered hard was Hadrian and that was really only thanks to the influence of Antoninus Pius. He was given the name Pius for defending Hadrian from the Senate's bullshit.

>>2699165
To add to this, nowhere is the slanted bias of ancient historians more apparent than in their writings of Domitian.

From everything we can tell about his reign he was a ruthless autocrat but he was ultimately a stable, efficient ruler who was popular amongst the people. His only apparent flaw is he wasn't his brother Titus.

Yet he's written about as a paranoid despot by the senatorial class.

>>2699149
Literally the first Neckbeard NEET

>>2699165
I would say that all of those had some basis in truth though though. Like the entire deal with Claudia Octavia where Nero just kept cheating on her and beating her until he knocked up Poppaea Sabina, then divorced her and had her later killed seems completely plausible.

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>>2699295
>you should really clean your domus aurea, nero
>GTFO MY PALACE SENECA REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

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>>2699295
He had a trap wife too
>Accidentally your pregnant wife
>Find a sissy who looks like her
>Cut his balls off and marry her (him)

>>2699149
Not evil. Just incompetent.

>>2699295
>>2700872
Literally /ourguy/.

>>2699149
He was killing Christcucks left and right, so no.

>>2699200
Pretty sure the bias those Roman writers have was worst against Tiberius of all Roman Emperors.