Nerón Claudio César Augusto Germánico, fue emperador del Imperio romano entre el 13 de octubre de 54 y el 9 de junio de 68, último emperador de la dinastía Julio-Claudia. Ha pasado a la historia por sus atrocidades (como asesinar a su madre y sus esposas), excentricidades y por ser el responsable del incendio de Roma (aunque este último punto es discutible). Otra de las grandes pasiones de Nerón eran… los efebos.
Dos webs anónimas y un señor abogado constitucionalista argentino, eso son referencias \(º3º)/
No sé, yo me esperaba como referencias a Suetonio, o lo que se tercie. Aunque teniendo en cuenta tanto que Suetonio solía acusar a los julios de todas las depravaciones que se le ocurrieran porque el pan se lo daban los flavios, pfft. Y como escándalo, no llega a lo de la finquita en Capri de Tiberio, o los bodorrios de Heliogábalo con sus ligues.
Buscando en Google Books, encuentro más sobre el pobre Esporo en la biografía "Nero" de Edward Champlin. Lo tengo que copiar entero:
The orator Dio of Prusa, a younger contemporary of Nero, confirms
the story and elaborates yet further. The emperor castrated his lover and
gave him the female name of his old mistress and wife (that is, Sabina).
Dio indignantly refuses to give the name of this lover, “but he actually
wore his hair parted, young women attended him whenever he went for a
walk, he wore women’s clothes, and was forced to do everything else a
woman does in the same way. And to cap the climax, great honours and
boundless sums of money were actually offered to anyone who could
make a woman of him.”3
Nero died within a year and a half of their marriage, but—astonishingly—
Sporus was compelled to go on playing the role of Sabina. Even as
Nero’s corpse was consumed on its funeral pyre, the boy passed into the
protection of Nymphidius Sabinus, the praetorian prefect who had betrayed
his emperor and who now harbored imperial ambitions for him-
146 nero
self, giving out that he was the bastard son of Caligula. Nymphidius
treated Sporus as if they were married, and called him “Poppaea.” This
new husband was killed by the praetorians while attempting a coup
against Galba, but Sporus next turns up in early 69, living intimately
with, probably likewise “married” to, Galba’s successor Otho, that is, Nero
Otho, the former husband of Nero’s Poppaea and would-be husband of
Nero’s Statilia.4 The boy’s sad career ended under Vitellius, in the late
summer or autumn of 69. In the course of planning gladiatorial contests,
even as the forces of Vespasian were invading Italy, someone proposed that
the boy appear on stage, in the title role of the Rape of Persephone.5
Sporus could not bear the shame, and he killed himself, little more than a
year after the death of Nero. It is a pitiful story, with the quality of a
nightmare, although the ancient authors, outraged by Nero’s atrocities,
have no pity to spare for the unhappy victim. He was probably not yet
twenty years old when he died.
What is significantly missing in the relationship between Nero and
Sporus is talk of love. Nowhere is it suggested that the emperor was besotted
with the boyfriend whom he fondly kissed: his eternal love was
pledged to Sabina. The fate of Sporus was to play the title role in Nero’s
elaborate mourning for his lost wife; his face was his misfortune. Did he
for his part grow to love the man who had castrated him, who forced him
to dress and act like a woman, and who longed to transform him surgically
from male to female, an operation which would undoubtedly have
killed him? No one thought to record his feelings. When Nero came to
kill himself he wanted Sporus to join him in death, but the boy fled. Dio
of Prusa asserts, obscurely, that Nero’s mistreatment of him had angered
Sporus into betraying the emperor’s plans to his companions, who then
forced him to suicide.6 Earlier in that year, the boy had attended the usual
New Year’s ceremonies on January first. While Nero was solemnly taking
the auspices, Sporus presented him with a gift, a ring with a gemstone depicting
the Rape of Proserpina. This was of course subsequently taken as
one of the many omens of Nero’s fall and demise later in the year, but
there is more to it. It was a singularly ill-timed gesture—to give a picture
of a descent into hell to a man who was then ceremoniously consulting
the gods about the future on the most ominous day of the year—and, unlike
the many other portents of the coming disaster, this gesture was premeditated.
7 There is something dreadful about Sporus, the boy forced by
his emperor to become a girl and a bride, giving Nero a representation of
the ruler of the underworld forcing a young girl to become his bride. It
was not by chance that the followers of Vitellius wanted him to play this
very role of Proserpina/Persephone on stage the following year: Sporus
himself had already suggested that he was the Queen of the Dead.
Comentarios
Dos webs anónimas y un señor abogado constitucionalista argentino, eso son referencias \(º3º)/
No sé, yo me esperaba como referencias a Suetonio, o lo que se tercie. Aunque teniendo en cuenta tanto que Suetonio solía acusar a los julios de todas las depravaciones que se le ocurrieran porque el pan se lo daban los flavios, pfft. Y como escándalo, no llega a lo de la finquita en Capri de Tiberio, o los bodorrios de Heliogábalo con sus ligues.
Buscando en Google Books, encuentro más sobre el pobre Esporo en la biografía "Nero" de Edward Champlin. Lo tengo que copiar entero:
The orator Dio of Prusa, a younger contemporary of Nero, confirms
the story and elaborates yet further. The emperor castrated his lover and
gave him the female name of his old mistress and wife (that is, Sabina).
Dio indignantly refuses to give the name of this lover, “but he actually
wore his hair parted, young women attended him whenever he went for a
walk, he wore women’s clothes, and was forced to do everything else a
woman does in the same way. And to cap the climax, great honours and
boundless sums of money were actually offered to anyone who could
make a woman of him.”3
Nero died within a year and a half of their marriage, but—astonishingly—
Sporus was compelled to go on playing the role of Sabina. Even as
Nero’s corpse was consumed on its funeral pyre, the boy passed into the
protection of Nymphidius Sabinus, the praetorian prefect who had betrayed
his emperor and who now harbored imperial ambitions for him-
146 nero
self, giving out that he was the bastard son of Caligula. Nymphidius
treated Sporus as if they were married, and called him “Poppaea.” This
new husband was killed by the praetorians while attempting a coup
against Galba, but Sporus next turns up in early 69, living intimately
with, probably likewise “married” to, Galba’s successor Otho, that is, Nero
Otho, the former husband of Nero’s Poppaea and would-be husband of
Nero’s Statilia.4 The boy’s sad career ended under Vitellius, in the late
summer or autumn of 69. In the course of planning gladiatorial contests,
even as the forces of Vespasian were invading Italy, someone proposed that
the boy appear on stage, in the title role of the Rape of Persephone.5
Sporus could not bear the shame, and he killed himself, little more than a
year after the death of Nero. It is a pitiful story, with the quality of a
nightmare, although the ancient authors, outraged by Nero’s atrocities,
have no pity to spare for the unhappy victim. He was probably not yet
twenty years old when he died.
What is significantly missing in the relationship between Nero and
Sporus is talk of love. Nowhere is it suggested that the emperor was besotted
with the boyfriend whom he fondly kissed: his eternal love was
pledged to Sabina. The fate of Sporus was to play the title role in Nero’s
elaborate mourning for his lost wife; his face was his misfortune. Did he
for his part grow to love the man who had castrated him, who forced him
to dress and act like a woman, and who longed to transform him surgically
from male to female, an operation which would undoubtedly have
killed him? No one thought to record his feelings. When Nero came to
kill himself he wanted Sporus to join him in death, but the boy fled. Dio
of Prusa asserts, obscurely, that Nero’s mistreatment of him had angered
Sporus into betraying the emperor’s plans to his companions, who then
forced him to suicide.6 Earlier in that year, the boy had attended the usual
New Year’s ceremonies on January first. While Nero was solemnly taking
the auspices, Sporus presented him with a gift, a ring with a gemstone depicting
the Rape of Proserpina. This was of course subsequently taken as
one of the many omens of Nero’s fall and demise later in the year, but
there is more to it. It was a singularly ill-timed gesture—to give a picture
of a descent into hell to a man who was then ceremoniously consulting
the gods about the future on the most ominous day of the year—and, unlike
the many other portents of the coming disaster, this gesture was premeditated.
7 There is something dreadful about Sporus, the boy forced by
his emperor to become a girl and a bride, giving Nero a representation of
the ruler of the underworld forcing a young girl to become his bride. It
was not by chance that the followers of Vitellius wanted him to play this
very role of Proserpina/Persephone on stage the following year: Sporus
himself had already suggested that he was the Queen of the Dead.
Otra de las grandes pasiones de Nerón eran… los efebos.
Pues como la Trotona de Pontevedra.