SECRETS OF THE DEAD: The Nero Files

Thursday, July 21, 2022 at 9 p.m. on KPBS 2 / On demand now with KPBS Passport!

The Roman emperor Nero is considered one of history’s greatest criminals. His name has become synonymous with evil, as historic accounts have accused him of killing his stepbrother, his wife and his mother, as well persecuting Christians and instigating the devastating Great Fire of Rome. This is the judgement that is passed in history from one generation to the next, but are these accounts of Nero’s reign accurate?

New scientific discoveries and a closer examination of the ancient texts written about Nero cast a different light on the Roman emperor and the accusations leveled against him.

SECRETS OF THE DEAD "The Nero Files" follows internationally renowned criminal psychologist Thomas Müller and a team of scientists and historians as they investigate the new evidence in order to discover the truth about the controversial emperor.

Noteworthy Moments in Nero’s Timeline:

• As his stepson, Nero should not have inherited the throne after Claudius’ death. But Brittanicus, the rightful heir as Claudius’ biological son, was too young to become emperor, allowing Nero to take control. It is believed that Nero had Britannicus killed by poisoning his drink to eliminate a potential adversary.
• It is believed that Nero turned to matricide because of an ongoing power struggle with his mother Agrippina. He engineered a plan to have her swept off a boat and drowned at sea.
• The phrase ‘fiddling while Rome burned,” refers to the belief that Nero played music while watching the destruction of his city. He’s also been accused of starting the terrible blaze in order to make room for his own construction projects and then, after blaming Christians for the fire, had them brutally and publically executed.
• In one of the darkest tales of Nero’s reign, it is believed the emperor killed his wife, Poppaea Sabina, by kicking her in the stomach while she was pregnant with their child.

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Jutta Fastian as Agrippina and Johann Bednar as the dying Emperor Claudius. Reenactment scene from SECRETS OF THE DEAD "The Nero Files."

Courtesy of Helmut Wimmer © Interspot Film GmbH

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Angelo Margiol as young Nero, Leon Baumgartner as Britannicus. Reenactment scene from SECRETS OF THE DEAD "The Nero Files."

Courtesy of Helmut Wimmer © Interspot Film GmbH

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Angelo Margiol as Nero is crowned by his mother Jutta Fastian as Agrippina. Reenactment scene from SECRETS OF THE DEAD "The Nero Files."

Courtesy of Helmut Wimmer © Interspot Film GmbH

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Erwin Gally (Sueton)

Courtesy of Helmut Wimmer © Interspot Film GmbH

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Gert Alber as Tacitus. Reenactment scene from SECRETS OF THE DEAD "The Nero Files."

Courtesy of Helmut Wimmer © Interspot Film GmbH

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Harry Ranftl as Cassius Dio. Reenactment scene from SECRETS OF THE DEAD "The Nero Files."

Courtesy of Helmut Wimmer © Interspot Film GmbH

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Domus Aurea ROOM 33 | Laura Rauch as Poppea and Valentin Postlmayr as Nero. Reenactment scene from SECRETS OF THE DEAD "The Nero Files."

Courtesy of Helmut Wimmer © Interspot Film GmbH

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Good bye: Jutta Fastian as Agrippina and Valentin Postlmayr. Reenactment scene from SECRETS OF THE DEAD "The Nero Files."

Courtesy of Helmut Wimmer © Interspot Film GmbH

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Valentin Postlmayr (Nero) behind him: burning Rome. Take a closer look at the life and legend of Nero, the infamous Roman emperor, as a forensic profiler attempts to find out what history may have gotten wrong about his alleged tyranny on SECRETS OF THE DEAD "The Nero Files."

Courtesy of Helmut Wimmer © Interspot Film GmbH

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Archaeologists Johann Csar and Ferdinand Hirschhofer excavation of the papyrus.

Courtesy of Helmut Wimmer © Interspot Film GmbH

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Austrian profiler Dr. Thomas Müller

Courtesy of Helmut Wimmer © Interspot Film GmbH

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French profiler Dr. Philippe Charlier

Courtesy of Helmut Wimmer © Interspot Film GmbH

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Expert Dr. Manfred Clauss, historian and theologian, author of "A New God for the Ancient World."

Courtesy of Lucia Metzbauer © Interspot Film GmbH

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Expert Dr. Marcus Reuter, Director of the Landesmuseums Trier.

Courtesy of Lucia Metzbauer © Interspot Film GmbH

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Expert Professor Paul Schubert, philologist and papyrologist at the University of Geneva.

Courtesy of Lucia Metzbauer © Interspot Film GmbH

Buzzworthy Moments:

• In a modern-day forensic laboratory, scientists attempt to discover if the most effective poisons of ancient Rome—plant toxins from yew trees, lilies of the valley, hemlock and wolf’s bane—could have killed Britannicus in the manner described by ancient storytellers.
• An experiment in a ship model basin reconstructs an ancient Roman ship to determine what kind of modifications would have been necessary to create an opening at the bottom of the ship that someone could suddenly fall through without also sinking the ship. The model includes two trap doors, one opening inward, and the other outward, to determine how Agrippina might have fallen out.
• An experiment showing how the Great Fire of Rome could have broken out and spread so rapidly reexamines the ancient city’s fire-prone infrastructure on the dry, hot wind of that summer evening.
• A team of experts decipher text from an unearthed papyri dating back to Roman times from excavations in Egypt. It contains Nero’s name and references to a dying woman, his wife Poppaea Sabina, providing clues to determine what caused her death.
• The excavations of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii revealed 80 inscriptions on the walls of buildings from citizens, which included praise for the emperor.

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CREDITS:

A production of Interspot Film in association with THIRTEEN PRODUCTIONS LLC’s for WNET. Directed by Klaus T. Steindl. Stephanie Carter is executive producer for SECRETS OF THE DEAD.