When in Rome

Behind every deranged man is a bloodthirsty woman.  Poppaea Sabina was a scheming bitch and she got Nero to marry her, yea the guy who fiddled while Rome burned, but he was so much worse than that.  This fifth emperor of Rome murdered his own mother, Agrippina the Younger, as well as his first wife, Octavia.  Poppaea Sabina induced Nero to murder his mother, because she was against her son getting married to his mistress, while he was still married.  Once Agrippina was out of the picture, Nero divorced Octavia, claiming that she was barren, and he married Poppaea 12 days after the divorce.  Nero had Octavia banished to the island of Pandateria, where he ordered her to be put to death.  Her execution followed the traditional Roman suicide ritual, where Octavia was tied up, and then her wrists were slit.  Nero’s ex was apparently so terrified that her blood congealed, meaning that the executors had to change gears and suffocate her in an extremely hot steam bath.  Her severed head was delivered to Poppaea Sabina as a gift.

Poppaea was a woman of striking beauty whose charms and grace were overshadowed by her licentious nature, ambition and an inability to love anyone.  While Sabina was awaiting the birth of her second child, she quarreled fiercely with Nero over his spending too much time at the races.  In a fit of rage, Nero kicked her in the abdomen, causing her death.  Sabina didn’t die instantly and this cruel and devious woman laughed at Nero and taunted him saying, “Don’t murder me, I beg of you please don’t murder me, but it seems that violence is all you know and that will keep on repeating itself with sickening regularity until you get what you deserve.”   Nero became furious and he kicked his wife into this pit and he jumped on her and stomped her to death.  It was not a pretty sight, but this pit holds historical significance and I am thinking about having it turned into a hot tub jacuzzi.

Written for KL Caley’s Thursday Write Photo – Tomb – Image by KL Caley.