The Romans: The Caesars (35 of 54)

Wall painting from one of five dining rooms in a first-century AD luxury inn at Moregine, believed to have been built for Nero. This figure of Apollo with a lyre has a face which may be intended to be his. When Nero sang in public, accompanying himself on the lyre, no-one was allowed to leave the auditorium. There are tales of women giving birth during a Nero recital, and of men pretending to die and being carried out as if to burial. (VRoma: National Archaeological Museum, Naples: Barbara McManus)