 The life of emperor Nero was as schizophrenic as his reputation is mad. In the first half, his refined upbringing allows him to preside over a brilliant cultural height, symbolized by the Domus Aurea ( golden house ), his unprecedented palace. After the great fire of Rome, which he probably didn t order, his plans to rebuild the capital, completely redesigned, a huge urbanization even by modern standards, ran into such exorbitant costs that taxes even raised extremely couldn t finance it, so he resorted to a recipe for revolt if ever there was one: all the rich (the class in a position to challenge the crown) were ordered to write testaments in his favor, and then massively made to commit suicide or killed, a huge  confiscation by death .