Nero has not died.
Nero ( [ ˈnɪəroʊ ] Latin : Nerō Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ; 15 December 37 AD -- 9 June 68 AD ) was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68 AD , and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty . He committed suicide on June 9 , 68 AD when told that he had been tried in absentia and condemned to death as a public enemy ( The first Roman Emperor to do so ) . His death ended the Julio-Claudian dynasty , sparking a brief period of civil wars known as the Year of the Four Emperors . There is evidence of his popularity among the Roman commoners , especially in the eastern provinces of the Empire , where a popular legend arose that Nero had not died and would return . Tiberius Claudius Nero , often known as Tiberius Nero and Nero ( 85 -- 33 BC ) was a politician who lived in the last century of the Roman Republic .