first place as an artist and only in second place as emperor that's why i always describe nero as the emperor artist special. the ancient drama starring emperor nero ended with his words what an artist dies in me when he stabbed himself in the throat with a dagger. the script of nero's life needs a rewrite it remains unclear whether st peter was ever in rome to harden the drama of his narrative christian historians later cast nero as the anti christ. nero was no monster nor was he any more brutal than many so-called good emperors but the dead do not write their own history nero's was tainted by the passage of time. the bishop of rome became the head of the church in rome the center of christianity.