Good hearted Nero?

[caesar novus]

I gather that last couple years of archeo digs have found evidence of admiration of Nero by everyday Romans, and perhaps his golden house was intended to serve public as well as selfish purposes. Has this revisionist view held up recently? One of the more articulate examples of this view found in https://www.thecollector.com/emperor-nero/

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Although he was beloved by the people, the elites detested Nero.

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Nero, in the absence of grand military victories and conquests, decided to burden the rich with property taxes to finance his ambitious building projects.

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at the time of the Great Fire (although he was only 8), wrote that the emperor opened the Campus Martius and its lavish gardens to the homeless, constructed temporary lodgings, and brought food in at a subsidized price. The emperor also offered cash incentives to ensure the rapid recovery of the city, and passed and enforced new regulations to prevent recurring disasters.

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recent archaeological excavations suggest that the massive Domus Aurea was not intended to be a private residence but a public building. Nero’s huge new palace was to be a home for the people and their protector and artist — the emperor.

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Before Nero, the gymnasia were a luxury to be enjoyed only by the rich. Nero shattered this division. From Nero onwards, those facilities became places for all citizens. The emperor also erected a wooden amphitheater to satisfy the need for public entertainment.

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To legitimize his claim, the new emperor erased both Nero and his work from the memory of the Romans. The Domus Aurea (which was probably still under construction) was abandoned and buried.

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Nero’s conflict with the Senate echoed that of his uncle Caligula. In both cases, the emperors tried to impose their will and prove their supreme authority. In both cases, they were killed well before their time. Their names were tarnished, and they were branded as monsters for generations to come.

 

[caldrail]

That Nero was loved by the public (at least until he had his mother killed) is well known, it's implied by the sources, not least because his first five years in power were said to be the best run government the Romans ever had (up to and including Trajan that is). His appearances in chariot races thrilled the crowds however much the elite ground their teeth.. Most telling was the legend that he would return to rule Rome again, and the short lived rebellion of a slave who happened to look like him.

But Nero had the Domus Aurea built to replace the Domus Transitoria, his former home, and announced once he moved in that "At last I can live like a Human". I don't seriously believe it had a public function given Nero's elitist opinion of himself. Caligula had considerable privacy and so did Tiberius, given he had retired to Capri to get away from the noise and squabbles of Rome. 

That said, the 'in crowd' would have been invited to the Golden House as required, and senior Romans would likely have called upon Nero for one reason or another. I know privacy is a modern theme but celebrities, Roman or otherwise, sometimes like to control what is said about them and Nero couldn't have done that by living openly.

[guy]

There was an interesting recent exhibit on Nero that reevaluated his legacy:

I always believed that Nero was much more popular among the masses in the East than he was among the ruling elite in Rome. This would explain the many Nero impersonators (like the modern day Elvis) soon after his death. Here’s a good article on the phenomenon:

https://eidolon.pub/the-return-of-the-king-60872b233a2d