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Pisonian conspiracy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The conspiracy of Gaius Calpurnius Piso (65 CE) represented one of the major turning points in the reign of Nero (54-68 CE). Piso intended to have Nero assassinated and to have himself declared Emperor of Rome by the Praetorian Guard. He enlisted the aid of several prominent Senators with a loosely conceived plan in which Faenius Rufus (joint colleague of Ofonius Tigellinus, heading the Praetorian Guard) would conduct Piso to the Praetorian Camp for a formal declaration by the Guard. Either through poor planning or lack of conviction the conspiracy was rapidly revealed and Nero ordered Piso to commit suicide. The philosopher Seneca and the poet Lucan were also implicated in the plot and dealt with in a similar fashion, but their complicity has never been precisely determined.
Interestingly, this Piso came from the same Piso family that was famously involved in the Year of Four Emperors (69 CE) through the person of Lucius Calpurnius Piso Licinianus. Clearly, the Piso family was a frequent player in the court intrigues of Imperial Rome in the second half of the first century CE.
John Hersey's 1973 novel The Conspiracy centres on these events.