Sporus

Sporus (died 69 AD) was a young slave boy whom the Roman emperor Nero castrated and married during his tour of Greece in 66–67 AD, allegedly in order for him to play the role of his wife, Poppaea Sabina, who had died under uncertain circumstances the previous year, possibly during childbirth or after being assaulted by Nero.

Ancient historians generally portrayed the relationship between Nero and Sporus as an "abomination"; Suetonius places his account of the Nero–Sporus relationship in his "scandalous accounts of Nero's sexual aberrations," between his raping a Vestal Virgin and committing incest with his mother. Dio Cassius, in a more detailed account, writes that Sporus bore an uncanny resemblance to Poppaea and that Nero called Sporus by her name. Against this popular view, David Woods points out that the name resembles the Latin word of Sabine origin, meaning "illegitimate child"; hence Woods advances the thesis that Nero himself had called the boy Spurius, or that he believed the Greek name Sporus to be related to the Latin word.

Life Little is known about Sporus' background except that he was a youth to whom Nero took a liking. He may have been a . These boys were sometimes castrated to preserve their youthful qualities. The generally was a child-slave chosen by his master for his beauty and sexual attractiveness. Dio Cassius identifies Sporus as the child of a freedman. Nero had earlier married another freedman, Pythagoras, who had played the role of Nero's husband; now Sporus played the role of Nero's wife. Among other forms of address, Sporus was termed "Lady", "Empress", and "Mistress".

Sporus was one of the four companions on the emperor's last journey in June of 68 AD,