Suetonius tells us that Nero was born just as the sun rose and that, as he lay on the floor waiting for Domitius to pick him up, while Agrippina lay in her own blood, the sun’s first beams burst through the window and touched him. As Domitius looked at his tiny new son, the first great-great-grandchild of Augustus, that ray of light must have felt like a powerful omen. Of course, he lifted the baby and accepted him.
