According to Suetonius ; Nero became Emperor at the age of 17 when the news of Claudius ' death was made known , making him the youngest emperor at that time Although , what Suetonius may have meant is that he was in his seventeenth year as his date of birth , also listed by Suetonius , would have made him 16 at the time of Claudius ' death . Tacitus , in book XIII of his Annals , describes Nero as being ' scarcely out of his boyhood ' at the time he became emperor . Ancient historians describe Nero 's early reign as being strongly influenced by his mother , Agrippina , his tutor Lucius Annaeus Seneca , and the Praetorian Prefect Sextus Afranius Burrus , especially in the first year . Other tutors were less often mentioned , such as Alexander of Aegae .