The Pythia's prophecy to Nero about 63 and versions of its interpretation

There is a legend that the Pythia told Nero to beware the year 63. He, so the story goes, took this as a reference to the age at which death threatened him. But the prophecy revealed itself where no one expected. It is said to have come true otherwise than the emperor supposed: when Nero was overthrown by Servius Sulpicius Galba, Galba was precisely 63.
The tale is an old one, and for that very reason hard to believe. And, as luck would have it, every source insists that in 68 Galba was already 71. The question to the Pythia therefore stands: what was to happen in the year 63, or did happen? The long-awaited Parthian peace, which would gladden the people for another 50 years?
The only thing that comes to mind is the birth in 63 of Nero's only daughter, Claudia Augusta, who died in that same year at the age of four months.

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The Pythia's prophecy to Nero about 63 and versions of its interpretation

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

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