Sextus Afranius Burrus

Sextus Afranius Burrus (born AD 1 in Vasio, Gallia Narbonensis; died AD 62) was a prefect of the Praetorian Guard and was, together with Seneca the Younger, an advisor to the Roman emperor Nero, making him a very powerful man in the early years of Nero's reign.

Agrippina the Younger chose him as Prefect in 51 to secure her son Nero's place as emperor after the death of Claudius. For the first eight years of Nero's rule, Burrus and Nero's former tutor Seneca helped maintain a stable government. Burrus acquiesced to Nero's murder of Agrippina the Younger but lost his influence over Nero anyway. He died in 62, some say from poison.

The cognomen "Burrus" is the Latin version of the name Pyrrhus, king of Epirus.

Nero became Emperor within two months of his seventeenth birthday with little experience of government and use of power. It is unsurprising that he relied heavily on two (Seneca the younger) experienced and intelligent men and allowed them to weaken his mothers control over him. He needed these two men to act as a father figure for him as he had always lacked a present father in his life.