July 18 – The Great Fire of Rome

nPostednon July 18, 2015

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nIt’snalways sad when disaster strikes, and fires have destroyed too manyncities too many times over the course of human history. On this datenin the year 64, one of the oldest fires we know about broke out:

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nThenGreat Fire of Rome.

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nItnstarted in an area called Circus Maximus, an area chock-full shops.nUnfortunately, the fire spread quickly to other areas, and it burnednfor days! It ended up utterly destroying 3 of the 14 districts ofnRome, and 7 more were badly damaged. What a tragedy!

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nIt’sninteresting to note that, although even ancient historians werenunsure about how the fire started, the emperor Nero got a bum rapnthen that has lingered to this day.

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Hownmany times I have heard someone allude to (or even seen drawings of) nNero playing the fiddle while Rome burned! Even though I knew thatnthe word “fiddle” wasn’t quite right here – the Roman emperornplayed a stringed instrument called a cithara, which is like a harp or lyre, not a fiddle – plus fiddles weren’t even invented until the 1500s! – I DID assume thatnthe story was based on Nero being either incompetent or uncaringnabout the disaster.

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nInnactual fact, the ancient historian Tacitus (who was nine years old atnthe time of the fire) wrote that Nero was away from Rome, in hisnpalace in Antium (now called Anzio, which is located on the coast ofnthe Mediterranean Sea) when the fire broke out. When he got news ofnthe blaze, Tacitus went on to say, Nero hurried back to Rome tonorganize the fight against the flames and the search for and rescuenof victims. The emperor himself spent days searching the debris. Heneven paid for the relief of victims from his own funds, he opened hisnpalaces to the homeless, and he arranged for food supplies to bendelivered.

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nI’mnnot sure what more people could have wanted their emperor to do!

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nStill,nthe rumors of Nero actually causing the fire and then singing inncostume while the city burned started right away. It’s pretty obviousnthat at least some people in Rome despised their emperor; in theirneyes, he was pretty much always to blame, for everything.

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(Actually,nI know people who are like that these days, too – always going forna simple answer, a single person or force that they can blamenEVERYTHING on.)

From what I read about Nero, he sounds like henwas a good leader in some ways but a tyrant in other ways. Somenmodern historians have questioned the reliability of the ancientnsources that have painted Nero as a monster, but it’s certain that henwas hated by some. A few years after the fire, Nero was forced offnthe throne. He was declared a public enemy destined to be executed,nbut he chose to commit suicide instead.

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nAlsonon this date:

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