The Great Fire of Rome

The fire and Rome's reconstruction

Plaster bust of Nero, Pushkin Museum, Moscow.

According to Tacitus, who was seven years old at the time of the fire,^[6] it spread quickly and burnt for five days.^[7] It completely destroyed four of fourteen Roman districts and severely damaged seven.^[7] The only other historian who lived through the period and mentioned the fire is Pliny the Elder who wrote about it in passing.^[8] Other historians who lived through the period (including Josephus, Dio Chrysostom, Plutarch and Epictetus) make no mention of it. The only other account on the size of fire is an interpolation in a forged Christian letter from Seneca to Paul: "A hundred and thirty-two houses and four blocks have been burnt in six days; the seventh brought a pause".^[9] This account implies less than a tenth of the city was burnt. Rome contained about 1,700 private houses and 47,000 apartment blocks.

It was said by Suetonius and Cassius Dio that Nero sang the "Sack of Ilium" in stage costume while the city burned.^[10] However, Tacitus' account has Nero in Antium at the time of the fire.^[11] Tacitus said that Nero playing his lyre and singing while the city burned was only rumor.^[11] Popular legend remembers Nero playing the fiddle while Rome burned, but this is an anachronism as the instrument was invented a thousand years later.^[12]

According to Tacitus, upon hearing news of the fire, Nero rushed back to Rome to organize a relief effort, which he paid for from his own funds.^[11] After the fire, Nero opened his palaces to provide shelter for the homeless, and arranged for food supplies to be delivered in order to prevent starvation among the survivors.^[11] In the wake of the fire, he made a new urban development plan. Houses after the fire were spaced out, built in brick, and faced by porticos on wide roads.^[13] Nero also built a new palace complex known as the Domus Aurea in an area cleared by the fire.^[14] The size of this complex is debated (from 100 to 300 acres).^[15][16][17] To find the necessary funds for the reconstruction, tributes were imposed on the provinces of the empire.^[18]

Rumors of arson and the persecution of Christians

The Torches of Nero, by Henryk Siemiradzki. According to Tacitus, Nero targeted Christians as those responsible for the fire.

It is uncertain who or what actually caused the fire?whether accident or arson. According to Tacitus, some in the population held Nero responsible.^[19] To diffuse blame, Nero targeted the Christians.^[19] Christians confessed to the crime, but it is unknown if these were false confessions induced by torture.^[19] Also, the passage is unclear what the Christians confessed to?whether arson or being Christians. Suetonius and Cassius Dio favor Nero as the arsonist with an insane desire to destroy the city as his motive.^[20] However, major accidental fires were common in ancient Rome. In fact, Rome burned again under Vitellius in 69^[21] and under Titus in 80.^[22].

According to Tacitus, Nero ordered Christians to be thrown to dogs, while others were crucified or burned to serve as lights.^[19]

He describes the event as follows:

Historical accounts

The varying historical accounts of the event come from three secondary sources ? Cassius Dio, Suetonius and Tacitus. The primary accounts, which possibly included histories written by Fabius Rusticus, Cluvius Rufus and Pliny the Elder, did not survive. These primary accounts are described as contradictory and gross exaggerations.^[1] At least five separate stories circulated regarding Nero and fire:

• Motivated by a desire to destroy the city, Nero secretly sent out men pretending to be drunk to set fire to the city. Nero watched from his palace on the Palatine Hill singing and playing the lyre.^[23]
• Motivated by an insane whim, Nero quite openly sent out men to set fire to the city. Nero watched from the Tower of Maecenas on the Esquiline Hill singing and playing the lyre.^[24]
• Nero sent out men to set fire to the city. Nero sang and played his lyre from a private stage.^[25]
• The fire was an accident. Nero was in Antium.^[26]
• The fire was caused by Christians.^[27]

References

• Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'', Books 62 (''c.'' 229)
• Suetonius, ''The Lives of Twelve Caesars'', the Life of Nero, 38 (''c.'' 121)
• Tacitus, ''Annals'', XV (''c.'' 117)

Notes

External links

• "Secrets of the dead": PBS series investigates clues that Nero circumvented the Senate by burning Rome
• Tacitus describes the great Fire: (in English)

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