The Fire of Rome. 64 AD

On 18^th July 64 AD large parts of the city of Rome were consumed by fire. At least, this was when the fire started – it burned for several days, died down, then had another go. By the time it finished only four of Rome’s fourteen regions had not been touched and three were consumed entirely. There were hundreds of deaths.

Blame for who started the fire has been laid at more than one door. Many historians have claimed that it was started on the orders of Emperor Nero, who had plans to rebuild the city so that it would become a permanent memorial to him. Nero chose to blame the Christians, and the event was used as an excuse for an orgy of persecution and punishment.

In all likelihood it began accidentally. Fires in tightly-packed cities were not uncommon, and given the fact that most of the houses in the poorer districts would have been built of wood, the rapid spread of a fire, once it started, was to be expected.

Nero’s conduct during the fire has long been debated. There is some evidence that he organised relief efforts for the people who were made homeless, but there is very little for the story that ‘Nero fiddled while Rome burned’ – a fiddle being a violin. For one thing, violins did not exist in Nero’s time, and for another he was not in the city at the time.

The fiddle reference might have been to the ‘fidicula’, which was a lyre-type instrument as depicted in the illustration which is a movie poster for ‘Quo Vadis’. However, there is no evidence that Nero played this instrument.

However, there is evidence that, after the fire, Nero donned his actor’s costume and recited his own composition ‘The Sack of Troy’.  Nero’s recitals were not voluntary – an invitation to one was a command and falling asleep during the performance was a capital offence. People were known to feign death during a recital of his terrible poetry – the idea was to be dragged out before one really died of boredom, but then to make a miraculous recovery!

© John Welford