Great Fire of Rome

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

The Great Fire of Rome was an urban Christian community in the city, initiating the empire's first persecution against the Christians.^[1]

Varying historical accounts 1
Outbreak and progress of fire 2
Later stages 3
Modern scholarship 4
See also 5
Notes and references 6
Bibliography 7
External links 8

Varying 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.^[2] At least five separate stories circulated regarding Nero and the 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.^[3]
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.^[4]
Nero sent out men to set fire to the city. Nero sang and played his lyre from a private stage.^[5]
The fire was an accident. Nero was in Antium.^[6]
The fire was caused by Christians.^[7]

Outbreak and progress of fire

Tacitus describes the fire as beginning in shops where flammable goods were stored, in the region of the Circus neighboring the Caelian and Palatine hills of Rome. The night was a windy one and the flames rapidly spread along the full length of the Circus. The fire expanded through an area of narrow, twisting streets and closely located apartment blocks. In this lower area of Rome there were no large buildings such as temples, or open areas of ground, to impede the conflagration. It then spread along the Palatine and Caelian slopes.

The population fled first to areas unaffected by the fire and then to the open fields and rural roads outside the city. Looters and arsonists were reported to have spread the flames by throwing torches or, acting in groups, to have hindered measures being made to halt or slow the progress of the flames. Tacitus surmises that some may have acted under orders or that they may simply have wanted to plunder unhindered.

Later stages

According to Tacitus, Nero was away from Rome, in Antium, when the fire broke out. He returned to the city and took measures to bring in food supplies and open gardens and public buildings to accommodate refugees. After six days the organized clearing of built-up areas brought the conflagration to a halt before it reached the Esquiline Hill. There was a further outbreak in the Aemilian district, involving the destruction of temples and arcades but less loss of life. However the fire was now under control. Of Rome's 14 districts, 3 were completely devastated and only 4 completely escaped damage.

Modern scholarship

Modern scholars tend to agree with Tacitus and believe that Nero probably did not cause the fire. It is postulated that the fire had been intentionally started to create room for Nero's Domus Aurea, but the fire started 1 km (0.6 miles) away from the site where this palace would later be built, on the other side of the Palatine Hill. Moreover, the fire destroyed parts of Nero's own palace, the Domus Transitoria. It seems unlikely that Nero wanted to destroy this palace since he actually salvaged some of the marble decoration and integrated it into the new Domus Aurea. Even the paintings and wall decorations of the new palace were similar to the ones that had been burned. Last, the fire started just two days after a full moon, a time that, it is presumed, would not have been chosen by arsonists who would not have wished to be observed.^[8]

Notes and references

^
^ Tacitus, Annals XV.38
^ Cassius Dio, Roman History LXII.16-17
^
^ Tacitus, Anal XV.38–44
^ Tacitus, Annals XV.38–9
^ Tacitus, Annals XV.44
^ Griffin, Miriam T. (2000). Nero: The End of a Dynasty.
^ Dando-Collins, Stephen (September 2010). The Great Fire of Rome. Da Capo Press.

Bibliography

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

External links

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

Categories

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Great Fire of Rome