Great Fire of Rome

The Great Fire of Rome erupted on the night of 18 July in the year AD 64, among the shops clustered around the Circus Maximus. As many Romans lived in insulae, which were flammable apartment buildings of three to five floors that had wooden floors and partitions, the fire quickly spread throughout densely populated areas of the city. The fire continued for five days before coming under control – only to reignite and burn for another four. Two thirds of Rome were destroyed, including the Temple of Jupiter Stator and the hearth of the Vestal Virgins.

According to Tacitus, "...the conflagration both broke out and instantly became so fierce and so rapid from the wind that it seized in its grasp the entire length of the circus. For here there were no houses fenced in by solid masonry, or temples surrounded by walls, or any other obstacle to interpose delay." (Annals XV, 38) The fire burned at an estimated 1100 degrees, which meant that it did not stop when it reached the richer districts of Rome built of of stone, marble and concrete rather than bricks and wood. In the end, three districts were destroyed completely and seven damaged severely. Only a third of Rome remained untouched. Tacitus wrote that among the losses were irreplaceable Greek relics, temples of the Roman gods, a great number of public buildings and Emperor Nero's own palace (Annals XV, 40-41).

Nero and the Great Fire

Nero was away at Antium when the fire started and did not return until the fire had begun to threaten his palace. He began a rather large relief measure; he housed citizens in the remaining public buildings and his own gardens, built temporary shelters, imported food and water, and lowered the price of food. However, by this time rumours were already beginning that he started the fire himself.

Nero was an unpopular emperor – he was said to be violent, often out of control, and reputedly enjoyed singing and did so, quite to the dismay of the invited, among guests. A rumour spread that had him singing of the burning of Troy as Rome was on fire. The facts of this myth are inconsistent: Tacitus had reported that the rumour was started during the Great Fire itself and that Nero was accordingly singing in his private theatre, despite being in Antium at the time. Suetonius says he was watching from the Tower of Maecenas, and another source puts it at the roof of his palace. Still, these rumours quickly worked against Nero, and, along with other facts, made a wide margin of his citizens come to believe that the fire was ordered by himself for political intent or mere amusement.

Similarly, most of our generation associate the Great Fire with the image of Nero merrily playing his fiddle as Rome burns, obviously inspired out of the ancient anecdote that Nero 'fiddled while Rome burned'. In truth, this is an idiom. The musical instrument was invented many centuries later; to fiddle at that time merely meant to squander needlessly away the time in vain, as is still a popular use of the word today.

To ease suspicions against him, Nero gave banquets for his people and made tributes to the gods, but eventually opted to use Christians as a scapegoat when other measures did not work. There is no hard evidence of who or what actually caused the Great Fire of Rome, although fires were very common in Rome at the time. Rome was rebuilt after the fire and Nero played a large role in the reconstruction, including establishing fire codes for the first time in Rome; it was then that the building of his famous Domus Aurea palace began.

Accounts of the fire are found in the Annals of Tacitus (15.38ff), in Suetonius' Life of Nero (ch. 38), and in the Roman History of Dio Cassius (ch. 62).

Persecution of the Christians

An unpopular obscure Jewish sect at the time, the Christians, as noted above, became the target for the blame. Consequentially, state-supported Christian persecution first began in Rome. In a famous and widely quoted passage, partially for being the first instance a non-Christian author has ever mentioned the origins of Christianity, Tacitus recites (Annals XV, 44):

Such indeed were the precautions of human wisdom. The next thing was to seek means of propitiating the gods, and recourse was had to the Sibylline books, by the direction of which prayers were offered to Vulcanus, Ceres, and Proserpina. Juno, too, was entreated by the matrons, first, in the Capitol, then on the nearest part of the coast, whence water was procured to sprinkle the fane and image of the goddess. And there were sacred banquets and nightly vigils celebrated by married women. But all human efforts, all the lavish gifts of the emperor, and the propitiations of the gods, did not banish the sinister belief that the conflagration was the result of an order. Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired. Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle, and was exhibiting a show in the circus, while he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or stood aloft on a car. Hence, even for criminals who deserved extreme and exemplary punishment, there arose a feeling of compassion; for it was not, as it seemed, for the public good, but to glut one man's cruelty, that they were being destroyed.

Tacitus seemed convinced that the Christians were innocent of starting the fire, but guilty of "hating the human race", as was a popular notion at the time. Christians had been around for less than 40 years with the death of Jesus dated no later than 33 AD, and many Romans thought that their symbolism and worship were odd and unorthodox, which is probably why this blame strategy partially worked. Oddly, though, no other writer afterward mentioned Christians as being blamed for the Great Fire, though they knew Nero as a persecutor. Suggested in Nero: Reality and Legend (125), for a people who often defended their faith against such extreme examples and would often celebrate the martyrdom of men who died under these conditions, there is a curious lack of Christian documents referring to this. Most scholars, still, do not doubt that Tacitus' account is accurate. The church has now widely accepted the event, and in fact adjusted the biblical chronology of some martyrs' deaths to coincide with new evidence it presented.

However, that the Christians started the Great Fire is not without motive. An Egyptian prophecy had it that on the day of Sirius, the dog star, an evil city would burn and fall. Christians, tired of the oppression of Rome, from this were vengefully spreading word that a fire was going to consume it. "In all of these oracles, the destruction of Rome by fire is prophesied. That is the constant theme: Rome must burn. This was the long-desired objective of all the people who felt subjugated by Rome," a researcher Professor Gerhard Baudy explains (The Great Fire of Rome). Sirius rose the same day that the fire started: July 19 64 AD.

New evidence in the physics of fire

What had actually caused the fire is still debated. Many, especially at the time, believed it was arson, but new evidence suggests the very real possibility it was merely accidental. Tacitus observed that the fire spread against the wind, which was popularly considered evidence for arson up until this century. He also observed that it spread right through the less flammable temples and the concrete dwellings of the rich, which he felt was unnatural and probably evidence for arson as well. New studies show that as a large fire consumes the oxygen around it, it will spread outward to seek more oxygen, even against the wind. Experts also now know that even in a building made entirely out of nonflammable materials, furniture may just as easily catch on fire if embers come through a window. This may lead to the entire building being consumed. Roman buildings were particularly open to this threat because their windows were not shielded and the buildings were well ventilated.

Nero Rebuilds Rome

In any case, Nero did fair justice rebuilding Rome. As Martial wrote, "What is worse than Nero? What is better than Nero's baths?" (Nero: Reality and Legend, 128) And as such he made many public buildings, and rebuilt all buildings under strict fire codes to make sure that Rome would never burn again. Most extravagant was his new palace, the Domus Aurea (or, Golden House), whose entrance was so large it fit a monumental statue of himself 120 feet (ca. 40 meters) high, and it was so long that it had a triple portico a mile long. Later, the statue, due largely to Nero's unpopularity, was dismembered by his successor, Vespasian, and its head was replaced by the sun god's head.

Conclusion

Identifying an arsonist from two thousand years ago is virtually impossible, and its cause will probably never be solved conclusively. Many now think that it was just an accident; fires in Rome were numerous, and they were always a threat at that time of year. This notion has especially become popular since it was proven that the Great Fire could have burned without aid, which was widely thought impossible in the ancient world. Still, the idea of a malicious ruler playing a fiddle as his city burns is one that will never completely go away.

References

Adams, Laurie Schneider. Art Across Time I. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2002.
Conte, Ronald L. Jr. The Martyrdom of James the Less and Mark the Evangelist. 2003. 5 November 2005.
ESC. "Fiddling While Rome Burns." Online posting. 13 Dec. 1999. Phrases, Sayings and Idioms at The Phrase Finder. 5 November 2005.
Tacitus, Publius Cornelius. Annals XV. Trans. Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb. 1942. 5 November 2005.
Uhl, John. The Great Fire of Rome. 2002. 5 November 2005.
Warmington, H. B. Nero: Reality and Legend. Ed. M. I. Finley. New York: W W Norton & Company, Inc., 1969.

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)