Great Fire of Rome

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According to Tacitus, the Great Fire of Rome started on the night of 19 July in the year 64, among the shops clustered around the Circus Maximus.^[1] As many Romans lived in wooden houses without masonry, the fire spread quickly through these areas.^[1] The fire was almost contained after five days before regaining strength.^[2] Suetonius claims the fire burned for six days and seven nights in total.^[3] The fire completely destroyed four of fourteen Roman districts and severely damaged seven.^[4] Also destroyed was Nero's palace, Temple of Jupiter Stator and the hearth in the Temple of Vesta.^[5]

Contents 1 Nero and the Great Fire 2 The Historical Accounts 2.1 Cassius Dio 2.2 Suetonius 2.3 Tacitus 1 2.4 Tacitus 2 3 New evidence in the physics of fire 4 References 5 External links 6 Notes

[edit] Nero and the Great Fire

The Great Fire of Rome erupted on the night of July 18 to July 19, 64. The fire started at the southeastern end of the Circus Maximus in shops selling flammable goods.^[1]

How large the fire was is up for debate. According to Tacitus, who was 9 at the time of the fire, it spread quickly and burnt for five days.^[6] It completely destroyed four of fourteen Roman districts and severely damaged seven.^[6] The only other historian who lived through the period and mentioned the fire is Pliny the Elder who wrote about it in passing.^[7] 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."^[8] 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.^[9] However, Tacitus' account has Nero in Antium at the time of the fire.^[10] Tactitus said that Nero playing his lyre and singing while the city burned was only rumor.^[10] Popular legend remembers Nero fiddling while Rome burned, but this is an anachronism as the fiddle had not yet been invented, and would not be for over 1,000 years.^[11]

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.^[10] 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.^[10] 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.^[12] Nero also built a new palace complex known as the Domus Aurea in an area cleared by the fire.^[13] This was a 300 acre palatial complex that featured the Colossus Neronis, a 37-meter-high bronze statue of Nero placed just outside of the entrance. ^[14][15] To find the necessary funds for the reconstruction, tributes were imposed on the provinces of the empire.^[16]

It is uncertain who or what actually caused the fire. Tacitus says that Nero had Christians arrested and condemned "not so much for incendiarism as for their hatred of the human race."^[17] Christians confessed to the crime, but it is not known whether these were false confessions induced by torture.^[17] Suetonius and Cassius Dio favor Nero as the arsonist with an insane desire to destroy the city as his motive.^[18] However, major accidentally started fires were common in ancient Rome. In fact, Rome burned again under Vitellius in 69^[19] and under Titus in 80.^[20]

According to Tacitus, the population searched for a scapegoat and rumors held Nero responsible.^[17]> To diffuse blame, Nero targeted a sect called the Christians.^[17] He ordered Christians to be thrown to dogs, while others were crucified and burned.^[17]

Tacitus described the event:

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.^[17]

[edit] The Historical Accounts

The varying historical accounts of the fire 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 four separate stories circulated regarding Nero and fire:

[edit] Cassius Dio

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.^[21]

[edit] Suetonius

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.^[22]

[edit] Tacitus 1

Nero sent out men to set fire to the city. Nero sang and played his lyre from a private stage.^[23]

[edit] Tacitus 2

The fire was an accident. Nero was in Antium.^[24]

[edit] 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 the last century. 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^{[citation needed]}. Tacitus 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. 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.

[edit] 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)

[edit] 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)

[edit] Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Tacitus, Annals XV.38
2. ^ Tacitus, Annals XV.40
3. ^ Suetonius, The Lives of Twelve Caesars, Life of Nero, 38
4. ^ Tacitus, Annals XV.41
5. ^ Tacitus, Annals XV.41
6. ^ ^{a b} Tacitus, Annals XV.40
7. ^ Pliny the Elder, Natural Histories, XVII, Pliny mentions trees that lasted "down to the Emperor Nero’s conflagration"
8. ^ The Correspondence of Paul and Seneca (forged), M.R. James, the translator, says the document is from the 4th century and "is of the poorest kind."
9. ^ Suetonius, Life of Nero, 38; Cassius Dio, Roman History LXII.16
10. ^ ^{a b c d} Tacitus, Annals XV.39
11. ^ Earliest reference to Nero fiddling- William Cobbett, Advice to Young Men And (Incidentally) to Young Women in the Middle and Higher Ranks of Life, 1829
12. ^ Tacitus, Annals XV.43
13. ^ Tacitus, Annals XV.42
14. ^ Roth, Leland M. (1993). Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History and Meaning, First, Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 227-8. ISBN 0-06-430158-3
15. ^ Ball, Larry F. (2003). The Domus Aurea and the Roman architectural revolution. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521822513
16. ^ Tacitus, Annals XV.45
17. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Tacitus, Annals XV.44
18. ^ Suetonius, Life of Nero, 38; Cassius Dio, Roman History LXII.16
19. ^ during Vespasian's siege
20. ^ Suetonius, Lives of Twelve Caesars, Life of Titus, 8
21. ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History LXII.16-17
22. ^ Suetonius, Lives of Twelve Caesars Life of Nero, 38
23. ^ Tacitus, Annals XV.38-44
24. ^ Tacitus, Annals XV.38-39