The Great Fire of Rome

Rome Burns

Emperor Nero 

           On a summer night in July of 64 AD, fire broke out in the merchant area of Rome. The fire spread quickly stoked by summer winds, and fueled by the dry, wooden structures of the ancient city. The fire quickly raged out of control burning for six days and seven nights, leaving seventy percent of the city in smoldering ruins. Many Romans died in the fire and thousands more were displaced out into the countryside to helplessly watch the city burn. In the aftermath rumors would spread just as quickly as the fire had, and Nero the Emperor at the time looked to distance himself from any blame.

            With the city smoldering many Romans began to blame the Emperor Nero. Only the widespread leveling of the remaining structures had managed to stop the flames. Rumors accusing Nero of ordering the torching of the city spread throughout what was left at Rome. Even further some accounts arose that place at the summit of the Palatine playing his lyre as flames devoured the world around him. However other accounts place Nero away from the city at the outbreak of the fire, and credit him with organizing measures to contain the flames and provide relief for refugees. However the rumors continued, and Nero sought to place the blame on the city’s Christians. Christians, at that time were still a small minority following in the city.

Citizens watch Rome burn

            The most reliable source of information concerning the fire comes from Tacitus a Roman senator and historian. He describes the fire as beginning in shops where flammable goods were often stored. From there the flames rapidly spread along the full length of the Circus neighboring the Caelian and Palatine hills of Rome. In this lower area of Rome there were no large stone buildings or walls, such as temples, or open areas of ground, to stop the flames. It then spread along the Palatine and Caelian slopes. The city’s citizens first fled to areas unaffected by the fire. When the flames followed them they left the city for the open fields and rural roads of the countryside.

            

       Tacitus is one source that places Nero outside of Rome, in Antium, when the fire broke out. Upon hearing news of the fire 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 wall of flames to a halt before it reached the Esquiline Hill. Of Rome's 14 districts three were completely devastated and only four completely escaped damage.

       Many accuse Nero of starting the fire for personal gain, specifically to build a new palace known as the Domus Aurea. However the outbreak of the fire started almost a mile away from where it would be built. If it was Nero’s intention to burn the entire city to rebuild Rome from scratch he was successful. From the destruction of the fire came a more spectacular Rome. A modernized city made of marble and stone with wide streets. Debris from destroyed buildings was used to fill the marshes at the city’s edges allowing the city to expand beyond its original footprint. However this modernization came at the cost of dozens of Christians lives, and an enduring cultural stigma.

Further Reading

Ball, Larry F. "Who Burned Rome?." Archaeology 55, no. 6 (November 2002): 60.

Dando-Collins, Stephen. The Great Fire of Rome: The Fall of the Emperor Nero and His City.

            Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2010.

Ramsay, G. G. "The Fire of Rome and the Christians." The Athenaeum, no. 4083 (Jan 27, 1906):

            108, 

Tacitus, Cornelius, and A. J. Woodman. The annals. Indianapolis: Hackett Pub, 2004.