If the mad, bad, and dangerous-t0-know emperor Nero is famous for one thing it’s fiddling while Rome burned. The image of him performing with glee as the imperial capital burned around him has entered our lexicon. Serving as a metaphor for gross incompetence and inversion of priorities in the midst of a crisis.
The event in question was the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD. Starting in the shops around the Circus Maximus, the fire raged for 9 days, destroying two thirds of the imperial capital. It was by no means the only fire to devastate the sprawling city. Rome’s wooden architecture and its population’s close confinement sparked numerous incendiaries that tore through the capital. But the Great Fire is notorious for one reason – many believed the emperor had started it.
We have three ancient sources for Nero’s involvement in the Great Fire: Suetonius, Tacitus, and Cassius Dio.
