Emperor Nero, the youngest sole emperor from the incestual Julio-Claudian family tree, was the last representative heir from the Julio-Claudian dynasty to rule Rome. Nero’s infamous years of being the sadistic emperor he was, lasted for a counting of 14 years ruling from 54 AD, to his ‘led to believe’ suicide death in 68 AD. Throughout these 14 years of Nero’s time of the throne, there were many tragic events that occurred throughout this time, some of which is the reason as to why Nero’s name alone has become the “byword for debauchery, misrule and anti-Christian persecution”.
A significant, historical event that occured throughout these 14 years of Nero’s time was the Great fire of Rome. The great fire of Rome is a significant event of Ancient Rome because it acts as a catalyst that sparked so many other controversial events that impacted the society of Rome, even still to this day. The great fire of Rome wasn’t just any ordinary fire, it was a fire that caused widespread destruction not only to the homes and villages but also had contribution towards the socio-political devastation in regards to emperor Nero, and his unwise decisions. The urban fire took place in none other than Ancient Rome itself in the month of July, of the year 64 AD. Tacitus who was a senator and historian for the Roman Empire talks about the vigorous fire and the mass destruction it had on Rome as a whole. In regards to the fire he quotes “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”, which is where the fire had believed to start. The circus maximus was an ancient Roman chariot racing stadium which acted as Rome’s main entertainment venue, it was the largest public space in Rome and was Rome’s first largest stadium to have ever been built.
The fire was believed to have started around the Circus maximus from which it then turned into a hungry fury devouring everything in its path, which for Rome was a bad thing as “there were no houses fenced in by solid masonry, or any temples surrounded by walls” -Tacitus. Meaning that majority of the city was completely vulnerable to the conflagration and that there couldn’t have been “any other obstacle to interpose delay.” -Tacitus. According to Tacitus, Rome was divided into 14 districts and 10 of these districts were affected by the Great Fire. “4 of which remained uninjured, three were levelled to ground (completely demolished), while in the other seven were left only a few shattered, half-burnt relics of houses”. Since the fire had started at the Circus Maximus, this means that the fire had started on low, levelled portions of the city then was soon spread and rising up the hills, where it then cause even more devastation. Regarding the amount of days that the fire lasted, this remains a mystery as there are many different interpretations from different historians. The three main historians that I have been focusing on and referencing (Tacitus, Cassius Dio and Suetonius) all have different beliefs. Suetonius believes that “the conflagration lasted seven nights” and the ‘intervening days’ drove people to “take refuge in hollow monuments”, which goes to show how much devastation this fire caused. The Intervening days was the term for the days where the fire had mysteriously stopped and was set ablaze shortly after which still to this day remains a mystery. Tacitus however on the other hand believes that the fire “after five days, an end was put to the conflagration at the foot of the Esquiline hill…… the violence of the fire was met by clear ground and an open sky. But before people had laid aside their fears, the flames returned.” We as readers are still unsure as to how many days the fire was out until it was re-lit.
Another significant event that branched off the Great fire, and reflected Nero’s inner wickedness was when he was fulfilling his wish of his “fixed purpose of his to make an end of the whole city and sovereignty during his lifetime” – Cassius Dio. In other words, when emperor Nero had started the construction of his big, beautiful, golden mansion towards the conclusion of the terrible Great fire. It was always clear to see that emperor Nero was a self indulgent, sadistic emperor who always thought of himself and only himself. There were times where he would make public displays which you would hope will give citizens of Ancient rome a sense of hope for Nero, however everything to Nero seemed to be done out of a sense for ‘false hope”. The golden mansion being one of them. No surprises though, Nero had always been this way since his “Boyhood and Youth” as quoted in Suetonius, the twelve caesars “he took part in a successful performance of the Troy game in the Circus, in which he exhibited great ‘self-possession’, which was exactly what was reflected when Nero decided to make the impulsive decision of building off the ruins of the old Rome.
There were some acts of Nero’s which had made it look like he was trying to do something for the better of the people , like when he assisted the people of Rome at the commencement of the tragic conflagration. “supplies of food were brought up from Ostia and the neighbouring towns, and the price of corn was reduced to three sesterces a peck. These acts, though popular, produced no effect, since a rumour had gone fourth everywhere that…. When the city was in flames, the emperor appeared on a private stage and sang of the destruction of the city”- Tacitus. From a modern perspective you would think that emperor Nero was genuinely trying to help his people, but in return he would just do something following after his ‘good deeds’, and erecting his “mansion in which the jewels and gold”- Tacitus, was one of them. This great mansion of Nero’s is one that stands still to this day and is now known as ‘The Domus Aurea’ which simply means the golden house.
Nero’s magnificent golden palace has remained and is now open to tourists who would like to see specific parts of the once-upon-a-time great golden mansion that Nero built out of his self indulgence. In Suetonius's words, he believes that Nero’s golden palace to his country’s desolation was “ruinously wasteful” and I guess in some ways it was because he built this amazing, magnificent Golden temple off the ruins of Rome, only for himself and did not open to the public at all which pretty much drove the citizens of Rome to grow more anger and hate towards him, which is completely understandable because it reflected emperor Nero’s licentious, cruel, selfish ways and also made it seem as if Nero had purposely burnt down his city just so he can continue his construction from the Palatine to the Esquiline, however this still remains a theory as historians are now starting to question whether Nero truly started the fire or not, anyway beside the point. Despite emperor Nero’s poor decisions, the Domus Aurea was magnificent and articulated in a way in which it would be difficult for architects today to replicate. “The entrance hall was large enough to contain a huge, hundred-foot high, statue of the Emperor, and covered so much ground the triple colonnade was marked by milestones. There was an enormous lake, too, like a small sea, surrounded by buildings representing cities, also landscape gardens, with ploughed fields, vineyards, woods and pastures, socked with wild and domestic creatures. Inside there was Gold everywhere, with gems and mother-of-pearl. There were dining rooms whose ceilings were of fretted ivory, with rotating panels that could rain down flowers, and concealed sprinklers to shower the guests with perfume. The main banqueting hall was circular, with a revolving dome, rotating day and night to reflect the heavens. And there were baths with sea water and sulphur water on tap”- Suetonius. So pretty much this Golden house was spectacular! But what was more spectacular is that in a way it reflected the selfish ‘man-made’ traits that not only Nero but people today still possess. Nero particularly though, after the completion of the Domus Aurea quoted in Suetonius words “Nero dedicated the building, condescending to say by way of approval that he was at last beginning to live like a human being.” As if burning down a majority of Rome and building a magnificent palace all to yourself was what your definition of ‘living like a human’ meant to you. But anyways, on to the next point.
One other significant event that also branched off this was the persecution of the christians. Nero was blamed for the great fire that took place in rome, so in return he blamed the christians. Nero blamed the Christians as there are reasons to believe that there was reason to believe they were responsible, but also because he needed someone to blame. Romans believed that Christians were a strange, mysterious, dangerous cult as christianity had just originated 30 years prior to the fire. Christians had a prophecy that something would happen in the future about fire, and supposedly the Great fire just happened to occur. Nero also according to Suetonius “despised all religious cults” which had mainly been a driving force as to why he persecuted so many Christians in the first place. What had happened to the Christians was horrifying and completely terrible, which again just reflected the wickedness of Emperor Nero. Christians as a group was ordered by emperor Nero to be rounded up, captured and to be vigorously prosecuted with no sympathy at all. Some were burnt alive and used as human torches, while others were fed, eaten and ripped to pieces by dogs. In a way i guess emperor Nero did want to put the blame on another cult so that he could “divert the attention of the rumours” that emperor Nero was the one who started the fire. However to this day, it still remains a mystery, and we should not rather focus on the event itself. Despite how significant the event is, there is more to say about how this affected society AFTER nero’s time and what the significance in that is.
The fall of Emperor Nero commenced in 68 AD when he committed suicide, or was believed to. Some historians believe that emperor Nero committed the crime himself and took his own life, whereas some others believe that he ordered one of his servants to stab him with a knife. He was so hated he chose to kill himself and his body was treated with much disrespect as he was hated by all Romans. Some would say that the palace is one the reasons that caused Nero to kill himself, because of how selfish he was creating and taking money in order to build his palace when he could have rather used that money to invest in rebuilding and assisting the devastation of his people after many lost their homes. After the death of Nero, Rome was able to start on a fresh clean slate where everything that the Roman public hated about Nero, Vespasian who was the emperor after Nero, gave back to the public (such as opening up the garden and lake around the Domus Aurea). Vespasian did this to earn their respect and they loved him for that. I mean who wouldn't? After 14 years of cruelty, wickedness and destruction Rome finally got what they truly deserved which was an emperor that had passion for the people and provided, which is exactly what they got. Vespasian ruled for 10 years, and Titus his son ruled after him.
I guess you could say that Rome got their happily ever after ending and was lucky enough to have not only an emperor but emperor’s that led Rome into success and promoted respect and the everlasting peace that they deserved. We can learn a lot of lessons from Emperor Nero, lifelong lessons that can teach us that dangers and risks of being so self indulgent, but specifically we can learn about the true significance of the Great fire in relation to Rome and even christianity itself. The main significance of the fire is that it was a catalyst to so many other tragic events. Nero had proved himself to be disliked more by the people of Rome after his ‘pleasure palace’ was built in the areas that had been completely levelled down to the ground, it led to Nero committing the first Roman persecution of the infant church when he persecuted many christians using them as a ‘scapegoat’, but all in all it’s a significant event that I believe all modern audiences should educate themselves on because of the interesting and significant lessons you can learn from the story. Making one poor decision can be a catalyst to so many other terrible events, and to not be self-possessive and selfish like Emperor Nero.