![]() ![]() Nero did take the opportunity to build himself a new palace, which he called the Golden House, and later historians like Suetonius and Dio Cassius were in no doubt that Nero had been responsible for the fire and had been seen singing exultantly as it burned. He said that ‘authors have given both accounts’. Tacitus was non-committal as to whether the disaster had occurred accidentally or had been treacherously contrived by the emperor. People began to believe that Nero had deliberately started the fire so that he could then rebuild Rome as a glorious new city and name it after himself. Meanwhile, however, word spread that while the fire was raging the emperor had been seen performing on a stage in a private home singing of the fall and destruction of Troy. Supplies of food were brought in from Ostia and other neighbouring towns and the price of corn was reduced. People who had lost their homes were allowed to camp in public buildings, open spaces and gardens. He returned to Rome to organise relief efforts. Tacitus says that Nero was at Antium on the coast when the fire began. When it finally died out, most of the city was either completely destroyed or severely damaged. After five days the demolition of all the buildings in a large space at the foot of the Esquiline Hill seemed to have brought the fire to an end, but it broke out again as furiously as ever and spread more widely still. Fire-fighting efforts were hindered by gangs of men, some of whom threw blazing torches to encourage the flames, and it was not clear whether they were looters or, as they claimed, were acting under orders. Children and the elderly were equally helpless and crowds of confused citizens ran this way and that in attempts to get away, while some died trying bravely to save others. Fanned by the wind, it quickly turned into an inferno, raging through the narrow streets and cramped alleys to the terrified cries of the people. He says that it started in shops at the Circus Maximus, the chariot-racing stadium. The earliest surviving detailed account of the one which broke out under the full moon that night in July comes from the Roman historian Tacitus, who was only a small boy at the time. The inhabitants of Rome in the year 64 lived mostly in wooden houses and shacks, an easy prey to fire. Seneca, forced to commit suicide in AD 65, would be one of his many victims. He should have been an entertainer rather than an emperor, in which role he turned into a debauched and murderous megalomaniac. He was seriously interested in the arts, wrote poetry and played the lyre and showed off his singing voice in stage appearances. He seems to have made a promising start, however, under the guidance of Lucius Annaeus Seneca, the Stoic philosopher who had been his tutor, and Sextus Afranius Burrus, head of the Praetorian Guard. Just 16 when he was proclaimed emperor by the Praetorian Guard in AD 54 in succession to the Emperor Claudius, he had allegedly been born feet-first, which was considered ominous. Of the early Roman emperors, Nero alone rivalled Caligula in his reputation for sheer unbridled viciousness. ![]()
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