The largest fire in the nearly three thousand year history of Rome began on the night of July 18-19, 64. The fire broke out in the shops located on the southeastern side of the Circus Maximus, and spread so quickly that by morning most of the city was on fire.
Nero was in Antiya. He hastily returned to Rome, so as not to miss the fantastic fireworks, and just in time for the moment when the hated palaces on the Palatine began to catch fire. One of the first to destroy the fire was the Passage House built by him quite recently, which connected the palace with the gardens of the Maecenas.
The Forum and the Capitol, as well as the quarters west of the Tiber, are more or less preserved. However, almost all other areas of Rome were not spared by the elements. Of the fourteen districts of the city, only four survived. According to various estimates, two-thirds of houses and buildings were completely or partially destroyed. Countless manuscripts, works of art and temples were burned.
Fire in Rome / Hubert Robert, 1785.
No one knows how many people died in the flames, which did not subside for six days and seven nights, and how many were buried under the ruins of tenement houses, but the count goes to tens of thousands. Hundreds of thousands of Romans, who lost their roof over their heads and property, wandered in complete confusion along the Roman streets.
Naturally, they became an excellent breeding ground for the spread of rumors that Rome was set on fire by Nero, who dreamed of building a new city on its ruins. It was said that special people, on the orders of the emperor, walk the streets and support the fire. It was said about Nero himself that he was watching the fire from the tower of Maecenas.
Tacitus wrote that the emperor in theatrical attire admired the raging flames and sang the verses of his own tragedy "The Destruction of Troy", accompanying himself on the lyre. It was rumored that Nero ordered the city to be set on fire in order to get a more complete picture of the fire in Troy and better praise that fire in verse.
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The emergence of such rumors is not surprising, because by that time Nero already had a lot of ill-wishers. As for Tacitus (the main source of information about the Great Fire in Rome), his pro-Senate sentiments are well known. He openly accused Nero of the arson and Suetonius in The Life of the Twelve Caesars, as well as a number of other authors who did not hide their anti-neronic sentiments.
The reports and rumors of the emperor's involvement in the fire are hardly true, because he energetically led the firefighters and provided assistance to the victims.
On his orders, thousands of homeless Romans were allowed into public buildings and gardens, and he also did whatever was necessary to ensure the city was supplied with food and to avoid starvation among the survivors.
With rumors about his guilt, Nero decided to fight in the simplest and most logical way - to shift the blame onto someone, find the guilty ones and betray them to the most sophisticated tortures and executions. At that time, the attitude towards Christians in the Eternal City was difficult. Unsurprisingly, it was their emperor who decided to make the scapegoats.
First, they seized those who did not hide their belonging to the new religion. When, under torture, they began to name the secret followers of Christianity, the number of those arrested, tortured and executed went to many thousands. The skins of bears and wolves were put on Christians and given to be torn apart by dogs. They were crucified on crosses and burned at the stake.
Whoever was to blame for the fire of Rome, if there were any specific culprits at all, Nero's dream came true - the hated slums lying at the foot of the hill, and at the same time thousands of other buildings were destroyed.
It always seemed to Nero that the palaces he inherited from his predecessors did not correspond to either his divine status or his artistic character. He wanted to be considered the second founding father of Rome and even invented a new name for the capital - Neroople.
Lights of Christianity. Torches of Nero / Henryk Siemiradzki, 1882.
After the fire, he had a new occupation - rebuilding the city according to the architectural plan he had made. In Rome, wide and straight new streets began to be laid, and new houses were planned with facades. Much attention was paid to fire safety measures.
A prerequisite was the construction of the first floor of stone and the arrangement of gaps between buildings, which would prevent the spread of fire in the event of a fire. Nero even commanded to create a special fire-fighting reservoir-reservoir, in which they collected the water of streams and rivulets, in many flowing under the city.
Naturally, such a grandiose construction required huge funds. The provinces of the empire were levied with a one-time tribute, which made it possible in a relatively short time to rebuild the capital.
In memory of the fire, Nero founded a new palace - Nero's Golden Palace. The palace was not completed, but even what was built was impressive in its size: the complex of buildings, according to various sources, was located on an area of 40 to 120 hectares, and the center of the entire structure was a 35-meter statue of Nero, called "Colossus of Nero" …
This palace complex is still the largest of all royal residences built in Europe, and in the world it is second only to the Forbidden City - the residence of the Chinese emperors.
Nero (37-68 years) - the last emperor of the first imperial dynasty of ancient Rome, Julius-Claudius. The Praetorian Guards declared the 16-year-old youth emperor on October 13, 54, the day of Claudius's death.
For the first five years, young Nero, under the influence of educators, among whom stood out the philosopher Seneca, actively ruled the empire and showed himself to be a good ruler. He tried to make life easier for ordinary Romans, cut taxes, tried to fight corruption and won the gratitude of the people.
However, in the second half of his reign, in the early 60s, Nero turned into a despot. After the death of the mentor Burr, he removed Seneca, killed his mother and ordered the execution of his ex-wife Octavia. A wave of trials swept across Rome on charges of insulting the emperor, resulting in the execution of hundreds of Romans
Nero suffers from remorse after the murder of his mother / John William Waterhouse, 1878.
The emperor began to move more and more away from government. He devoted almost all his time to the arts: he loved to sing and play music, composed poetry and plays, participated both in poetry competitions and in chariot competitions.
Under the influence of the court sycophants, Nero believed in his genius and began to speak publicly. From a trip to Greece in 67, the emperor brought back 1,808 cups and wreaths for victories in competitions.
Over the years, Nero became more suspicious and cruel. The troops, aimed at suppressing the rebellion, themselves rebelled and moved on Rome. Upon learning that the Senate declared him an enemy of the people and decided to publicly execute him, Nero, with the help of his personal secretary, cut his throat.
Death of Nero / V. S. Smirnov, 1888.
With Nero, the dynasty ended, which traced its origin from Caesar and Augustus (Octavian). All 69 years in the empire there was a civil war, in which Vespasian emerged victorious. He founded a new dynasty - the Flavians.
The figure of the emperor remained popular and debated in Rome for many years. Aurelius Augustine wrote that the legends of the return of Nero were told almost three centuries after his death, in 422.
Used materials from the article by Sergey Manukov from the site sovsekretno.ru