THIS DAY IN HISTORY (TDIH)

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INDEX TO EVENTS ON THIS DAY (CLICK TO GO): 
     JUL-18-0064 [WED]  Historical Event (Legend)

LOCATION:
Rome, Italy

WHAT HAPPENED:
Today, in the year 64 AD, legend has it that Nero fiddled while Rome burned.

RESEARCH NOTES:  (0064-07-18/2015-06-21)     [TOP]

I've heard of Moose and Squirrel and have probably watched the stupid cartoon for a few seconds while Dave watched it. He's the real cartoon nut here. I like to pretend and roll my eyes while he's doing it, and he likes to pretend that it drives him nuts. Ha ha.

Anyway the point being, we were kids when we were told that Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Why shouldn't we believe it?

Of course as we got older, and shed our childish ideas, almost all of us began to develop a healthy skeptical wariness of what adults taught us as kids. Everyone, that is, except Dave. He still thinks Santa Claus might be real. Let's just say, he's got issues.

Nero fiddling while Rome burning, everyone we know, kind of assumed that something like that happened, maybe Nero wasn't exactly in Rome when he fiddled, or maybe it wasn't even while Rome was actually burning and much later, maybe at someone's funeral or what ever they did back then. Did Nero even know how to fiddle, and if he did, where was he when he fiddled, and finally, the big question. if he did indeed fiddle while Rome was burning, why did he do it?

Nobody we knew, knew the answers to any of these questions, and had not even bothered to look it up, to even see if it was really true. And since Dave no longer had a copy of his original source^[1], we figured that would be the first thing we would do.

Here's what we found at Wikipedia:

FROM: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero

"The Great Fire of Rome erupted on the night of 18 July to 19 July 64. The fire started at the southeastern end of the Circus Maximus in shops selling flammable goods.

"The extent of the fire is uncertain. According to Tacitus, who was nine at the time of the fire, it spread quickly and burned for over five days. It destroyed three of fourteen Roman districts and severely damaged seven. The only other historian who lived through the period and mentioned the fire is Pliny the Elder, who wrote about it in passing. Other historians who lived through the period (including Josephus, Dio Chrysostom, Plutarch and Epictetus) make no mention of it in what remains of their work.

"It is uncertain who or what actually caused the fire-whether accident or arson. Suetonius and Cassius Dio favor Nero as the arsonist, so he could build a palatial complex. Tacitus mentions that Christians confessed to the crime, but it is not known whether these confessions were induced by torture. However, accidental fires were common in ancient Rome. In fact, Rome suffered other large fires in 69 and in 80.

"It was said by Suetonius and Cassius Dio that Nero sang the 'Sack of Ilium' in stage costume while the city burned. Popular legend claims that Nero played the fiddle at the time of the fire, an anachronism based merely on the concept of the lyre, a stringed instrument associated with Nero and his performances. (There were no fiddles in 1st-century Rome.) Tacitus's account, however, has Nero in Antium at the time of the fire. Tacitus also said that Nero playing his lyre and singing while the city burned was only rumor... "^[2]

And with that said, our research for this event is completed, for now anyway.

BIBLIOGRAPHY/SOURCES:  (0064-07-18)     [TOP]
^[1] Page(s) 76 - 77 from:
       the Old Farmer's 1998 Almanac

  LINKS:
    ^[2]   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero

RELATED SUBJECTS:  (0064-07-18)     [TOP]
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