Nero NEVER Fiddled While Rome Burned #Shorts
Pack: 31 - Nero NEVER Fiddled While Rome Burned
Nero couldn't have fiddled while Rome burned in 64 CE: the violin only appeared about 1,500 years later. Here is what Tacitus, the Roman historian, says Nero actually did during the Great Fire.
- The fire began on July 19, 64 CE, in shops by the Circus Maximus; only four of Rome's fourteen districts escaped untouched (Tacitus, Annals 15.38–41).
- The violin emerged in northern Italy in the early 1500s (National Geographic History); the Met's Andrea Amati violin dates from about 1560.
- Tacitus says Nero was at Antium and returned only when the fire neared his palace. He calls the story that Nero sang of the fall of Troy a rumor; Suetonius and Cassius Dio tell it as fact (Annals 15.39; Suetonius, Nero 38; Dio 62.18).
- Nero opened public buildings and his own gardens to the homeless, built shelters and brought in food. Then, to kill the rumor, he blamed the Christians and had many put to death (Annals 15.39, 15.44).
So, villain or scapegoat? Tell us in the comments. Full story in our documentary, The Full History of Rome.
Quick answers
What is “Nero NEVER Fiddled While Rome Burned” about?
Nero couldn't have fiddled while Rome burned in 64 CE: the violin only appeared about 1,500 years later. Here is what Tacitus, the Roman historian, says Nero actually did during the Great Fire.
What are the key facts?
The fire began on July 19, 64 CE, in shops by the Circus Maximus; only four of Rome's fourteen districts escaped untouched (Tacitus, Annals 15.38–41). The violin emerged in northern Italy in the early 1500s (National Geographic History); the Met's Andrea Amati violin dates from about 1560.
What sources is this Short based on?
It cites Tacitus, Annals, Book 15, tr. Church and Brodribb (1876), Wikisource; Suetonius, Life of Nero, 38, tr. Rolfe (1914), LacusCurtius; Cassius Dio, Roman History 62.18, tr. Cary (1925), LacusCurtius; National Geographic History, "Italian musical masters took the violin from fiddle to first chair" (2019); and 2 more. Links are in the Sources list below.
Sources
- Tacitus, Annals, Book 15, tr. Church and Brodribb (1876), Wikisource
- Suetonius, Life of Nero, 38, tr. Rolfe (1914), LacusCurtius
- Cassius Dio, Roman History 62.18, tr. Cary (1925), LacusCurtius
- National Geographic History, "Italian musical masters took the violin from fiddle to first chair" (2019)
- The Met, ex "Kurtz" violin, Andrea Amati, ca. 1560
- Britannica, Great Fire of Rome
Images
- The Fire of Rome, c. 1785 (as imagined) — Hubert Robert — Public domain —
- ex "Kurtz" violin, ca. 1560 — Andrea Amati, The Metropolitan Museum of Art 1999.26 — CC0 —
- Gold aureus of Nero, 66–67 CE — The Metropolitan Museum of Art 99.35.142 — CC0 —
- Neck-amphora with a man holding a kithara, ca. 470 BCE (cropped) — Pan Painter, The Metropolitan Museum of Art 20.245 — CC0 —
- Imperial Rome, reconstruction (Unreal Engine) — Shadowfetch Studio — own work
- Tacitus, Annals 15.44, Codex Laurentianus Mediceus 68.2, f. 38r, 11th century (1902 facsimile) — Public domain —
