The Great Fire of Rome

The Ancients

History Hit

History

4.7 • 4.5K Ratings

🗓️ 13 April 2023

⏱️ 43 minutes

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Summary

In July 64AD, the Great Fire of Rome tore across the city, and ultimately burnt two thirds of Rome to ashes before it could be bought under control. A devastating event that can still be seen in the archaeology today, it ultimately led to the first persecution against the early Roman Christians. With legends of the narcissistic Nero playing the fiddle as his city burnt around him, and conspiracy theories as to who actually started this catastrophic blaze - what actually happened in July 64AD?

In this episode Tristan welcomes Professor Ginna Closs to the podcast to help shine a light on this murky day in Roman history. Looking at the ancient fire brigade that eventually helped to quell the blaze, the legacy that Nero left, and ultimately how the city was rebuilt - it's fair to say the Great Fire of Rome was a defining moment in history. So what really happened, and what can we learn from the new evidence coming to light?

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It's the Ancients on History Hit. I'm Tristan Hughes your host and in today's episode
0:17.5	where we're going to one of the most well-known cases of a fire in ancient history.
0:24.2	We're going to the city of Rome, we're going to 64 AD to the reign of the infamous Emperor
0:29.3	Nero and the time when a massive fire gripped this capital of the Roman Empire and caused
0:38.7	massive destruction, burning a huge part of the city to the ground. It's an event for
0:45.7	which we have quite a lot of literature surviving and we also have archaeology too. It's also
0:52.8	a destructive event that has quite a vivid legacy down to the present day, the image of
0:59.7	the Emperor Nero fiddling while Rome burned or the aftermath of the fire when this Emperor
1:07.6	infamously used Christians as a scapegoat to blame them for the fire when actually he
1:13.9	had a role in it himself. The great far of Rome reflects pretty badly on the Emperor
1:21.1	Nero. But how much of this is truth and how much is fiction, how much can we really believe?
1:28.2	Well in this episode I was delighted to interview Professor Jinnaklos all about the fire Nero
1:34.3	is rolling it and its legacy down to the present day. Jinnak she's a professor at the University
1:40.1	of Massachusetts Amherst and it was wonderful to interview her all about it. So without
1:45.4	further ado to talk all about the great far of Rome, here's Jinnak. Jinnak it is wonderful
1:59.5	to have you on the podcast today. And talk about a topic like this, the great far of Rome.
2:06.9	There seems to be many, many fires from ancient history but this one, the one that engulfed
2:12.5	Rome during Nero's reign, it's become the big one. Surely there's not a more well-known
2:17.0	fire from ancient history. Yes I would agree with that. And it's really, I think it's a
2:21.6	combination of a few things. One is it really was the biggest fire that had ever hit Rome
2:27.0	at the time. And I think it's also that it coincides fairly closely with the fall of
2:33.8	Nero and you know he was forced to suicide and it ended the Julio Claudio in dynasty. And
	...

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