Great Fire of Rome

Background

By the middle of the first century, Rome was a very populous city. Most ordinary residents lived in multistory apartment buildings called insulae, which were built largely of wood and crowded along narrow alleys, making them vulnerable to fire. The emperor at the time was Nero (reigned 54–68). Rome was home to a Jewish community as well as a Christian community, the latter believed to have already been of considerable size by this time. It was to this community that Paul wrote the Epistle to the Romans.

Course of Events

• Night of July 18–19, 64: A fire broke out among the shops near the Circus Maximus. Driven by the wind, it burned for about six days; after dying down, it flared up again and burned for several more days.
• Damage: In Book 15 of his Annals, the Roman historian Tacitus recorded that of the city's fourteen districts, three were completely destroyed, seven were partially burned, and only four remained intact.
• Nero's response: When the fire broke out, Nero was at Antium, south of Rome, and he returned to the city. He opened the Campus Martius and his own gardens to those left homeless, erected temporary shelters, and lowered the price of grain. Nevertheless, a rumor spread that Nero had sung of the fall of Troy while watching the city burn.

Consequences and Impact

• Reconstruction: Streets were widened, building heights were restricted, and fire-resistant stone was required in construction. At the same time, Nero's construction of an enormous palace, the Domus Aurea (Golden House), on the burned land further fueled suspicions that he had set the fire.
• Punishment of Christians: Tacitus wrote that Nero, in order to quell the rumors, fastened the guilt on the Christians, who were hated by the populace. Those arrested were reportedly executed by being clothed in animal skins and torn to death by dogs, by being crucified, or by being set on fire at night to serve as torches. This is regarded as the earliest record of the Roman Empire punishing Christians as a group.
• Traditions of the apostles' martyrdom: Early church writings preserve a tradition that Peter and Paul were martyred in Rome under Nero. Many connect this with the persecution that followed the fire, but the exact year and circumstances have not been established.
• Biblical interpretation: Some interpreters link the beast and the number 666 in Revelation 13 with Nero, on the grounds that when the emperor's name is transliterated into Hebrew letters, the numerical values of the letters add up to 666. Many other interpreters, however, regard the passage as referring to the Antichrist who is yet to appear, or as a symbolic expression.

Assessment

• Question of arson: Suetonius and Cassius Dio stated that Nero set the fire. Tacitus wrote that accounts differed as to whether it was an accident or the emperor's doing. Many modern historians regard the fire as accidental, citing conditions such as summer winds and wooden buildings. The story that Nero played the violin is a later addition; the violin did not exist at the time.
• Reliability of the sources: Tacitus's account of the Christians is valued as early testimony from an author outside Christianity. Some scholars, however, suggest that the account may reflect the perspective of Tacitus's own time in the early second century, or they question the connection between the Christians and the charge of arson.
• Use in Korean churches: In preaching and church history instruction in Korean churches, the Great Fire of Rome is commonly presented as the starting point of the persecution of the early church.