Great Fire of Rome
July 64 CE · Classical Antiquity
In July 64 CE, a fire erupted in Rome's merchant quarter and spread throughout the city's densely populated districts. The blaze burned for six days and destroyed ten of Rome's fourteen districts, leaving much of the population homeless. Emperor Nero was in Antium when the fire began but returned to implement relief measures. Rumors circulated that Nero had orchestrated the disaster to clear land for his planned Domus Aurea. Nero blamed the Christian community for the fire, initiating the first Roman persecution of Christians and marking a shift in Roman-Christian relations.
Key Figures
Nero
Locations
Rome
Topics
fireImperial RomeChristianitypersecutionurban disaster
Connected Events — 2 Connections
The Great Fire cleared vast areas of central Rome, enabling the Flavian dynasty to build the Colosseum on the site of Nero's despised Domus Aurea lake, symbolically reclaiming public space from the emperor blamed for the fire Construction of the Colosseum
Augustus's protection of Jewish religious practices established a precedent for tolerating minority religions that made Nero's scapegoating of Christians for the fire particularly shocking and legally novel Edict of Augustus on Jewish Rights
The Time Detectives® · Cadet Mission
Investigate This Event
Place it on the timeline. Earn points. Master the connections.
New to The Time Detectives?
Learn what it is →