The Great Fire of Rome broke out
On this day · 18 July 64
In 64 CE, a fire near the Circus Maximus tore through ancient Rome and seeded one of history's most enduring rumors.
On the night of July 18, 64 CE, fire broke out among the cramped merchant shops ringing Rome’s chariot stadium, the Circus Maximus. Packed with flammable goods and hemmed in by the city’s notorious overcrowding, the blaze spread fast through narrow, timber-lined streets.
According to the historian Tacitus, the fire raged for days, was briefly contained, then flared again. By the end, of Rome’s fourteen districts only four escaped serious damage, with several reduced to ruins.
Emperor Nero was not in the city; he was at his coastal retreat in Antium when the fire started, returning to organize relief and open public buildings to the homeless.
The legend that Nero “fiddled while Rome burned” took hold afterward, though most historians now doubt he started the fire at all.
To deflect suspicion, Nero is said to have blamed the city’s Christians, launching the empire’s first persecution of them.
Sources & references
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