# Did Nero really allow Rome to burn or did he help put our the fires? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 21, 2013, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nero-really-allow-rome-to-burn-or-did-he-help-put-our-the-fires/650951 "2013-02-21T06:54:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nero-really-allow-rome-to-burn-or-did-he-help-put-our-the-fires/650951/1 "2013-02-21T06:54:18Z")
Did Nero really allow Rome to burn in order to implement his own grand design for a new city?Or did he help put our the fires as some other historians suggest? Which version is correct? Which historians on the subject give a reasonable account of the events? I look forward to your answers. Thanks. davidmich ---
**Author:** ![Oliveritaly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oliveritaly/32/15233_2.png) [@Oliveritaly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oliveritaly)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nero-really-allow-rome-to-burn-or-did-he-help-put-our-the-fires/650951/2 "2013-02-21T07:49:15Z")
This is likely going to be moved but I thought he wasn’t even in the city at the time of the fire and, if I remember from the History of Rome podcast, he generally is believed to have done a lot to help displaced citizens with shelter, food and whatnot. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nero-really-allow-rome-to-burn-or-did-he-help-put-our-the-fires/650951/3 "2013-02-21T12:10:02Z")
Reported for forum change. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nero-really-allow-rome-to-burn-or-did-he-help-put-our-the-fires/650951/4 "2013-02-21T12:13:38Z")
Moved from ATMB to General Questions. **samclem** ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@Bob\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_X)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nero-really-allow-rome-to-burn-or-did-he-help-put-our-the-fires/650951/5 "2013-02-21T18:05:21Z")
No, he had not the slightest interest in burning down his own capital city and incurring huge costs that were basically out of his own pocket (the “state’s” money and the “emperor’s” money not really being distinguished). The people who accused Nero of that were basically the same sort of conspiracy theorists who accused Bush of deliberately destroying the World Trade Center. It is a testimony to the unpopularity of a government when a theory of that time gains some traction, but it should not be taken seriously. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nero-really-allow-rome-to-burn-or-did-he-help-put-our-the-fires/650951/6 "2013-02-21T21:52:19Z")
> **[Great Fire of Rome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Fire_of_Rome)** > > The Great Fire of Rome (Latin: incendium magnum Romae) began on 19 July 64 AD. The fire started in the merchant shops around Rome's chariot stadium, Circus Maximus. After six days, the fire was brought under control, but before the damage could be assessed, the fire reignited and burned for another three days. In the aftermath of the fire, nearly three quarters of Rome had been destroyed (10 out of 14 districts). > According to Tacitus and later Christian tradition, Emperor Nero blamed the devas... > [@](#): > > Modern scholars tend to agree with Tacitus and believe that Nero probably did not cause the fire. It is postulated that the fire had been intentionally started to create room for Nero’s Domus Aurea, but the fire started 1 km (0.6 miles) away from the site where this palace would later be built, on the other side of the Palatine Hill. Moreover, the fire destroyed parts of Nero’s own palace, the Domus Transitoria. It seems unlikely that Nero wanted to destroy this palace since he actually salvaged some of the marble decoration and integrated it into the new Domus Aurea. Even the paintings and wall decorations of the new palace were similar to the ones that had been burned. Last, the fire started just two days after a full moon, a time that, it is presumed, would not have been chosen by arsonists who would not have wished to be observed.[22] ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nero-really-allow-rome-to-burn-or-did-he-help-put-our-the-fires/650951/7 "2013-02-22T15:04:29Z")
thank you all for your helpful replies. davidmich ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2013, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nero-really-allow-rome-to-burn-or-did-he-help-put-our-the-fires/650951/8 "2013-02-22T16:04:52Z")
This Fox News vs the Liberal media battle has been going on longer than I had thought. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Oliveritaly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oliveritaly/32/15233_2.png) [@Oliveritaly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oliveritaly)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2013, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nero-really-allow-rome-to-burn-or-did-he-help-put-our-the-fires/650951/9 "2013-02-22T18:06:32Z")
Yeah Bob X, thanks. That put a lot of perspective on it thanks … ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2013, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nero-really-allow-rome-to-burn-or-did-he-help-put-our-the-fires/650951/10 "2013-02-22T20:06:46Z")
This does not, however, cause me to remove Nero from my list of “Bad Roman Emperors” for future cat-naming purposes. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Oliveritaly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oliveritaly/32/15233_2.png) [@Oliveritaly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oliveritaly)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2013, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nero-really-allow-rome-to-burn-or-did-he-help-put-our-the-fires/650951/11 "2013-02-23T06:29:17Z")
Lol true law monkey … ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2013, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nero-really-allow-rome-to-burn-or-did-he-help-put-our-the-fires/650951/12 "2013-02-23T09:59:04Z")
Gordian. Now that’s an Emperor who made Rome burn…with rage.