Question

Which of the following statements best explains the cause of the great fire of Rome in 65 CE? A. The homes were made of wooden materials and built close together, allowing the fire to spread quickly. B. Sparks from a volcanic eruption set the neighboring countryside on fire before spreading quickly throughout the city. C. Poor sanitation caused gutters to back up with debris, lessening the city’s ability to respond with adequate water resources and allowing the fire to spread quickly. D. An invading army from Judea set the city’s temple on fire; the rest of the city caught fire quickly, and the city was destroyed.

Answer 1

During the night of July 18, 64 AD, fire broke out in the merchant area of the city of Rome. Fanned by summer winds, the flames quickly spread through the dry, wooden structures of the Imperial City. Soon the fire took on a life of its own consuming all in its path for six days and seven nights. When the conflagration finally ran its course it left seventy percent of the city in smoldering ruins.

Rumors soon arose accusing the Emperor Nero of ordering the torching of the city and standing on the summit of the Palatine playing his lyre as flames devoured the world around him. These rumors have never been confirmed. In fact, Nero rushed to Rome from his palace in Antium (Anzio) and ran about the city all that first night without his guards directing efforts to quell the blaze. But the rumors persisted and the Emperor looked for a scapegoat. He found it in the Christians, at that time a rather obscure religious sect with a small following in the city. To appease the masses, Nero literally had his victims fed to the lions during giant spectacles held in the city's remaining amphitheater.

From the ashes of the fire rose a more spectacular Rome. A city made of marble and stone with wide streets, pedestrian arcades and ample supplies of water to quell any future blaze. The debris from the fire was used to fill the malaria-ridden marshes that had plagued the city for generations.