Myth-busting · Roman Empire Daily
Nero couldn't have 'fiddled while Rome burned': fiddles didn't exist yet, and he wasn't even in the city when the fire began.
Deep dive
Tacitus reports Nero was at Antium when the great fire of 64 AD broke out and returned to organize relief, opening his gardens to the homeless, even as rumors blamed him. The fiddle image is a much later invention.
Source: Tacitus, 'Annals,' 15.38–39.
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