ABSTRACT
On 19 July 64 a great fire broke out in the city of Rome. It began amid shops between the Palatine and Caelian hills, and the fire immediately became so fierce it could not be contained. It blazed rapidly through the low parts of the city then began to climb the seven hills. The palaces of the rich burned as did the wooden tenements of the poor, and witnesses told of the panic that ensued. Women, children, and the elderly were trapped in flaming narrow streets and screams of the helpless rose over the roar of the flames, while rumors spread that some people were openly hurling torches to keep the fire blazing as it consumed more and more of the city. Finally, after burning for five days, the fire was contained by the erection of a huge firebreak around the flames. When the smoke settled, Romans could see with horror that of the fourteen districts of the city, only four were left unburned. Three were completely leveled, while the remaining seven had only a few half-burned houses left.1
