Alex Levine’s Reviews > Rome Is Burning: Nero and the Fire That Ended a Dynasty > Status Update

It’s interesting how Barrett’s using not just archeological sources, but also the notebooks of architects from the 19th and 20th century, to see how they understood their finds and quotidian aspects of finds that might not have made it into published research, but nevertheless can hint at fire damage.

The fire started in the Circus Maximus - a fire trap, filled with wooden stalls/standa. But infrastructure/the city isn’t independent, but always related to political decisions about space and the wider physical environment. It could have been worsened by Nero’s regulations concerning the cooking of food at Circus-adjacent stalls, and was made into a “great” fire by swirling Mediterranean Sirocco winds.

Indeed, fire fighting was seen as a responsibility of the emperor (and even female family members) took part. This includes Nero, Claudius, and even Commodus and Caligula.

Interesting argument for the link/nexus between state centralization under the new imperial system, transformations in local urban governance in Rome, and the impetus of fire (as a socially destabilizing and politically delegitimizing factor).

The fire brigades only become strongly centralized and professionalized under imperial direction (Augustus), which helped remove the destabilizing popularity or animosity private firefighting units of slaves directed by wealthy individuals elicited (either Crassus’ profiteering, or Marcus Egnatius Rufus’ use to gain political legitimacy/support).

Part of the reason ancient cities were such prolific consumers of wood (deforesters of their riverbanks, see James Scott’s work on rivers) and stone is because of the ubiquity of fire, which required frequent reconstruction. This was a point Strabo recognized in the time of Augustus.

Interesting point that the distinction between police and firefighting is very recent, as arson and looting were necessarily linked to the phenomenon of urban fire in pre-modern cities. Therefore, Rome’s early centralized fire fighting service was essentially a constabulary.

Late Republican Rome was characterized by “political breakdown and social unrest, which “spilled over onto the fabric of the city” in frequent arson.

Wait, but this is actually a later point in Livy, whereas new archeology argues that the sack had only a minimal impact on the city’s physical environment. The sack’s “mystique” was immense, but perhaps not its actual damage.

Rome was so devastated by the 390 sack/burning of the city that many Romans recommended abandoning the city entirely.