The Great Fire of Rome: The Fall of the Emperor Nero and His City

The Great Fire of Rome: The Fall of the Emperor Nero and His City
Stephen Dando - Collins



Less about the fire of Rome (misleading as there were quite a few fires in Rome over the centuries) and more about Nero. Well researched and readable, but a few silly errors. I found it irritating that a suggestion about Christians being substituted for Egyptians in Tacitus (Why?) was then treated as fact, and the novelesque tone of some parts jarred with the history. Nevertheless an interesting read.


"On the night of July 19, AD 64, a fire began beneath the stands of Rome?s great stadium, the Circus Maximus. For more than a week the fire spread, engulfing most of the city and nearly burning it to the ground. With its capital in ruins, Rome?s powerful empire teetered on the edge of collapse as Nero struggled desperately to save his empire?and his skin.

In The Great Fire of Rome, Dando-Collins takes readers through the streets of ancient Rome, where unrest simmers, and into the imperial palace, where political intrigue seethes, relating a pot-boiler story filled with fascinating historical characters who will determine the course of an empire. It is an unforgettable human drama that brings ancient Rome and the momentous events of 64 AD scorchingly to life."