The '''Great Fire of Rome''' was a massive [[fire]] which started on July 19, A.D. 64. The fire destroyed the [[Circus Maximus]] as well as a large portion of the city. Rumors that the [[Roman Emperor]] at the time, [[Nero]], started the fire himself and fiddled as the city burned are unsubstantiated, but were spreading across the populace. Nero found a [[scapegoat]] to blame.
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The Great Fire became the catalyst for the first wave of state sponsored persecution of [[Christians]] in the Roman Empire when Nero claimed that local Christians started it. According to the Roman historian [[Tacitus]], apart from being killed in the arena, their bodies were also used as lamps to help light the city at night.
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==See also==
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[[Nero]]
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[[Harmony of the Gospel (Conservative Version) longer form Chapters 43-49#Forty-eight|Harmony of the Gospel (Conservative Version): Chapter Forty-eight]]