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Did Nero play the violin while Rome burned?
2023-02-22 12:45:59 / AKTUALITET
In July 64 AD, a great fire ravaged Rome for six days, destroying 70 percent of the city and leaving half the population homeless.
According to a legend of the emperor of Rome at the time, the unpopular Nero 'played his violin while Rome burned'.
The expression has a double meaning: Not only did Nero play music while his people suffered, but he was an ineffective leader in a time of crisis.
It has been very easy to place the blame on Nero, who had many enemies and is remembered as one of the most sadistic and cruel leaders in history - but there are several problems with this story.
The first violin did not exist in ancient Rome.
Music historians believe that the viol class of instruments (to which the violin belongs) did not develop until the 11th century.
If Nero played an instrument it would most likely have been the guitar, a heavy wooden instrument with four to seven strings, but there is still no evidence that he played music during the Great Fire.
The Roman historian Tacitus wrote that Nero was rumored to have sung of the destruction of Rome as he watched the city burn; however, he clearly stated that this was unconfirmed by eyewitness accounts.
When the Great Fire broke out, Nero was at his villa in Antium, about 35 miles from Rome.
Although he immediately returned and began relief measures, people still did not believe him.
Some even believed that he ordered the fire, as he used the land cleared by the fire to build his Golden Palace and surrounding gardens.
Nero himself blamed the Christians (then an unknown religious sect) for the fire and had many arrested and executed.
But while Nero may have been guilty of many things, the story of him playing the violin while Rome burned belongs to the category of popular legend rather than factual truth./Prepared by Alfapress.al
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