Episode CLXXXIX - Nero and the Great Fire of Rome (Live in Canberra)

On the night of 18 July, 64 CE, a fire broke out in the Circus Maximus at Rome. It raged for nine days, destroying or damaging ten of the city’s fourteen regions.

Was the fire just a terrible accident? Or was it deliberately lit, either by dissident Christians or by the emperor Nero, who allegedly sang while Rome burned?

Recorded on 12th April 2022, in front of a live audience at the Australian National University.

Guest: Associate Professor Caillan Davenport (Head of the Centre for Classical Studies at the Australian National University).