History revision

Post date: Jul 07, 2014 10:22:23 AM

Nero was known for his support of music - but the violin and other classes of "fiddle" were not invented until the 11th century. He did however play the cithara- a stringed instrument that was forerunner of fiddle but never called a fiddle.

But before you get too sympathetic that history has defamed poor Nero - the man was hardly lily white - there is no doubt he killed his mother to advance his career. And once people started looking for a scapegoat for Rome catching fire and his name was being bandied about he did say "Those Christians did it. Let's kill them"

Fiddling might have been preferable

Don't ask me why but in the course of today I ended up with a history lesson. It all started when I said Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Some parts of the history lesson are unrefuted. In July 64AD Rome burned over a period of 6 days destroying over 70% of the city and Nero was Emporer. He wasn't a particularly popular leader - some debate about whether he was effectual or ineffectual. He wasn't in Rome when fire broke out but in his villa 35km away. An eye witness did write about Nero singing about the destruction of Troy while he watched the sight of fire - did he know it was Rome? Or the extent of destruction? Not clear.