‘Fiddling while Rome burns’ is an accusation flung at every political leader at some point in their career. In this episode, Mary and Charlotte uncover the origins of this phrase and ask: why has it proved so resonant that it has carried through the centuries and right around the world?
In 64 CE, a huge fire broke out in Rome. It lasted for over a week and devastated much of the city. Today, what is more famous than the fire itself is what the emperor Nero did while it was going on. He watched - and played his lyre.
This story, perhaps more than any other, has given Nero a bad rap, but ancient writers also say that he supervised rescue efforts, gave free food to the people, introduced sensible planning regulations and was visionary in rebuilding the devastated areas. So why has the fiddling image won out and why is it used so often in contemporary political discourse?
Mary and Charlotte explore these questions, pointing out in the process that fiddles hadn’t been invented at the time Nero is meant to have played one, that the Colosseum gets its name from a colossal statue of Nero, and that it’s the forgotten parts of the fiddling legend that make the modern use of the term so powerful.
Finally, they ask: all things considered, did Nero REALLY fiddle while Rome burned? And they give an answer.
Mary and Charlotte recommend some further reading
The ancient sources are collected and analysed in detail here: https://dcc.dickinson.edu/tacitus-annals/introduction/annals-outline/annals-38-41-outline
Nero has always attracted a LOT of academic interest.
E. Champlin, Nero (Harvard UP, pb, 2005) is an accessible biography (rather favourable to Nero)
For a focus on the fire itself, and its wider context, see: A. Barrett, Rome is Burning: Nero and the Fire that Ended a Dynasty (Princeton UP, pb, 2020)
The history of modern cartoons of political leaders fiddling while Rome burned is explored by Ginna Closs here: https://eidolon.pub/x-fiddled-while-y-burned-80abf13e7c08?gi=5d659c5e2688
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