this post was submitted on 27 May 2025
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Rough Roman Memes
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But did he play the fiddle all the while?
According to some contemporary stories, yes!
But more likely, and acknowledged as more likely by even strongly anti-Nero sources, is that he actually genuinely gave something of a damn about the disaster, and released funds to help rebuild the city, as well as endorsing new building codes to make another fire of that magnitude less likely in the future.
Nero was a dumbass rich kid who murdered people on a whim, but seeing one's own city burn down and thousands dying with it is a hell of a thing even for an arrogant autocrat to endure.
I thought the myth was about lyre
The myth is around him playing the lyre, but the modern English saying is "Fiddling while Rome burns".