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Rome Is Burning: Nero and the Fire That Ended a Dynasty (Turning Points in Ancient History, 9) Hardcover – November 10, 2020

by Anthony A. Barrett (Author)
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Drawing on new archaeological evidence, an authoritative history of Rome’s Great Fire―and how it inflicted lasting harm on the Roman Empire

According to legend, the Roman emperor Nero set fire to his majestic imperial capital on the night of July 19, AD 64 and fiddled while the city burned. It’s a story that has been told for more than two millennia―and it’s likely that almost none of it is true. In Rome Is Burning, distinguished Roman historian Anthony Barrett sets the record straight, providing a comprehensive and authoritative account of the Great Fire of Rome, its immediate aftermath, and its damaging longterm consequences for the Roman world. Drawing on remarkable new archaeological discoveries and sifting through all the literary evidence, he tells what is known about what actually happened―and argues that the disaster was a turning point in Roman history, one that ultimately led to the fall of Nero and the end of the dynasty that began with Julius Caesar.

Rome Is Burning tells how the fire destroyed much of the city and threw the population into panic. It describes how it also destroyed Nero’s golden image and provoked a financial crisis and currency devaluation that made a permanent impact on the Roman economy. Most importantly, the book surveys, and includes many photographs of, recent archaeological evidence that shows visible traces of the fire’s destruction. Finally, the book describes the fire’s continuing afterlife in literature, opera, ballet, and film.

A richly detailed and scrupulously factual narrative of an event that has always been shrouded in myth, Rome Is Burning promises to become the standard account of the Great Fire of Rome for our time.

Previous page
  1. Part of series
    Turning Points in Ancient History
  2. Print length
    368 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Princeton University Press
  5. Publication date
    November 10, 2020
  6. Dimensions
    6.5 x 1 x 9.5 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0691172315
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0691172316
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Intriguing. . . . A lucid analysis of Nero and the Great Fire, enhanced by Barrett’s clear, engaging style, his obvious love of his subject, and an extensive selection of maps, schematics and photographs. Historically minded visitors to Rome as well as Roman-history enthusiasts will appreciate the erudition and context with which he illuminates one of the great stories―and personalities―of the ancient world."---Diana Preston, Washington Post

"Barrett’s central and most timely theme is the role of rumour and conspiracy theory in accelerating political change. . . . What matters for Barrett isn’t so much whether Nero started the fire as what it meant to Rome to believe that he had."---James Romm, London Review of Books

"A thorough, high-quality work on Emperor Nero and the fire that destroyed Rome in 64 CE. . . . Sure to be the most enduring treatment of this major historical event for some time." ― Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Anthony Barrett has produced arguably the most comprehensive and detailed treatment of the fiery disaster. . . .Barrett’s work exemplifies the latest, most detailed and generously illustrated narrative about the Great Fire to date, and would be an asset on the shelf of anyone, scholar or enthusiast, interested in the archaeology and history of Rome." ― Popular Archaeology

"[Rome Is Burning brings] together wide-ranging and up to date evidence to present the state-of-the-art view of the fire of 64, and its reception down the millennia in film and ballet etc., that will satisfy both scholar and interested layman."---Adrian Spooner, Classics for All

"Rome Is Burning is a lucid analysis of Nero and the Great Fire, enhanced by Barrett’s clear, engaging style, his obvious love of his subject, and an extensive selection of maps, schematics and photographs. Any person with even a passing interest in the history of Rome will find this book interesting and illuminating."---Dr. LF Ivings, Journal of Classics Teaching

Review

“Was Nero responsible for the devastating fire of AD 64? Did he fiddle while Rome burned? And is it true that Christians were made scapegoats and suffered horrific punishment? With a meticulous but accessible analysis of the latest archaeological research and an expert reading of ancient accounts, Anthony Barrett tackles these questions head-on and makes a persuasive case for seeing the fire and its aftermath as a turning point in the fortunes of imperial Rome.”―Catharine Edwards, author of Death in Ancient Rome

“With its clear narrative and new and insightful interpretations of sources and evidence, Rome Is Burning is an exceptional book from a first-rate Roman historian.”―John Pollini, University of Southern California

“Rome Is Burning offers a clear and thorough reinvestigation of the Great Fire of AD 64 for scholars and general readers alike. It can be recommended not just as a reconstruction of the Neronian fire but also as a thoughtful exploration of how to do ancient history.”―Josiah Osgood, Georgetown University

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Princeton University Press; First Edition (November 10, 2020)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0691172315
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0691172316
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1 x 9.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:

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Anthony A. Barrett

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
65 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Edward Groh
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting
Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2021
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A well written history of an infamous event in ancient Rome. Nero, far from being a saint, is vindicated of arson and callousness in the face of the fire that nearly destroyed the city. The account of the modern excavations of the ruins is a clinic in forensic investigation.
5 people found this helpful
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Art L Powell
4.0 out of 5 stars A Exapnse Tour Of The Great Fire
Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2022
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Anthony Barrett gives us a broad and expansive view of the great fire of Rome in 64 AD. He's unwillingness to commit to the conclusions of historians on subjects such as whether Nero started the fire or persecuted Christians for causing it is annoying in the beginning. It serves him well later as he stacks the evidence that this may not be so. One wishes he may have delved deeper into what effect the fire had on Nero's downfall and Rome as a whole. Still a well thought out and fascinating look at a pivotal moment in Roman History.
4 people found this helpful
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Isabella
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb book
Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2021
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Well written. Well documented. Very thorough presentation. Nero initiated many building codes still used today! I felt as if I had completed a class on the subject matter. I highly recommend this book.
2 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars Starts Strong, but Doesn't Live Up to Its Promise
Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2022
I am quite interested in the Neronian era and the events surrounding the Great Fire in particular, so when this audiobook was available at my library I was quite excited. I listened to the audio book version of this. The reader was fantastic. The book though wasn't.

It started off quite strong. He spoke about the nature of turning points in history and hinted at the many ways in which this one event would be a turning point for Rome. The writing was quite witty and engaging. Unfortunately I kept waiting for him to deliver on his promise to flesh out the ways in which the fire changed things in the world history. He never did.

The conclusion, such as it was, of how this event impacted the world was that Nero was ousted (was that a good thing? a bad thing? How was Vespasian's rule different than another 10 years of Nero? He doesn't venture a guess), the coinage began to be debased (this I liked, but he touched on it too lightly), and people wrote some plays and movies about the event hundreds of years later (who cares?). That's it.

Instead of really exploring all the ways this one event impacted the Empire or history, he instead focused the bulk of the book exploring the ways the fire impacted the buildings in Rome itself. Page after page of discussion about which building was placed where in the city, when it might have been built, whether it was damaged in the fire, what color the walls were painted, etc. I understand that we are left with very limited real evidence of this long ago event so trying to reconcile various snippets of ancient text with modern archeological evidence is probably what historians get excited about, but as a book for a non-academic history lover this hefty portion of the book was quite dull and had little connection to his central thesis. Of course as an audiobook I missed out on any maps or diagrams there might have been in the actual book (there were maps right? I hope?) As I read/listened to the book I kept feeling like he was just setting the scene so he could get into the meat of the book. Only too late did I realize that this WAS the meat of the book.

Much of the rest of the book read as a Nero apologetic. The author relied quite heavily on three sources: Tacitus, Suetonius and Dio, but felt that all three had an axe to grind and were hopelessly biased against Nero so everything critical they said about him should be discounted. The Christian persecution, the legendary cruelty, the grotesque extravagances (his telling of the origin of the word grotesque though was quite enjoyable), etc were all most likely made up or exaggerated, but, ya know, for some mysterious reason Nero faced multiple plots and rebellions to overthrow him. Must be because rich people don't like taxes.

This is the part that really caused me to scratch my head. The author goes out of his way to defend Nero against the abundance of sources he presented, and then he bases his conclusion on reading between the lines of a single off-hand remark in some source. The book makes the case that the intense hatred and opposition to Nero is just some mass delusion and anyone from the period who explains why they hated Nero can't be trusted.

Anyhow, it was quite well written, and well researched, I can't knock the book too low for that. Plus, I'm a nice guy. A solid 3.
4 people found this helpful
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Michael
5.0 out of 5 stars Very relevant to some aspects of life today
Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2020
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Thorough and informative ,fascinating look at some aspects of Roman history regarding fires and unexpected aftermaths
2 people found this helpful
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253rkt
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, historical read about Neronian era
Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2021
A really interesting read for those interested in Ancient Rome and the Neronian era. The writing style is engaging, but also does require a genuine interest in the subject matter.

The author balances contemporary resources incredibly well, and expertly poses questions about the conclusions long-ago attributed to Rome's great fire during the reign of Nero. The inconsistencies he points out, paired with additional facts we now know about the era, really shed great light on long standing biases about the Emperor -- and how those biases may have led to the wholesale acceptance of an incomplete history.
2 people found this helpful
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Killersax
1.0 out of 5 stars File appears to be corrupted
Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2023
I downloaded this to my Kindle, but it crashed the Kindle in chapter 3. I deleted and redownloaded--same problem.
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Top reviews from other countries

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book
Reviewed in Canada on March 9, 2021
Verified Purchase
Anything written by Anthony Barrett is good by me!
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mutiny
4.0 out of 5 stars Knowledgeable Author
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 30, 2021
Verified Purchase
A little overdone in the depth of research. But I'm not complaining. Comparison with other book details.
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