Article originally appeared on www.zerohedge.com.
by James Hickman via Schiff Sovereign
The summer of 64 AD was a hot one in ancient Rome, and the evening of July 18th was especially warm. The air was dry, and harsh winds blew fiercely throughout the city.
So, when a fire broke out that night in the Cirus Maximus district, weather conditions were perfect for a major conflagration to spread rapidly. And that’s exactly what happened.
Flames raged in the city for a week and a half, and ancient sources estimate that over 70% of Rome was destroyed with at least 10,000 homes and other buildings burnt to the ground.
It was a shocking disaster that most Romans at the time could barely process. They were angry. And many blamed their Emperor; Nero had already been in power for about a decade by the time of Rome’s Great Fire in 64 AD, and at that point he had become …
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