Thursday, September 01, 2005
Rome is burning
The story of Nero and Rome is very interesting and has surfaced a few times over the past week. I have a brief run down of it here below:
On the night of July 19, 64 AD, a fire broke out among the shops lining the Circus Maximus, Rome's mammoth chariot stadium. In a city of two million, there was nothing unusual about such a fire -- the sweltering summer heat kindled conflagrations around Rome on a regular basis, particularly in the slums that covered much of the city. Knowing this, Nero himself was miles away in the cooler coastal resort of Antium. Yet this was no ordinary fire. The flames raged for six days before coming under control; then the fire reignited and burned for another three. When the smoke cleared, ten of Rome's fourteen districts were in ruin. The 800-year-old Temple of Jupiter Stator and the Atrium Vestae, the hearth of the Vestal Virgins, were gone. Two thirds of Rome had been destroyed.
The story goes that Nero played his fiddle while Rome burned to the ground. Now there is no way of ever knowing how true that is but what we DO know is that Bush played the guitar while New Orleans flooded and people were drowning.
I never asked for him to be there pulling people to safety himself but at least pretend to have compassion for these people!
(thanks Americablog.org for the photo)
On the night of July 19, 64 AD, a fire broke out among the shops lining the Circus Maximus, Rome's mammoth chariot stadium. In a city of two million, there was nothing unusual about such a fire -- the sweltering summer heat kindled conflagrations around Rome on a regular basis, particularly in the slums that covered much of the city. Knowing this, Nero himself was miles away in the cooler coastal resort of Antium. Yet this was no ordinary fire. The flames raged for six days before coming under control; then the fire reignited and burned for another three. When the smoke cleared, ten of Rome's fourteen districts were in ruin. The 800-year-old Temple of Jupiter Stator and the Atrium Vestae, the hearth of the Vestal Virgins, were gone. Two thirds of Rome had been destroyed.
The story goes that Nero played his fiddle while Rome burned to the ground. Now there is no way of ever knowing how true that is but what we DO know is that Bush played the guitar while New Orleans flooded and people were drowning.
I never asked for him to be there pulling people to safety himself but at least pretend to have compassion for these people!
(thanks Americablog.org for the photo)
# posted by J.F.Tobias @ 7:23 AM 
