Customer Reviews

The Great Fire of Rome: The Fall of the Emperor Nero and His City

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This book reflects on the how the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD led to the fall of Emperor Nero four years later. Much of the book is filled with background material prior to the fire. However, from the author's point of view, it did appears that Nero initially tried to fight the fires although later on, he took advantages of what the end result of the fire provided him. Interestingly, the book didn't write much about the Christians being tormented as we see in some Hollywood movies. Perhaps the author realized (as many of us already knew) that there wasn't enough Christians in Rome during that time to create a scapegoat complex. So Nero went after the followers of Egyptian Goddess Iris who were more numerous in number. Nero seek a scapegoat because the growing rumours even back then, that he had a hand in the fire. Despite of Nero's best efforts, this wasn't going away so he needed a fall guy to take the blame. The book covered the fact that even afterward, many Roman historians still blame Nero for the fire. Whether this was a calculated effort at misinformation, it hard to tell. The book does say that most of Nero's contemporary historians does NOT blame Nero for the fire. But the negative press that Nero suffered from the fire during his life time, plus his frivolous lifestyle and his murderous tendencies, led to his downfall which was universally hailed in great rejoicing. The book does a very good job in describing all that in a very readable material. The author does take certain "liberties" with drama within the historical context but overall, I found the book highly entertaining and somewhat educational.

Stephen Collins does it again. Another great book from his line. Lots of detail and keeps you wanting more.

This book makes for interesting reading, but again Dando-Collins succumbs to wild speculation. He has done this before, with "The Blood of The Caesars", in which he dramatically determines that Germanicus Caesar was murdered by Seneca! Also, that Germanicus's wife was involved in the plot, engaging in an affair with Seneca. Roman history is interesting itself, without needing to make it into a soap opera. It is very likely that Germanicus was murdered by Tiberius, who needless to say felt threatened by Germanicus's tremendous popularity with the Roman people.

The claim of this new book is almost as laughable, that Nero pinned the burning of Rome not on the Christians, but on followers of the Isis cult. It is possible that medieval monks inserted the passage relating to Christians, but there is not conclusive proof. The preponderance of the evidence leads a reasonable person to conclude that the passage is as Tacitus wrote it. Dando -Collins claims that there would have been very few Christians living in Rome in 64 AD. But we can tell from the New Testament that the Christian community at Rome had to been of some significance. Of all of the Letters that are historically ascribed to St. Paul, the longest one is the letter to the Romans! Would Paul have written his longest epistle to a small and insignificant community! Not likely.

In summary, good history must stick to likely conclusions drawn from the preponderance of the evidence, not make wild unsubstantiated claims. This book is not good history.

Ultimately, this is a history of Nero from about A.D.64 to his suicide. The fire of Rome was just the crisis that pushed opinion against him. There has been allot of controversy to the extent which Nero persecuted Christians after the fire. The author claims that he persecuted the cult of Isis and not Christians. It's an interesting theory, but ultimately there are only a couple of things that back the argument. However, the evidence that he went after Christians is lacking as well. He makes a claim that biased Christian authors copied the histories and changed some things, but this is just speculation and impossible to prove definitively. The meat of the book successfully shows that Nero wasn't the mindless madman that he often is portrayed as, and the people who wrote about him were biased because of his acting and singing contests. While there was something definitely a little nutty about Nero, he acted surprisingly well and sensibly at times. We must not forget that most Roman's in power, especially the emperors, were a product of their time and look like monsters to modern eyes.

Despite this book's title, it really recounts the reign of Nero - the last Roman emperor in the Julian line. The author, a historian, does briefly discuss the fire itself, its devastating effects and its aftermath. He considers this disaster the turning point in Nero's popularity which declined from then on until the bloody end a couple of years later. Most of the Nero biographers that I am familiar with tend to paint Nero with the same brush: cruel, lascivious, crazy, etc. This author, on the other hand, suggests that the ancient sources, on which current biographies of Nero are based, are biased. He claims that Nero was well-liked before the fire and would have done well in the rough and cruel times in which he lived, had the tables not turned on him as they did.

The author writes well. In fact, all of the historical books of his that I have read thus far read almost like novels. As part of this friendly style, and as already pointed out by some prior reviewers, he takes a few liberties by adding information that cannot really be known, e.g., some facial expressions, some scenes, some minor events that "would" have happened, some likely conversations, etc. However, these don't detract from the main historical facts and make for spellbinding reading. Overall, the book is quite captivating, lively and accessible. It should be of interest to a wide readership, especially ancient history enthusiasts.

Rome, most powerful city of the ancient world has brought down by the most basic of nature's wrath - fire. "The Great Fire of Rome: The Fall of Emperor Nero and His City" looks at the history of Rome surrounding the fire that destroyed the city in the first century AD. With modern research on the great fire and its original causes, this study looks at the history of Rome's destruction and what it meant in the bigger picture of Roman history. "The Great Fire of Rome" is a fine addition to any history collection focusing on the time of antiquity.

Awful. He nearly wets himself in his eagerness to be an apologist for Nero, and his attempts to alter the historical record of Nero's persecution of Christians by stating that "followers of Christ" originally read "followers of Isis," and that "Christians" originally read "Egyptians" are mind-numbing. What proof does he have? Umm. None. He vaguely asserts that those dastardly Christian scribes altered the texts and that there weren't enough Christians in Rome to persecute, and the Romans considered them Jews anyhow (that second point being a resounding "so what?" moment). He also claims that there is no evidence that Christians were called Christians that early. Hello? Mr. Dando-Collins? This is Earth speaking. The New Testament gives evidence that the label was applied quite early, and Mr. Dando-Collins seems pleased as punch to use the New Testament when it suits him, though somehow he also missed the fact that Paul explicitly stated that he was born a Roman citizen. Dando-Collins ignorantly states that there is no mention of how Paul gained his citizenship while using the New Testament to show that Paul was a citizen! Hello!!!!

Perhaps Dando-Collins might next want to be an apologist for Hitler. And if he is going to use a text (such as the Bible or any other text) he might want to read the whole thing.

The Author's claims are to be questioned. It is very evident of his Anti-Christian bias bs in shown in this poor book, he must be in some Fantasy land, I guess all scholars are wrong except this author, threw the book out. Horrible read and laughable.

Did Nero really set fire to Rome in 64AD? More than just a convenient slam against a failed emperor, this book solves the historical puzzle and is interesting reading.