New Book from Dando-Collins: Great Fire of Rome

[ScipioAsina]

I understand that Nero probably was not guilty of starting the fires, but that his actions afterward led people to believe he was. He then tried to make scapegoats out of the Christians, who, according to Tacitus, "were made objects of amusement; they were clothed in hides of beasts and torn to death by dogs; others were crucified, others were set on fire to illuminate the night after sunset." (Annals 15.44) This had the unintended consequence of making some Romans sympathetic to the Christians. I was never aware that the priests of Isis were targeted, as Dando-Collins claims.