Did Nero fiddle as Rome burned? #nero #ancientrome #romanempire #history #education #romanhistory

[arnoldmmbb]

I always heard the story of Nero playing the lyre as rome burnt, never the fiddle thats ridiculous 😂

[EzoOokami]

For commenters, It's a difference between North American and British English. In North American English, corn = maize or Indian corn. In British English, corn = grain. In this case, wheat, barley, or rye.

[jgw]

Nero put Christians to death, so many late Roman historians who were Christian would slander him after death. This happened to many pre-Christian empowers eg Diocletian.

[history_revealed]

The myth has taken many forms over the centuries. Some say he played different instruments such as the lyre, harp, flute and of course the violin (fiddle). The term corn is used here to refer to the predominant grain of a region.

[mrtux]

It's interesting to think about, as the further back one goes in history, and the fewer records there are on a topic, the more the general public seems to believe that view, despite the fact it should be the opposite.

[surferofthesynthwaves]

"They played us like a damn fiddle!"

[cult_of_odin]

People seem to forget all writing have a bias doesn't matter of its 20 days old or 2000 years old.

[MrShitthead]

The thing that annoys me about the Nero hate are all the historians that freak out about him killing his mother, when his mother was a deranged psychopath that routinely poisoned children for fun.

[mattiarubio]

Also emperor Domitian was described as a lousy and ruthless ruler by the senators but now historians believe he was actually a great emperor

[jamesbrowne]

Yes the fiddle as an instrument had not been invented yet is true. Neither had the English language. The word 'fiddle' meaning 'to play' in old Enlish is also much older than the instrument. We don't know what Nero 'fiddled' with while Rome burned but we're told he played around and didn't try to put out the fire.

[MihajloKarlicic]

Even software was named after him. "Nero burning ROM" was very popular in the 2000s.

[thepotatoshow]

Not a single time in my life have I ever encountered someone who genuinely believed this.

[JustANervousWreck]

Corn didn’t exist in Europe at the time

[maosama]

Fun fact Nero was actually an ok emperor. He was a prankster but not mean.

The senators hated him cause he was too popular among the commonfolks and has too much sway because of it.

Despite having a tragic childhood he was a good emperor not the greatest but he didnt fucked things up and roman economy was good during his reign. During his time they didnt lost a single territory. In fact Nero himself had commented about him being forgotten because he didn't had great wars to fight.

[carolusrex]

He was playing a lyre at the same time as the fire, BUT he wasn’t IN Rome, he was performing for a crowd in another city. It shows you that spin isn’t a recent invention.

[AshleyGravesreal]

Anyone ready for going to the Disco Globe Theatre with DJ Shakespeare, dammit he is the best dj ever.

[firedathan]

It would be interesting if all the things said about Nero were the things the senators did and Nero was actually a pretty nice emperor but all his efforts were stopped or sabatoged by the senators which resulted in a horrible time for rome.

[timmycrw]

He also accused the Christians of starting the fire, and leading one of the worst persecution's in Rome that the Christians ever suffered. So as far as I'm concerned, Nero was the worst

[icheko]

Yes of course let's discount the writing of the fellow senators because they disliked him because that is how history is definitely made.

After being a nice guy and opening his gardens. In order for people to have someone to blame he killed thousands and thousands of Christians in horrific displays.

[seans]

Nero did not play the fiddle, it was a miniature harp or more like a lute. They did have stringed instruments that far back…