User:Loganschock/sandbox

Great Fire of Rome Review

Overall, this is not a good article. There is no background for what happened and only a very small section is dedicated to describing the event. It only talks about different theories as to why the fire happened. Tacitus may not be a good source to use for the entire article, although he was a historian of that time. It really needs more information and more description of what happened. The sections need to be in a different order. It is confusing the way it is written. A couple more images could be nice. Maybe one of Nero, who is speculated to have started the fire. The section that briefly describes the outbreak does not have citations.

Nero
Nero was proclaimed emperor in 54 at the age of 16. His rule has commonly been associated with impulsiveness and tyranny. Early in his rule, he was heavily advised, but he slowly became more independent. In 59, encouraged by his mistress Poppaea, Nero murdered his mother. His leading adviser, Seneca, was discharged and forced to commit suicide. Nero was rumored to have caused the fire after it destroyed Rome in 64.

Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and historian of the Roman Empire. His exact birth date is unknown, but most sources place it in either 56 or 57 AD. His two main works, the Annals and the Histories, covered the history of the empire between 14 AD and 96 AD. However, much of the work has been lost, including the books covering events after 70 AD.

Outbreak
Tacitus describes the fire as beginning in shops where flammable goods were stored, in the region of the Circus neighboring the Caelian and Palatine Hills of Rome. The night was a windy one and the flames rapidly spread along the full length of the Circus. The fire expanded through an area of narrow, twisting streets and closely located apartment blocks. In this lower area of ancient Rome there were no large buildings such as temples, or open areas of ground, to impede the conflagration. It then spread along the Palatine and Caelian slopes. The population fled first to areas unaffected by the fire and then to the open fields and rural roads outside the city. Looters and arsonists were reported to have spread the flames by throwing torches or, acting in groups, hindering measures being made to halt or slow the progress of the flames.

(Add second outbreak)