The historian Josephus calls Poppaea Sabina, the second wife of Emperor Nero, a deeply religious woman (perhaps privately a Jewish proselyte) who urges Nero to show compassion, namely to the Jewish people.

However, she harms the Jews by securing the position of procurator of Judaea for her friend's husband, Gessius Florus, in 64.

The Great Fire of Rome erupts on the night of July 18, 64.

The fire starts at the southeastern end of the Circus Maximus in shops selling flammable goods.

The extent of the fire is uncertain.

According to Tacitus, who was nine at the time of the fire, it spread quickly and burnedv for over five days.

It destroys three of fourteen Roman districts and severely damages seven.

The only other historian who lived through the period and mentioned the fire is Pliny the Elder, who wrote about it in passing.

Other historians who lived through the period (including Josephus, Dio Chrysostom, Plutarch, and Epictetus) make no mention of it in what remains of their work.

It is uncertain who or what actually caused the fire — whether accident or arson.

Suetonius and Cassius Dio favor Nero as the arsonist, so he could build a palatial complex.

Tacitus mentions that Christians confessed to the crime, but it is not known whether these confessions were induced by torture.

However, accidental fires are common in ancient Rome.

It was said by Suetonius and Cassius Dio that Nero sang the "Sack of Ilium" in stage costume while the city burned.

Popular legend claims that Nero played the fiddle at the time of the fire, an anachronism based merely on the concept of the lyre, a stringed instrument associated with Nero and his performances.

(There are no fiddles in first-century Rome.)

Tacitus's account, however, has Nero in Antium at the time of the fire.

Tacitus also said that Nero playing his lyre and singing while the city burned was only rumor.

According to Tacitus, upon hearing news of the fire, Nero returned to Rome to organize a relief effort, which he paid for from his own funds.

Nero's contributions to the relief extended to personally taking part in the search for and rescue of victims of the blaze, spending days searching the debris.

After the fire, Nero opens his palaces to provide shelter for the homeless, and arranges for food supplies to be delivered in order to prevent starvation among the survivors.

In the wake of the fire, he makes a new urban development plan.

Houses after the fire are spaced out, built in brick, and faced by porticos on wide roads.

Nero also builds a new palace complex known as the Domus Aurea (Golden House) in an area cleared by the fire.

This includes lush artificial landscapes and a thirty-meter-tall statue of himself, the Colossus of Nero.

The size of this complex is debated (from one hundred to three hundred acres).

To find the necessary funds for the reconstruction, tributes are imposed on the provinces of the empire.

According to Tacitus, the population searched for a scapegoat and rumors held Nero responsible.

To deflect blame, Nero targeted Christians.

He ordered Christians to be thrown to dogs, while others were crucified and burned.

Among the supposed victims are Peter and Paul (later sources hold that Peter went to Rome, was martyred, by crucifixion, under Nero, and buried on Vatican Hill, but evidence concerning his presence, activity, and death in Rome is very slight).