4. Nero’s fiddle
In 64AD a large fire that lasted for 5 days severely damaged Rome. Some Roman historians, like Suetonius and Cassius Dio, accused Emperor Nero of starting the fire and singing in costume as the city burned. However, it has been since proven that it is a rumor started by his political opponents. Nero was in Antium when the fire started, some 30 miles south of Rome. As soon as he arrived, he organized a large-scale relief effort, opening his palace to house people who lost their homes and even personally going through rubble in search of survivors. However, the rumor stuck and he needed someone else to blame, so he choose Christians, a popular scapegoat at the time. Christians get to meet the lions in the Coliseum, but the myth of Nero playing a fiddle persisted. By the way, the fiddle was invented some 1,000 years later, so it should be a lyre.
