Commentary

Abstract

The fire of Rome (vi) 42-43: Reconstructing the Capital: Nero's New Palace (vii) 44: Appeasing the Gods, and Christians as Scapegoats (viii) 45: Raising of Funds for Buildings 5. Bibliography 6. Visual aids 6.1 Map of Italy 6.2 Map of Rome 6.3 Family Tree of Nero and Junius Silanus 6.4 Inside the Domus Aurea * * *We would like to thank the team at Open Book Publishers, and in particular Alessandra Tosi, for accepting this volume for publication, speeding it through production -and choosing the perfect reader for the original manuscript: connoisseurs of John Henderson's peerless critical insight will again find much to enjoy in the following pages (acknowledged and unacknowledged), and we are tremendously grateful for his continuing patronage of, and input into, this series.

IN OMNIBUS REGIONIBUS? THE FOURTEEN REGIONS AND THE CITY OF ROME

“… 44 Owen and Gildenhard, 2013: 208–9, note that this passage may be in dialogue with an earlier reference at Ann . 14.12.2 to all fourteen regions of the city being struck by lightning.…”

“…15.40) is notably also presented by region: ‘Rome, of course, is divided into fourteen regions, of which four remained intact, three were laid level with the ground and in the other seven a few vestiges and relics of buildings survived, dilapidated and half-burned.’ 44 This may reflect the organization of his source material, and is certainly what we would expect if each cohort of vigiles were asked to file a report on the state of the region(s) under their care and the combined results read out in the Senate. We can assume that Tacitus exaggerated the scale of the damage in order to strengthen his negative portrayal of Nero, while it is regrettable that he does not specify which regions fell into each of his three categories (Owen and Gildenhard, 2013: 209–10). But his decision to present his information in this way certainly reaffirms that the regions were meaningful topographical units.…”