In 64 A.D., the city of Rome was devastated by a terrible fire that destroyed vast swathes of the great city. The EMPEROR NERO was reputed to have "fiddled while Rome burned" (although, of course, fiddles had not been invented yet), and I have in fact depicted him composing an ode to the burning city while his advisors, SENECA (who's influence over Nero had waned considerably by this time - he would actually be forced to commit suicide a year later), and OFONIUS TIGELLINUS, Nero's corrupt and brutal commander of his personal guard, look on in mounting frustration at Nero's failure to act. Nero's second wife, the ambitious POPPAEA SABINA, also attempts to reason with Nero. Nero did eventually respond by providing a surprising amount of comfort and aid to the refugees, and then decided to take advantage of the disaster to begin a grand rebuilding of Rome that he had dreamed of for some time (leading some to speculate that he had, in fact, ordered the fires to be started for this very purpose). He would come to blame the early Christians for it, however, and persecuted a great many of them, using them as living torches to light the streets and as entertainment in the arena (NOT the Colosseum, as is sometimes written, as it hadn't been built yet) by having them fed to wild animals.