were being made to use in trade with pedlars and merchants bringing goods
north from the‘civilised’province into the wild tribal lands of the Picts.
However, as they had a high value, it is thought unlikely that they would have
been accepted without suspicion. Another explanation that has been offered is
that these coins were to be used as replicas for religious offerings, much
cheaper than using the real thing!^15
The burning of Rome
One of the most famous alleged crimes in ancient Rome was arson –
specifically, Nero’s burning of the city. Did he do it or not? The fire destroyed
Nero’s own palace, and there are accounts of him hurrying back to Rome to
help with the fire fighting personally. Accidental fires were very common, and
the poorly built highrise slum tenements were particularly susceptible to fire,
lit as they were by oil lamps, and with only crude brick stoves and open
braziers for cooking and heating. On the other hand, the fire also destroyed the
houses of members of Rome’s aristocracy, who were not wholehearted in their
support of the emperor. Our account of the fire comes from the writings of
Tacitus, who was convinced Nero was to blame. He maintained that only arson
would explain how the fire spread to burn down the stone houses of the
aristocrats as well as the hovels of the poor in different districts.
Modern fire research tends to disagree with him, and experiments have
shown that the rich houses could have burned as readily as the poor ones.
Tacitus also says that the south easterly wind could not explain how the fire
seemed to move in contrary directions, but we now know that a large fire
produces its own winds that can fan flames over a wide area despite the
prevailing breeze. Recent excavations in the area of the Forum have found
melted nails from the roofs of burned buildings, a charred gate and collapsed
masonry, along with many coins possibly dropped by victims who were
unable to escape the fastmoving firestorm.
Another archaeologist however, remains convinced of Nero’s guilt for a
slightly different reason. The senate had opposed Nero’s desire to build a
grand new palace–so to get round their block, he burned down that area of
the Forum where they had their houses and offices. It effectively curtailed the
power of the aristocracy, leaving them homeless and allowing Nero to seize
power more directly. The only area to survive was the open centre, which later
became a sort of shopping mall, taking the place of what had been the
aristocratic centre of Rome.
A third explanation is that itwasarson but committed by the Christians,
who had been subjected to tyrannical persecution by Nero. A German scholar
CLASSICAL CRIMES