Fire is often used as a symbol of God's judgment in the Bible. And for good reason. The ancient world understood fire as a terrible destructive force. One of the greatest fires in the ancient world occurred in Rome in A.D. 64. The Roman historian Tacitus, who left us the best account of the fire, says it began at the east end of the Circus Maximus: "Amid the shops containing inflammable wares, the conflagration both broke out and instantly became so fierce and so rapid from the wind that it seized in its grasp the entire length of the Circus."

Soon the whole broad valley between the Palatine and Aventine Hills was a sea of fire, checked only by the Tiber River. Then the flames licked up the hillsides, climbing the buildings and temples that crowned them, far outstripping efforts of fire brigades to stop them.

Tacitus noted, "The wailings of terror-stricken women, the feebleness of age, the helpless inexperience of childhood, the crowds who sought to save themselves or others, dragging out the infirm or waiting for them, and by their hurry in the one case, by their delay in the other, aggravating the confusion." Many people were overrun by the flames; some so despaired of loss of home and loved ones, they simply let the fire sweep over them even though they had a way of escape.

After five or six days, the fire sputtered out when it came to the foot of the Esquiline hill, where the buildings had been razed so that the fire met nothing but open land and sky. But before the city could relax, the fire returned for another three days, now consuming the more spacious districts of the city, though this time with less loss of life.

Ten of Rome's 14 districts were destroyed: three were leveled to the ground; seven, says Tacitus, "were left only a few shattered, half-burnt relics of houses." Historian R. F. Newbold estimates that at least 10,000 to 12,000 tenement buildings were destroyed, plus several hundred private homes, leaving more than 200,000 people homeless.

"It would not be easy to enter into a computation of the private mansions, the blocks of tenements, and of the temples which were lost," wrote Tacitus. He specifically mentions the altar and shrine to Hercules, the Temple of Jupiter, and "various beauties of Greek art … [and] the ancient and genuine historical monuments of men of genius." He concluded poignantly, "Old men will remember many things which could not be replaced."