The Roman Emperor Nero reportedly played his lyre while he watched the fire burn from a safe distance at his villa on the Quirinal Hill. Nero himself was suspected of causing the fire in order to clear room for his planned palace. In order to defer blame for the incident, Nero accused the Christian sect for starting the fire and embarked on one of the earliest persecutions of Christians in Roman history.
Rome was rebuilt after the fire and Nero played a large role in the reconstruction; it was now that the building of his famous Domus Aurea palace began.