Vespasian recovery, the "40,000 million senterces"

[Divi Filius]

Okay, based on my grasp of the events, the recovery would involve:

 

-Reorganization of the legions and the Guard.

-Restoration of the Rhine(specifically, destruction caused by Civilis but also Vitellian destruction)

-Restoration of Rome(not including the 64 fire, going into that in a bit)

-Restoration of the Gallic provinces.

-Restoration of northern Italy( Specifically, Cremona. Though I doubt it was heavy)

-Restoration of the Danube

 

Other than that, I don't think there was much damage elsewhere in the empire. The Parthians were quiet in the east and the Judean campaign had been put on halt until the events were fully resolved, but I doubt this would count much into the recovery.

 

Now my question is: Does anyone know the extent which Rome recovered from the Great Fire under Nero, or what the general consensus of the scholars is? Considering the large neglect in the last years would mean that there wasn't much done ( outside of Nero's villa ofcourse). Im interested in finding how much, if any, of this receipt was to repair the city's devastation from the fire. That is if infact there wasn't a full one under Nero's time.

Edited November 14, 2006 by Divi Filius

[caldrail]

The great fire of Rome devastated 5/7 of the city. Many people were then housed in shanties and tents, or sought shelter in tombs, or even moved away temporarily if they could. Nero as we know took advantage of this ruin and designed a new rome full of wide boulevards and impressive architecture such as his own golden house, which he built as soon as possible (of course!). Private enterprise loves an opportunity and once the landlords had sold off the land to offset their losses then new buildings would have been raised. Now that means that there is work for builders who must have been in short supply, so the rebuilding of rome must have taken some time. To some extent temporary workers from surrounding areas would have flooded in to profit from the labour but I suspect they would have charged large sums for those desperate to rebuild. The majority of folk would have to wait patiently for new lodgings to be built. Sooner or later things returned to normality despite nero's vision of 'Neropolis'. By the time the colosseum is built I see Rome back on its feet, so the restoration was probably complete within twenty years - lets face it - would you want to live in a shanty or a tent for that length of time? Back then, that was a lifetime.

[Divi Filius]

By the time the colosseum is built I see Rome back on its feet, so the restoration was probably complete within twenty years - lets face it - would you want to live in a shanty or a tent for that length of time? Back then, that was a lifetime.

 

True. However my time-frame focus is up to 71-2AD when Vespasian returned to Rome and finished making the damage assessment.

 

According to Suetonius, Life of Vespasian (VIII,xvi)

 

Some say that he was naturally covetous and was taunted with it by an old herdsman of his, who on being forced to pay for the freedom for which he earnestly begged Vespasian when he became emperor, cried: "The fox changes his fur, but not his nature." Others on the contrary believe that he was driven by necessity to raise money by spoliation and robbery because of the desperate state of the treasury and the privy purse; to which he bore witness at the very beginning of his reign by declaring that forty thousand millions were needed to set the State upright. This latter view seems the more probable, since he made the best use of his gains, ill-gotten though they were.

 

Gwyn Morgan, in his book 69AD Year of the Four Emperors, states that there could be a lot of truth into this.

 

So I wanted to see if it was possible to assess just how much the empirial restoration, after the events of 69AD, would have cost. I brought up the 64AD fire since I wanted to see if amount of this sum would have went towards this if it had not been completed by the end of Nero's reign.

 

Tacitus doesn't discuss the city's condition* during these events so maybe the reconstruction must have been finished by then?

It would seem plausible considering the hap hazard way much of the buildings were constructed and Suetonius does give us a hint that a plan was actually made during Nero's reign;

 

He devised a new form for the buildings of the city and in front of the houses and apartments he erected porches, from the flat roofs of which fires could be fought;and these he put up at his own cost. He had also planned to extend the walls as far as Ostia and to bring the sea from there to Rome by a canal.

--Life of Nero(VI, xvi)

 

*However he does mention that the peace in the empire let the buildings adject to the capitol grow up to it's height....(Histories;III. lxxi) This account is similar to the Cremona one.

Edited November 15, 2006 by Divi Filius

[Divi Filius]

Okay... it seems that I completely missed a part of Suetonius bio (VIII,viii)

 

As the city was unsightly from former fires and fallen buildings, he allowed anyone to take possession of vacant sites and build upon them, in case the owners failed to do so. He began the restoration of the Capitol in person, was the first to lend a hand in clearing away the debris, and carried some of it off on his own head. He undertook to restore the three thousand bronze tablets which were destroyed with the temple, making a thorough search for copies: priceless and most ancient records of the empire, containing the decrees of the senate and the acts of the commons almost from the foundation of the city, regarding alliances, treaties, and special privileges granted to individuals.

 

The paragraph focuses mainly on the restoration of the Temple of Jupiter Best and Greatest - burned to the ground in December 18, 69, by the Flavians. But outside damage of the fire that occured on that day must have been minimal; though Tacitus does say that the fire spread from the nearby houses to the temple; and that there must have also been damage done during the battle for the city the next day, I think this particular piece is discussing the past fire.

Edited November 15, 2006 by Divi Filius