10. Nero didn’t fiddle while Rome burned
How the great fire of Rome started in July, 64 AD has never been determined, and likely never will be, but the image of the Emperor Nero playing a harp and “fiddling while Rome burned” is a decidedly false one. The Emperor wasn’t even in Rome when the Great Fire destroyed a large portion of the city. He was in Antium, about 30 miles from Rome, and after learning of the fire Nero returned to Rome to organize efforts to relieve those displaced, paying for the effort from his personal funds according to contemporaneous accounts. He also opened his various palaces to shelter those rendered homeless by the fire.