The Reigns of Roman Emperors 

began on July 19, yet he does not make any association between the comet and the fire. If the comet had been 

seen from early May to mid July of 

A.D.

 64, Tacitus and the Roman people in general would surely have seen 

the comet as a foreshadowing of the fire that destroyed Rome. Instead Tacitus notes that the second comet was 

seen near the end of the year and was interpreted as a bad omen for events occurring after the burning of 

Rome. 

    Furthermore, Tacitus states that Nero killed members of the aristocracy to atone for this comet sighting.

945

But the sighting of 

A.D.

 64 had no visible tail and may have been either a comet or a nova, and so it probably 

would not have been categorized as a comet by the ancient Romans and would not have elicited any response 

from Nero. 

    Nero was so concerned about each of these two comet sightings (

A.D.

 60 and 

A.D.

 64, usual dates; 

A.D.

 46 

and 49, revised dates), supposing it to be an omen of the end of his reign, that he massacred the Roman 

nobility in an attempt to divert this result. In the year 

A.D.

 65, a very conspicuous comet was seen, one much 

more noticeable than the comet/nova recorded by the ancient astronomers in 

A.D.

 64. The 

A.D.

 65 comet had 

a long tail and remained visible for almost 2 months (Aug. Sept.), according to the Chinese astronomers.

946

 Yet 

there is no mention of any reaction by Nero to this much more obvious comet sighting, nor is any such 

sighting even mentioned by any of the ancient Roman historians during Nero's reign. In my revised 

chronology, Nero's reign is placed years earlier and so the comet of 

A.D.

 65 did not occur during his reign. But 

there is no explanation in the usual chronology as to why Nero would decide to kill members of the Roman 

aristocracy in reaction to the comet of 

A.D.

 60 and the comet/nova of 

A.D.

 64 (which had no tail), yet show 

no reaction the very next year, 

A.D.

 65, to a much more conspicuous comet with a long, very visible tail. 

    Again, in 

A.D.

 66, a very conspicuous comet was recorded by Chinese astronomers Halley's Comet. This 

comet had a long tail and was seen over the course of about 2  months, from Jan. 31 to April 11, by Chinese 

astronomers.

947

  Yet there is no mention of a comet sighting alongside the events usually assigned to 

A.D.

 66 in 

Roman history. Nero was so concerned about the sightings of comets in 

A.D.

 60 and 64 (usual dates) that he 

massacred members of the nobility. Yet in 

A.D.

 65 and 66, two much more conspicuous comets were recorded 

by the ancient astronomers, but with no mention of any reaction  by Nero by the ancient Roman historians. 

This omission further supports my conclusion that the usual dates given to the reign of Nero are not correct. 

    My revised chronology places the burning of Rome and the reign of Nero as a whole, 15 years earlier than 

the usual date. There is no record of a comet in 

A.D.

 49, my revised year for the burning of Rome, in either the 

ancient Chinese or Korean comet sightings.

948

 However, the recorded observations of the Chinese astronomers 

do show a gap during this time period. There are no comet sightings in the extant Chinese records from 

A.D.

40 to 

A.D.

 53, inclusive, yet Korean astronomers recorded a comet sighting during the year 

A.D.

 46.

949

 Also, 

there are other apparent gaps in the recorded observations of the Chinese and Korean astronomers. Some 

periods of time, as long as 10 or more years, have no recorded sightings of comets by either Chinese or Korean 

astronomers, for example 31 

B.C.

 to 13 

B.C.

, inclusive, and 3 

B.C.

 to 

A.D.

 12, inclusive, contain no recorded 

observations of comets. During such gaps, records may have been lost or the observation and recording of 

comet sightings may have been interrupted. 

    Suetonius mentions a comet observation before he describes the burning of Rome.

950

 But he makes no 

association between the comet and that great fire, so the comet did not immediately precede the fire, and must 

have occurred many months, or even a few years, earlier. He also states that Nero consulted an astrologer and 

was advised to kill members of the aristocracy to atone for the comet. This description of the decision to atone 

for the comet indicates that this was the first time that Nero atoned for a comet by killing aristocrats. 

Therefore, this comet was the first comet of Nero's reign, occurring a few years before the burning of Rome, in 

the year 

A.D.

 46.  

    Tacitus describes a second comet a few years later, at the end of the year of the burning of Rome, (

A.D.

 64, 

usual; 

A.D.

 49, revised).

951

 He tells us that this comet was  atoned for by Nero, as usual, by aristocratic 

blood . 

952

 Nero again followed the advice he received at the time of the previous comet. 

    Pliny also describes a comet during Nero's reign. He does not give enough information to place the comet in 

a particular month or year. However, he does say that the comet was seen in the western sky. Pliny also states 

205