It’s true that the fiddle did not yet exist in 64 AD, when the city of Rome caught on fire, but that isn’t enough on its own to dispel the myth. If Nero had been playing an instrument, it would have been another string instrument, like a lyre, which was popular at the time.
The real issue is this: In order to have watched over the city and played the lyre, or the cithara, or even a…
