July 18 Birthday
On July 18, 64 CE, a fire broke out in the shops near the Circus Maximus in Rome. It burned for nine days, destroying ten of the city's fourteen districts. Nero was at his villa at Antium, fifty miles away. He organized relief efforts — opening his gardens to refugees and importing food. But rumors persisted that he had started the fire to clear land for his Golden House. To deflect suspicion, Nero blamed the Christians — a small, obscure sect. This was the first Roman persecution of Christians. Tacitus wrote: "An immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of incendiarism as of hatred of the human race." Nelson Mandela was born on this day in 1918 in the village of Mvezo, South Africa. His father was a chief. He was given the name Rolihlahla, which means "troublemaker." He was imprisoned for twenty-seven years. He was released on February 11, 1990. He was elected president in 1994. He served one term and retired. He died in 2013 at ninety-five. People born on July 18 fall under the zodiac sign of Cancer. The birthstone is Ruby and the birth flower is Larkspur. Historical events on July 18 include 64 CE: Great Fire of Rome begins (burns for nine days), 1940: FDR nominated for unprecedented third term at Democratic convention, 1968: Intel Corporation founded in Mountain View, California. Famous people born on July 18 include William Makepeace Thackeray (1811), Hume Cronyn (1911), Nelson Mandela (1918).