Did Crassus own a fire brigade?

Let's bust another myth, shall we?

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There is a widespread belief that Marcus Crassus had his own fire brigade.

This is what wikipedia has to say about it:

"The first ever Roman fire brigade was created by Crassus. Fires were almost a daily occurrence in Rome, and Crassus took advantage of the fact that Rome had no fire department, by creating his own brigade—500 men strong—which rushed to burning buildings at the first cry of alarm. Upon arriving at the scene, however, the firefighters did nothing while Crassus offered to buy the burning building from the distressed property owner, at a miserable price. If the owner agreed to sell the property, his men would put out the fire; if the owner refused, then they would simply let the structure burn to the ground. After buying many properties this way, he rebuilt them, and often leased the properties to their original owners or new tenants."

Damn. That's brutal.

And this is Adrian Goldsworthy, for example:

"Most visibly he dealt in property, maintaining hundreds of skilled slaves to develop buildings and increase their value. They included a force trained as a fire brigade, something that did not at this time otherwise exist at Rome. Large parts of the city consisted of narrow streets separating tall, densely packed and often cheaply constructed insulae thrown up by landlords keen to profit as much as possible from rents. Fires started easily and spread rapidly, especially in the heat of the Italian summer. Crassus was able to buy up great swathes of Rome at a knock-down price by waiting for a conflagration to begin and then purchasing properties in the path of the fire. Once the deal was done, he called in his fire brigade to fight the flames, usually by demolishing buildings to create a fire-brake."

So even a well-respected historian like Goldsworthy falls victim to these exaggerations.

The only source for this story is Plutarch, and this is what he says:

"...observing how natural and familiar at Rome were such fatalities as the conflagration and collapse of buildings, owing to their being too massive and close together, he proceeded to buy slaves who were architects and builders. Then, when he had over five hundred of these, he would buy houses that were afire, and houses which adjoined those that were afire, and these their owners would let go at a trifling price owing to their fear and uncertainty. In this way the largest part of Rome came into his possession."

Nowhere does Plutarch say that Crassus owned the first ever fire brigade!

I'm sure that Crassus wouldn't have arrived on the scene alone. Obviously, there would be a number of slaves with him, and they would put out the fire once the deal was made. But that does not make them a specialized fire brigade. To say that they were is an exaggeration. On top of that, wikipedia's version is embellished with all sorts of juicy details that are nowhere to be found in Plutarch.

"It is often assumed that Crassus had organized fire brigades to put out the fires once he had purchased burning or threatened buildings from their owners. None of the ancient sources gives information to this effect, but it does seem reasonable that Crassus would have taken steps to put out or halt the spread of the fires once he had made a purchase. The less rebuilding necessary, the greater his margin of profit." – Allen Ward

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Most of these buildings were most likely insulae. Since they were now Crassus' property and they were rebuilt by well-trained architects, it's probably safe to assume that they were in better condition than ever before. Crassus took great care of his property to ensure maximum profit.

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