Roman Candles Get Their Name From A Particularly Cruel Emperor

There might not be a single type of firework more treasured by a mischievous child than the Roman candle. It checks every box when it comes to details that make it more dangerous and fun than your standard sparkler tube. It fires honest-to-god projectiles, and even though you technically shouldn’t hold it and wave it willy-nilly from acquired target to acquired target, that’s what everybody does anyway. 

Even the sternest mother or father, once the candle’s ammunition is spent and no one’s received a permanent scar, will have to admit that it’s pretty awesome.

So where does the name come from? 

Given everything we already know, it feels like it should come from a place of extreme merriment — maybe an old Roman recipe for celebrations, or a cool ancient weapon. Something wielded by some ancient figure from the pantheon in a tale of myth and legend. At the very least, I would have assumed that it wasn’t based on a horrific form of murder carried out by one of history’s cruelest emperors.

Unfortunately, that seems to be exactly the case. Before anybody was using it to refer to a public park barbecue health hazard, a Roman candle referred to someone, usually a Christian, who was acting as a human candle. Yes, that’s just about as straightforward as you’d think, because sometimes simplicity can be horrifying too! 

Reportedly a favorite method of Emperor Nero, whoever had made the regrettable mistake of pissing him off enough to get the Roman candle treatment would be tied to a stake and coated in pitch and flammable materials. Then, as candles are, they’d be lit, though from the bottom up, just to maximize suffering.

Happy Fourth of July!