As the corpse is placed in a casket or container (preferably prepared from a combustible material), the container burns down. Next, the heat dries the body, burns the skin and hair, contracts and chars the muscles, vaporizes the soft tissues, and calcifies the bones so that they eventually crumble.
One such story is that of Nero merrily playing the fiddle while Rome burned in the Great Fire of the first century. It was during the night of the 18 th July 64 AD, when a fire broke out in the merchant area of the city.
Did Nero really play the fiddle while Rome burned? A bust of Emperor Nero, circa 65 A.D. The story that Nero played the fiddle while Rome burned conjures up images of the emperor, dramatically backlit by the flames from the burning city, alone, calmly playing his fiddle while his people cried out in suffering. To the contrary, Nero actually did take immediate and expansive measures to provide relief for his citizens.