Let's Fire Up Those Neurons!

I have unapproved all posts unrelated to the current puzzle. I will reinstate them after editing. Let's talk over PM.

 

That's odd. Is your mailbox full? I've had problems sending PMs when my own mailbox was at capacity.

 

Answer to #6077

Marcus Licinius Crassus and his 500 strong army of fire-fighting slaves

Marcus Crassus was a Roman general well-known for forming the First Triumvirate with Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great. Together their campaigns were responsible for the formation of the Roman empire. Crassus was a wealthy man and is believed to have been one of the richest men ever to have lived. By some estimates, his fortune would be valued at USD ~2 trillion today!

Crassus created one the first know fire brigades. His strategy for amassing wealth has been called 'fire and rapine'. From wiki -- "When buildings were burning, Crassus and his purposely-trained crew would show up, and Crassus would offer to purchase the presumably doomed property and perhaps neighboring endangered properties from their owners for speculatively low sums; if the purchase offer was accepted, Crassus would then use his army of some 500 slaves which he purchased due to their knowledge of architecture and building to put the fire out, sometimes before too much damage had been done: otherwise Crassus would use his crews to rebuild. If his purchase offers were not accepted, then Crassus would not engage in firefighting."

Image #1 A fire bucket. One of the tools used by the Crassus' firefighters.

Image #2 Agni. Hindu god of fire.

Image #3 USD 500 to refer to the 500 man slave army used by Crassus to fight fires.

Image #4 Neiman Marcus as a hint to Crassus' first name.

Image #5 The world's richest people list.

Image #6 Nero fiddling while Rome burned. A reference to the great fires that were commonplace in Rome.