Rome Burns, AD 64
In July of 64 a fire broke out near the Circus Maximus in Rome and burned for about a week, destroying or damaging most of the city's fourteen districts. Rumor blamed the emperor Nero, who was said to have sung of the fall of Troy while the city burned and who soon began building a vast palace on the cleared ground. To turn suspicion away from himself, Nero blamed a group the people already disliked: the Christians.
Our main source is the Roman historian Tacitus, writing some fifty years later with no sympathy for the believers. He called their faith a deadly superstition, yet he records that its founder, Christ, had been executed by Pontius Pilate under Tiberius. Those who confessed were arrested first, and through them a great multitude was condemned, less for arson, Tacitus says, than for hatred of the human race.
Their deaths were made into entertainment. Some were sewn into animal skins and torn apart by dogs; others were crucified, or burned as torches to light Nero's gardens at night. Even hardened Romans began to pity them, Tacitus admits, because they seemed to die not for the public good but for one man's cruelty.
The New Testament does not record the deaths of Peter or Paul, though the Lord foretold Peter's (John 21:18–19) and Paul knew his own was near (2 Timothy 4:6–8). A letter from the church at Rome around 96, 1 Clement, already honors both as witnesses faithful to the end. Later writers add that they died at Rome under Nero, Paul by the sword and Peter on a cross. Many historians accept the Roman setting, but the details come from tradition. Even if Peter died at Rome, that lends no support to the claim that he was its first pope. The New Testament knows nothing of a bishop ruling the churches of Rome.
As far as the evidence shows, Nero's persecution was confined to Rome and was the act of a ruler, not a law. But Christians were now known to the authorities as a group distinct from the Jews, and the name itself had become dangerous. Nero took his own life in 68.
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For Deeper Study
- The Church HistoryAmazon Eusebius of CaesareaWritten by a bishop of the state church in the early fourth century. Books 2 to 7 preserve the accounts of Polycarp, the martyrs of Lyons and Vienne, and the Decian persecution.
- The Acts of the Christian MartyrsAmazon Herbert MusurilloGreek and Latin texts with English translations of the earliest martyr accounts, including Polycarp, the Scillitan martyrs, Perpetua, and Cyprian.
- The Apostolic FathersAmazon Michael W. Holmes (editor)Translations of Ignatius's seven letters, Polycarp's letter, and the Martyrdom of Polycarp.
- Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early ChurchAmazon W. H. C. FrendThe standard scholarly study of persecution from the Maccabees to Donatus.
- The Christians as the Romans Saw ThemAmazon Robert Louis WilkenHow Pliny, Celsus, and other pagan observers understood the believers, and why they feared them.
- Perpetua's PassionAmazon Joyce E. SalisburyA historian's study of Perpetua's life, world, and prison diary.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant martyrology. Its early chapters follow the traditional ten persecutions and repeat some legends; read it alongside the ancient sources.
- The Pilgrim ChurchAmazon E. H. BroadbentTraces churches that sought to follow the New Testament pattern through the centuries.
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