The Apostolic Fathers · AD 70–130 · External witness
Emperor Domitian
d. AD 96 (assassinated) · Roman Emperor (81–96) · Persecutor · Rome
External witness
Who Emperor Domitian was
“Dominus et deus noster,” he required his officials to write — lord and god. The church’s tradition, from Melito and Hegesippus through Eusebius, names him its second persecutor: banisher of John to Patmos, executioner of his own cousin Flavius Clemens and exiler of Domitilla “for atheism” (Dio’s word for the charge), interrogator of Jude’s grandsons — whom he dismissed as harmless farmers. Revelation’s Babylon is, on the traditional reading, his Rome. Stabbed in his own palace in 96; the senate damned his memory, and Nerva’s amnesty released the exiles — John, by the tradition, coming home to Ephesus.
Also listed in non-christian witnesses and roman emperors.
Common questions
When did Emperor Domitian die?
Emperor Domitian is dated d. AD 96 (assassinated) in the archive, which places Emperor Domitian in the Apostolic Fathers (AD 70–130).
Which early sources mention Emperor Domitian?
Emperor Domitian is named in 4 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Melito of Sardis, Hegesippus, Tertullian of Carthage and Dio Cassius. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Emperor Domitian from?
The archive associates Emperor Domitian with Rome.
Who were Emperor Domitian’s contemporaries?
The archive links Emperor Domitian to 8 other figures, including John the Apostle, The Grandsons of Jude, Emperor Nero and Antipas of Pergamum. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.
Primary-source mentions (4)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Melito, to Marcus Aurelius (via Eusebius IV.26)
c. AD 170Nero and Domitian, alone of all the emperors, persuaded by certain slanderers, wished to bring our doctrine into ill repute.Melito of Sardis · source text
Hegesippus, via Eusebius III.20
c. AD 180Domitian, despising them as of no account, let them go, and by a decree put a stop to the persecution against the church.Hegesippus · III.20 · source text
Apology 5 (a persecutor who repented of it)
c. AD 197Domitian, too, a man of Nero's type in cruelty, tried his hand at persecution; but as he had something of the human in him, he soon put an end to what he had begun.Tertullian of Carthage · Apology 5 · source text
Dio Cassius, Roman History 67.14 (the executions of 95)
c. AD 229Connected in the archive
People
- John the Apostle
- The Grandsons of Jude
- Emperor Nero
- Antipas of Pergamum
- Emperor Vespasian
- Flavia Domitilla
- Emperor Nerva
- Apollonius of Tyana
Named alongside Emperor Domitian in the sources
This figure is placed with Emperor Domitian by the record — in a council roll, a martyr-act, a letter or a history — without Emperor Domitian naming them in return.
Events in this lifetime
- AD 30 · Crucifixion, Resurrection and Pentecost, AD 30–33
- AD 44 · Persecution under Herod Agrippa I, AD 44
- AD 49 · The Council of Jerusalem, AD 49
- AD 57 · Paul writes Romans, AD 57
- AD 62 · James the Just stoned, AD 62
- AD 64 · The Great Fire and Nero’s persecution, AD 64
- AD 70 · The fall of Jerusalem, AD 70
- AD 95 · Domitian’s reprisals, AD 95
- AD 96 · Rome writes to Corinth: 1 Clement, AD 96
Place
Places served
The one place the sources put Emperor Domitian.
- 1Rome