The Apostolic Age · AD 4–70 · External witness
Emperor Nero
d. AD 68 (suicide) · Roman Emperor (54–68) · First imperial persecutor · Rome
External witness
Who Emperor Nero was
The Caesar to whom Paul appealed and under whom he died. After the great fire of 64, Tacitus records, Nero fastened the guilt “on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace” — killed “not so much for the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind,” crucified, burned as garden lamps, thrown to dogs. Peter and Paul died in this pogrom by the church’s unanimous early memory; 1 Clement’s “sudden and repeated calamities” looks back at it. Tertullian could later write: “Consult your histories — Nero was the first who assailed with the imperial sword this sect.” To be condemned by such a man, the church noted, was itself a kind of credential.
Also listed in non-christian witnesses and roman emperors.
Common questions
When did Emperor Nero die?
Emperor Nero is dated d. AD 68 (suicide) in the archive, which places Emperor Nero in the Apostolic Age (AD 4–70).
Which early sources mention Emperor Nero?
Emperor Nero is named in 4 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Tacitus, Tertullian, Lactantius and Eusebius of Caesarea. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Emperor Nero from?
The archive associates Emperor Nero with Rome.
Who were Emperor Nero’s contemporaries?
The archive links Emperor Nero to 9 other figures, including Simon Peter, Paul of Tarsus, Emperor Claudius and Gallio (Lucius Junius Gallio Annaeanus). 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.
Annals XV.44
c. AD 116Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination when daylight had expired.Tacitus · read ↗
Apology 5
c. AD 200Consult your histories; you will there find that Nero was the first who assailed with the imperial sword the Christian sect, making progress then especially at Rome.Tertullian · 5 · source text
On the Deaths of the Persecutors 2
c. AD 315Nero first persecuted the servants of God.Lactantius · On the Deaths of the Persecutors 2 · source text
Ecclesiastical History II.25 (first of the emperors to war on the faith)
c. AD 325Consult your histories; you will there find that Nero was the first that persecuted this doctrine.Eusebius of Caesarea · Ecclesiastical History II.25 · source text
Connected in the archive
People
- Simon Peter
- Paul of Tarsus
- Emperor Claudius
- Gallio (Lucius Junius Gallio Annaeanus)
- Seneca the Younger
- Ofonius Tigellinus
- Emperor Domitian
- Cornelius Tacitus
- Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus
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
Place
Places served
The one place the sources put Emperor Nero.
- 1Rome