Nero persecution

When was Nero emperor?

54-68AD

Background to the persecution?

First Imperial attack on Christians in 64AD

Cause of persecution?

Great fire in rome devastated two quarters with great loss to property and life. suspicion fell on Nero, who it was believed wanted to get rid of an unsightly, crowded area of the city. He needed a scapegoat

Characteristics of the persecution?

Local persecution with a specific cause. cruel forms of torture and execution.

Course of the persecution?

• those who confessed to being christian were arrested

• immense multitude convicted indicating numerical strengths of the roman church at the time

Quote on intensity of the persecution?

“Death penalty administered in such a way as to entertain and amuse the public as well as to mock and humiliate the victims”

Examples of torture upon christians?

covered with hides of wild beasts, torn to death by dogs, crucified like their founder, and set on fire to illuminate the darkness of the night

Tactitus on Nero’s persecution?

Underlines nero’s ‘perverse delight in the cruel spectacle’ and reports that the manner of persecution evoked a sense of pity since it seemed to be ‘for the gratification of an individual’s cruelty rather than the good of the public’

Suetonius on Nero’s persecution

Seutonias made mention of the punishment inflicted on christians during nero’s reign, when he refers to ‘many abuses that he severely punished and repressed’

Eusebius on Nero’s persecution?

Eusebius reports the tradition that Peter and Paul perished in Nero’s reign. Their names with 977 other christians appear in later martyrologies

Tacitus on the cause of the persecution?

“Therefore to scotch the rumour, Nero substituted as culprits and punished with the utmost refinements of cruelty, a class of men loathed for their vices, whom the crowd styled Christians”

Impacts of Nero’s persecution?

• Christianity became a religio illicita - no longer legal

• Change in state attitude - hatred stored up against the church laster longer than the persecution of nero

• the fact that nero selected them as scapegoats indicated nero knew that he could safely exploit the general ill will with which these people were regarded by their pagan neighbours.

• nero’s actions served in a general way as a precedent for later rulers who saw fir to bring severe measures against the Christians 3