Martyrdom of Peter and Paul in Rome
According to early Christian tradition, the apostles Peter and Paul were put to death in Rome during Nero’s persecution — Peter by crucifixion, Paul by the sword; the Roman Church honoured them as its founders, and churches were later built over their graves.
- Date
- between 64 and 68exact date unknown: an interval is given
- Place
- Rometoday: Rome, Italy · Western and Central Europe
- Participants
- Saint Peter, Paul the Apostle, Nero
- Threads
- Europe in the Roman age (1st–5th c.)
- Also known as
- Crucifixion of Saint Peter; Мученичество апостолов Петра и Павла
No contemporary account of their deaths survives. The Acts of the Apostles ends with Paul preaching in Rome under house arrest around 60–62, and the letter of Clement of Rome to the Corinthians, written about the end of the 1st century, speaks of the martyrdom of Peter and Paul without saying where or when. Later writers fill in the picture: Dionysius of Corinth (c. 170) says that the two suffered in Italy “at the same time”; Tertullian compares Peter’s death to Christ’s and Paul’s to John’s; Origen writes that Peter asked to be crucified head downwards. Eusebius places both deaths in Nero’s persecution, which according to Tacitus followed the Great Fire of 64; Eusebius and Jerome date them to 67–68.
Around 200 the Roman churchman Gaius could point to the “trophies” of the apostles on the Vatican Hill and on the Ostian Way. Constantine the Great built churches over both sites — the forerunners of St Peter’s Basilica and of St Paul Outside the Walls. The feast of Peter and Paul on 29 June, first recorded in the Roman calendar of 354, marks either the day of their deaths or that of a translation of their relics.
Connections
Related events
- Missionary journeys of Paulc. 46 – between 57 and 58 · Balkans and Anatoliaarrested in Jerusalem, Paul appealed to Caesar and was taken to Rome, where by tradition he was executed
- Great Fire of Rome19 July 64 – c. 27 July 64 · Western and Central EuropeNero blamed the Christians for the fire; tradition places the apostles’ deaths in the persecution that followed
Same participants
- Nero crowns Tiridates I in Rome66 · Western and Central Europevia Nero
Same place
- Pliny the Elder’s Natural History77 · Western and Central Europe
- Inauguration of the Colosseum80 · Western and Central Europe
- Hadrian’s Pantheonbetween 114 and 118 – between 125 and 128 · Western and Central Europe
- Galen in Rome162 · Western and Central Europe
- Antonine Plague165–180 · Western and Central Europe
- Murder of Commodus and the Year of the Five Emperors31 December 192 – June 193 · Western and Central Europe
- Constitutio Antoniniana212 · Western and Central Europe
- Crisis of the Third CenturyMarch 235 – 20 November 284 · Western and Central Europe
- Aurelian Walls271–275 · Western and Central Europe
- Battle of the Milvian Bridge28 October 312 · Western and Central Europe
- Sack of Rome by the Visigoths24–27 August 410 · Western and Central Europe
- Vandal sack of Rome2–16 June 455 · Western and Central Europe
- Gothic War (535–554)535–554 · Western and Central Europe
- Coronation of Charlemagne25 December 800 · Western and Central Europe
- Imperial coronation of Otto I2 February 962 · Western and Central Europe
- Fourth Council of the Lateran11–30 November 1215 · Western and Central Europe
- “Summa Theologica” by Thomas Aquinas1265–1274 · Western and Central Europe
- Sack of Rome (1527)6 May 1527 · Western and Central Europe
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Eastern Europe
- Plautius Silvanus lifts the Scythian siege of Chersonesusbetween 61 and 66
- The Alans appear on the Don and in the North Caucasusbetween 50 and 72
- Zarubintsy culturec. 200 BC – c. 200
Balkans and Anatolia
- Dioscorides’ De materia medicabetween 50 and 70
Middle East and Egypt
- Reign of Vologases I51–78
- First Jewish–Roman War66 – between 73 and 74
- Roman–Parthian War of 58–6358–63
- Periplus of the Erythraean Sea40s … 70s
- Hero of Alexandria’s aeolipilebetween 50 and 100
Africa
- Nero’s expedition to the sources of the Nilebetween 61 and 62
- Adulis and Aksum in the Periplus40s … 70s
- Temple of Apedemak at Naqabetween 1 BC and AD 70
Central and Northern Asia
- The burials of Tillya Tepe (the Bactrian Gold)between 16 and 100
South Asia
- Kushans conquer Gandhara and Taxilabetween 50 and 70
- Gandharan art: the first images of the Buddhabetween 30 BC and AD 100
- Heyday of Indo-Roman trade: Muziris and Arikameduc. 30 BC – c. 250
East Asia
Southeast Asia and Oceania
- Founding of Funan: Kaundinya and Queen Liuyebetween 1 and 100
- Óc Eo, the port of Funanbetween 1 and 100 – between 601 and 700
- Sa Huỳnh culturec. 1000 BC – c. 200
North America
- Hopewell traditionbetween 200 and 100 BC – c. 500
- Late Basketmaker II erac. 50 – c. 500
Latin America
- Monte Albán II: the Zapotec state expandsc. 100 BC – c. 200
- Rise of Teotihuacanc. 1 – c. 250
- Nazca culture and the Nazca Linesbetween 200 and 100 BC – between 500 and 800
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Saint Peter
- Wikipedia (English): Paul the Apostle
- Wikipedia (English): Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire
- Wikipedia (English): Feast of Saints Peter and Paul
- Wikipedia (English): Dionysius of Corinth
- Wikipedia (Russian): Апостол Пётр
- Wikipedia (Russian): Апостол Павел
- Wikipedia (Russian): Нероновское гонение
- Wikipedia (Russian): День Петра и Павла
- Cullmann O. Peter: Disciple, Apostle, Martyr. — London: SCM Press, 1953.