The Persecution of the Christians by Nero

436 Words2 Pages
The Persecution of the Christians by the Emperor Nero On the night of July 18, 64 AD, fire broke out in the merchant area of the city of Rome. The flames quickly spread through the dry, wooden structures of the Imperial City. The fire spread for six days and seven nights and destroyed 70% of the city. Emperor Nero Emperor Nero A painting showing Nero playing his lyre while watching Rome burn down in flames. A painting showing Nero playing his lyre while watching Rome burn down in flames. It was rumoured that Nero, the emperor at the time, set the city on fire and that he played his lyre and sang as Rome burned down in flames. However, according to Tacticus, Nero was in Antium at the time of the fire and he actually rushed back to Rome with his gauds to organize a relief effort, which he paid for with his own money. After the fire, Nero opened his palaces to provide shelter for the homeless, and arranged for food supplies to be delivered in order to prevent starvation among the survivors. Even through doing all of this the rumors continued. Desperately looking for someone else to take the blame Nero found the Christians who were, at the time a quite obscure religious group. Nero decided to persecute the Christians. He arrested a few and tortured them until they abused others. Suddenly, Christians that could be found were rounded up and killed in many horrible ways, one being thrown at lions in coliseums for the entertainment of the public. Tacticus both hated the christians and felt pity for them because as tacitus was a roman he hated them because they only believed in one god. But in the annals he explained how christians were scapegoated and he felt as though they were innocent. Icthus (ΙΧΘΥΣ), used to refer to fish in Greek, and in English it is used to refer to Jesus Christ, Son of God and Saviour is a symbol consisting of two intersecting arcs, the

More about The Persecution of the Christians by Nero

Open Document