By Bart D. Ehrman, The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
The Great Fire of Rome in 64 CE was one of the major catastrophes to hit the city of Rome in the early empire. There was a rumor that the fire may have been ordered by Emperor Nero himself. Nero realized that he had to shift the blame off himself. So, he chose someone else to serve as a scapegoat, and he landed on the idea of the Christians.
Arrest and Execution of Christians
One can see why the Christians might be susceptible of the charge in light of their insistence that everyone in the world but they were wicked and destined for the pits of hell. Thus, who else was more likely to destroy the city than those who most hated it!
Nero had Christians from around the city arrested and subjected to horrifying forms of execution. Some were publicly crucified, some were rolled in pitch and set on fire as living torches to light Nero’s imperial gardens, and others were wrapped in animal skins and had wild dogs loose on them to be ripped to shreds. By targeting, blaming, and then publicly punishing outsiders, the mighty ruler shifted the conversation away from himself, giving his subjects an opponent they could hate, while absolving himself of all blame, all in one fell swoop.
He now was the hero rather than the criminal, simply by finding a scapegoat. This is the first record we have of any emperor having any direct involvement with Christians.
Not Persecuted for Being Christian
Several important points need to be made about this persecution. First, nothing suggests that Nero declared Christians illegal. On the contrary, imperial involvement shows clearly there were no laws against Christians per se, even decades later. So, two, it’s important to note that Christians were not persecuted by Nero for being Christians. They were executed for committing arson. The charge may have been false, but that was the charge. Being a Christian was not a crime, setting fire to Rome was. Third, like all the other persecutions of the first two centuries of the church, this one was localized. It happened only in the city of Rome; there is no indication that Christians anywhere else suffered any consequences of any kind.
Most importantly, it appears that none of Nero’s successors for the next 50 years engaged in persecutions against the Christians. That should come as no surprise since Christians were such a minuscule and insignificant part of the population.
This article comes directly from content in the video series The Triumph of Christianity. Watch it now, on Wondrium.
Persecution of Christians in 112 CE
The next incident of opposition to Christians was for them being Christian, and it sets the stage and the tone for virtually all the persecutions that were to follow down to the time of Constantine.
The first recorded persecution against Christians for being Christian occurred in 112 CE, under the Roman emperor Trajan. Trajan himself did not initiate this persecution, and it did not happen throughout the empire. It was localized to the province of Bithynia-Pontus in northwest Asia Minor, modern Turkey. It was undertaken at the initiative of the Roman governor of that province, Pliny the Younger.
Pliny rose through the ranks of the Roman imperial administration and was handed the position of governor of an important province.
Pliny the Younger’s Letter to Emperor Trajan
Pliny the Younger’s life and administrative career is exceptionally well documented because we have 10 volumes of personal letters that he sent and received.
Of greatest interest to us is his personal correspondence with the Emperor Trajan himself. In letter 96 of Volume 10, Pliny writes to the emperor about a problem he had to deal with involving a local group of Christians. He’s not certain that he’s handled them according to established protocols, and he writes to the emperor for advice. The fact that he has to ask shows that he knows of no actual laws against Christians, and Trajan’s reply in letter 97 shows that he does not know of any either.
At the same time, Pliny does know that there have been judicial proceedings against Christians, even though he has not attended any. And so, he wants to make sure that his way of handling them is satisfactory. It may seem strange to us today that there could be judicial proceedings against people not known to have violated any laws, but that’s because we ourselves have an extensive criminal code, and prosecutions are always based on it. The Roman world did have an extensive civil law, governing everything from property, exchange of goods, marriage, inheritance, and on and on, but the criminal law was quite minimal, especially in the provinces.
Free Reign to Governors
Rome had conquered many lands and made them into provinces. They were ruled in one of two ways: either by local aristocrats that the Romans would appoint as client kings or through appointed Roman aristocrats, who were assigned to rule the province as governors.
With respect to Israel itself, for example, Jesus was born under the rule of a local client king Herod. But when he was executed, it was under a Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. Both kinds of rulers had two major obligations. They were to raise revenue for Rome, and they were to keep the peace. Anything that could be done to promote those ends was acceptable. They were given virtual free reign to do whatever was necessary, including the power of life and death.
In this political system, Pontius Pilate was entirely within his rights when he simply ordered Jesus crucified because he thought he was or could be a troublemaker. And Pliny was in his right to order the Christians executed.
Common Questions about Why the Early Christians Were Persecution of Christians
Nero had Christians from around the city arrested and subjected to horrifying forms of execution. Some were publicly crucified, some were rolled in pitch and set on fire as living torches to light Nero’s imperial gardens, and others were wrapped in animal skins and had wild dogs loose on them to be ripped to shreds.
The first recorded persecution against Christians for being Christian occurred in 112 CE, under the Roman emperor Trajan.
Rome had conquered many lands and made them into provinces. They were ruled in one of two ways: either by local aristocrats that the Romans would appoint as client kings or through appointed Roman aristocrats, who were assigned to rule the province as governors.
