Who is…
Nero

Tradition places the Apostle Paul’s final imprisonment and martyrdom under Emperor Nero of Rome.

Nero is repeatedly alluded to in Scripture, however, he is never mentioned by name.

“…I appeal to Caesar.” —Acts 25:11 excerpt

…Caesar’s household. —Philippians 4:22

Nero became emperor of Rome when he was about 17 years of age (54 AD), and soon began to exhibit the character of a cruel tyrant and heathen debauchee.

Emperor Nero is infamous as the first Roman emperor to directly persecute Christians, primarily in connection with the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD. This event marks the earliest documented large-scale confrontation between the Roman state and Christians, though it was localized to Rome and tied more to scapegoating and public order than a broad anti-Christian religious policy. Early Christian writers such as Clement, Tertullian and Eusebius noted persecution in Rome under Nero. History reports that numerous Christians in Rome where martyred in horrible ways.

In July 64 AD, a terrible conflagration broke out in Rome, which raged for 6 days and 7 nights, and totally destroyed a great part of the city. The guilt of this fire was attached to Nero at the time, and the general verdict of history accuses him of the crime.

“Hence, to suppress the rumour,” says Tacitus (Annals, xv. 44), “he falsely charged with the guilt, and punished with the most exquisite tortures, the persons commonly called Christians, who are hated for their enormities. Christus, the founder of that name, was put to death as a criminal by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea, in the reign of Tiberius; but the pernicious superstition, repressed for a time, broke out again, not only throughout Judea, where the mischief originated, but through the city of Rome also, whither all things horrible and disgraceful flow, from all quarters, as to a common receptacle, and where they are encouraged. Accordingly, first three were seized, who confessed they were Christians.

Next, on their information, a vast multitude were convicted, not so much on the charge of burning the city as of hating the human race. And in their deaths they were also made the subjects of sport; for they were covered with the hides of wild beasts and worried to death by dogs, or nailed to crosses, or set fire to, and, when day declined, burned to serve for nocturnal lights.

Nero offered his own gardens for that spectacle, and exhibited a Circensian game, indiscriminately mingling with the common people in the habit of a charioteer, or else standing in his chariot; whence a feeling of compassion arose toward the sufferers, though guilty and deserving to be made examples of by capital punishment, because they seemed not to be cut off for the public good, but victims to the ferocity of one man.”

Another Roman historian, Suetonius (Nero, xvi.), says of him: “He likewise inflicted punishments on the Christians, a sort of people who hold a new and impious superstition”. —Forbes's Footsteps of St. Paul, p. 60)

Scapegoating: Christians were a convenient target—already unpopular for refusing traditional idolatrous sacrifices, emperor worship, and what were seen by some as Roman social/religious norms, which Romans saw as flagitia (shameful acts) and hatred of humanity. Christian belief in a coming judgment of the world may have fueled suspicions of arson or divine anger.

In summary, Nero scapegoated and brutally executed many Christians in Rome after the 64 fire to save his reputation, using existing prejudices. While the scale and exact motivations have nuances and scholarly debate, the event’s brutality and historical significance as the first major state action against Christians are well-established in the sources. It was more a product of Nero’s desperation and Roman mob dynamics than a coherent religious policy.

Nero’s name does not occur in Scripture, but only in a superscription in the King James Version in the Second Epistle to Timothy. This was altogether omitted in the Revised King James Version.

Other evil deeds of Nero

Nero was ruthless, cruel, a megalomaniac, claimed divinity, consumed with greed, artistic pretensions, extravagant, and morally depraved. He hosted and demanded wildly expensive banquets from friends, and spent lavishly on his personal pleasures. His living extravagantly at others’ expense is well-attested.

Accounts also describe him taking pleasure in others’ suffering and ruling through fear.

He murdered close family members who he perceived as threats to his power or stood in the way of his desires.

Britannicus, his younger stepbrother and son of Emperor Claudius, was reportedly poisoned at a banquet in 55 AD.

He murdered his mother Agrippina the Younger, who had maneuvered him onto the throne. In 59 AD, Nero attempted multiple methods to kill her—poison (she had built up immunity), a collapsing ceiling, and a specially designed self-sinking boat. When she survived the shipwreck and swam ashore, he had her stabbed to death at her villa. Tacitus provides a dramatic, detailed account; the act was partly motivated by her interference and his desire to marry Poppaea Sabina. Nero reportedly viewed her corpse and made callous remarks.

He killed Claudia Octavia, his first wife and stepsister, daughter of Claudius. This happened after divorcing her in 62 AD on trumped-up adultery charges so he could marry Poppaea Sabina. She was banished to Pandateria and later executed—her veins were slit, and she was suffocated in a steam bath. Her severed head was reportedly sent to Nero.

Nero also murdered his 2nd wife, Poppaea Sabina, whom he had obsessed over. Allegedly, he kicked her to death in 65 AD while she was pregnant, after she scolded him for coming home late from chariot races. Some sources say he jumped on her (possibly accidentally).

He also ordered the deaths or forced suicides of other relatives and in-laws when they became inconvenient.

Dozens of senators, equestrians, and others were executed or forced to commit suicide, including the philosopher Seneca (Nero’s former tutor), and the poet Lucan. This created an atmosphere of terror among the elite.

He also ordered deaths for relatively minor or fabricated reasons, contributing to his reputation for arbitrary cruelty.

• Rumors of incest with his mother Agrippina

• Prostituting himself and engaging in various other depraved acts

• Castrating the boy Sporus and “marrying” him as a wife (complete with dowry and veil), treating him as such publicly

• Dressing in animal skins and assaulting bound men and women in staged “games”

Nero died by suicide in 68 AD amid revolts.