Peter

There is substantial early Christian testimony that Peter died as a martyr and that his death occurred at Rome. By around AD 200 Christian writers explicitly identify crucifixion as the manner of his death. The exact year and circumstances cannot be recovered with certainty. The ancient tradition that Peter was crucified upside down is well established in later second- and third-century Christian sources, but that detail is not found in the earliest account of his death.

The New Testament does not narrate Peter's death. It does, however, contain an important prediction concerning it. In John 21:18–19, Jesus tells Peter that when he is old another will stretch out his hands and lead him where he does not wish to go. John then explains that Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.

This passage indicates that Peter was expected to die in circumstances connected with his faithful witness to Christ. The text itself does not state where Peter died or explicitly say that he was crucified.

The earliest surviving post-New Testament testimony is found in 1 Clement, commonly dated near the end of the first century. Clement places Peter among examples from the recent Christian generation who suffered because of jealousy and persecution. He says that Peter endured many hardships and, after bearing his testimony, departed to his appointed place of glory.

Clement does not specify Rome, Nero, crucifixion, or an inverted cross. His testimony is nevertheless important because it appears relatively close to Peter's lifetime and treats Peter's suffering and death as something already remembered by the Christian community.

During the second and early third centuries the surviving evidence becomes more specific. Dionysius of Corinth, whose testimony is preserved by Eusebius, associates Peter and Paul with ministry in Italy and says that they suffered martyrdom at the same time. Irenaeus likewise associates both apostles with the church at Rome.

Around AD 200, the Roman Christian writer Caius refers to memorials or "trophies" of Peter and Paul at the Vatican and on the Ostian Way. Tertullian, writing around the same period, says that at Rome Peter endured a passion like that of his Lord. Elsewhere he explicitly connects Peter with being fastened to a cross.

Taken together, these sources show that by about AD 200 the traditions of Peter's ministry at Rome, his martyrdom there, and his death by crucifixion were well established in Christian memory.

The familiar tradition that Peter was crucified upside down appears in later testimony than the earliest evidence for his martyrdom. The apocryphal Acts of Peter depicts Peter requesting that he be crucified head downward. Origen, whose statement is preserved by Eusebius, likewise reports that Peter came to Rome and was crucified head downward at his own request.

Still later Christian retellings supplied additional explanations and details. One widely repeated explanation is that Peter considered himself unworthy to die in precisely the same manner as Jesus. Such details belong to the developing tradition and should be distinguished from the earlier testimony that Peter suffered martyrdom and from the evidence for crucifixion itself.

The principal tradition places Peter's martyrdom at Rome by crucifixion. The most significant variation concerns the circumstances of the crucifixion. The earliest testimony to Peter's death does not mention an inverted cross. The upside-down crucifixion appears in later ancient Christian sources. Later accounts also differ in the explanation given for Peter's request and add narrative details not present in the earliest testimony.

Rome is strongly associated with Peter in early Christian tradition. Irenaeus associates Peter and Paul with the Roman church, Dionysius of Corinth associates their ministry and martyrdom with Italy, and Caius of Rome points to a Petrine memorial at the Vatican around AD 200. Later tradition places Peter's execution in the area of Nero's circus on the Vatican.

Peter's martyrdom is supported by an unusually early and developing body of Christian testimony. John's Gospel anticipates his death. 1 Clement, writing near the end of the first century, remembers Peter's sufferings and final witness. Second-century testimony connects Peter with Rome, while writers around AD 200 explicitly associate his death with crucifixion.

The precise year cannot be established from the surviving sources. Peter's death is traditionally associated with the persecution of Christians under Nero. The Roman historian Tacitus independently confirms that Nero subjected Christians at Rome to brutal executions after the great fire of AD 64, including crucifixion, although Tacitus does not name Peter among the victims.

The claim that Peter was crucified upside down has early Christian attestation, but it appears later than the basic tradition of his martyrdom and should therefore be presented as a specific ancient tradition rather than as a detail supplied by the earliest witnesses.

John 21:18–19; 1 Clement 5; Dionysius of Corinth, preserved in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 2.25; Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.3; Caius of Rome, preserved in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 2.25; Tertullian, Prescription Against Heretics 36; Tertullian, Scorpiace 15; Acts of Peter; Origen, preserved in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 3.1; Tacitus, Annals 15.44.