Note 94 — PART I FROM THE DATE OF THE GREAT FIRE OF ROME IN THE REIGN OF NERO TO THE DEATH OF MARCUS ANTONINUS A.D. 64–A.D. 180

This early and usually accepted date, circa 65–7, seems the more probably correct. It is the traditional date, and generally fits in with the life and work of S. Peter as given in the ancient authorities. Prof. Ramsay, however, The Church in the Empire, puts it some fourteen or fifteen years later, and concludes that the Apostle’s martyrdom took place after A.D. 80. If, however, this later date be adopted, the references to the continual persecution would be even more striking than if the earlier and traditional date be accepted.