Christian persecution

On this day, Crispin and Crispinian, two martyrs of the early Christian church, were beheaded during the Diocletian persecution. The legend relates that the two brothers were Romans of distinguished descent who went as missionaries to Gaul and took up residence in Soissons where they preached publicly during the day and worked as shoemakers during the night. When the brothers were brought before Diocletian’s co-emperor Maximian, he failed to dissuade them from their faith and handed them over to Rictiovarus, the prefect of Gaul. Rictiovarus was a cruel persecutor of Christians and he subjected the two brothers to every form of torture imaginable. His attempts failed miserably and eventually Maximian decided to have them beheaded. Today the two brothers are recognised by the Chritian church as the patron saints of cobblers, curriers, tanners, and leather workers.

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On this day, the Great Fire of Rome broke out in the merchant shops around Rome’s chariot stadium, Circus Maximus. It took six days to bring the fire under control but before the damage could be assessed, the fire reignited and burned for another three days. In the aftermath of the fire, nearly three quarters of Rome had been destroyed. According to Tacitus and later Christian tradition, Emperor Nero blamed the devastation on the Christian community in the city, initiating the empire’s first persecution against the Christians. Other contemporary historians blamed Nero’s incompetence. However, historians nowadays generally agree that Rome was too densely populated and inadequately prepared to effectively deal with large scale disasters, including fires, and that such an event was inevitable.

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