Christians are explicitly mentioned in Suetonius's biography of the Emperor Nero (Nero 16) as among those punished during Nero's reign.[7] These punishments are generally dated to around AD 64,[8] the year of the Great Fire of Rome. In this passage Suetonius describes Christianity as excessive religiosity (superstitio) as do his contemporaries, Tacitus and Pliny.[2]
Historians debate whether or not the Roman government distinguished between Christians and Jews prior to Nerva's modification of the Fiscus Judaicus in AD 96.[9][10][11] From then on, practising Jews paid the tax, Christians did not.[12]
^Suetonius, Catharine Edwards. Lives of the Caesars (2001) ISBN0192832719 pp. 184, 203
^ abJohn Dominic Crossan, Birth of Christianity (1999) ISBN0567086682 p. 3
^Wylen, Stephen M., The Jews in the Time of Jesus: An Introduction, Paulist Press (1995), ISBN0-8091-3610-4, pp.190-192; Dunn, James D.G., Jews and Christians: The Parting of the Ways, 70 to 135, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing (1999), ISBN0-8028-4498-7, Pp 33-34.; Boatwright, Mary Taliaferro & Gargola, Daniel J & Talbert, Richard John Alexander, The Romans: From Village to Empire, Oxford University Press (2004), ISBN0-19-511875-8, p.426;