What history says about Peter, outside the Bible
The early writers, the archaeology, and the legends: what we can know about the apostle Peter beyond the New Testament.
Nothing about Peter survives from his own lifetime outside the New Testament. But the generations right after him wrote about him, and archaeology adds a little more. Here is what the early sources say, and what is only legend.
The early writers
- Clement of Rome (about AD 95), writing from the church in Rome: Peter endured many labours because of jealousy, bore his witness, and went to "the place of glory", a martyrdom recorded within about thirty years.
- Ignatius of Antioch (about AD 110), to the Romans: "I do not command you as Peter and Paul did," assuming both apostles had taught in Rome.
- Papias (about AD 100-130, quoted by Eusebius): Mark was Peter's interpreter and wrote down accurately what Peter remembered of the Lord. This is the source of the tradition that Mark's Gospel comes from Peter's preaching.
- Dionysius of Corinth (about AD 170): Peter and Paul taught in Italy and were martyred around the same time.
- Irenaeus (about AD 180): Peter and Paul preached in Rome, and after their deaths Mark handed down Peter's preaching in writing.
- Gaius of Rome (about AD 200): he could point to the "trophy", or monument, of Peter on the Vatican hill.
- Tertullian (about AD 200): Peter suffered a death like his Lord's in Rome, reading John 21:18 ("another shall gird thee") as a crucifixion.
- Origen (about AD 230, quoted by Eusebius): Peter was crucified head downward, at his own request.
- Jerome (late 300s): adds that Peter felt unworthy to be crucified the same way as his Lord.
- Clement of Alexandria (about AD 200, quoted by Eusebius): Peter saw his wife led away to martyrdom, called her by name, and told her to remember the Lord.
Roman history
The historian Tacitus (about AD 116) describes Nero blaming Christians for the great fire of Rome in AD 64, and the cruel executions that followed. That persecution is the setting early writers give for Peter's death, sometime between AD 64 and 68. He was probably in his sixties.
Archaeology
Peter's house in Capernaum. Under a fifth-century octagonal church, archaeologists found a first-century fisherman's house that Christians began treating as special very early, with graffiti and fishhooks. Many scholars think it really was Peter's home (Mark 1:29).
Under St. Peter's in Rome. A small monument from about AD 160, almost certainly the "trophy" Gaius mentioned, marks the place early Christians honoured as Peter's grave. Bones found nearby in the 20th century were claimed to be his, but that claim is disputed.
Legends
The Acts of Peter (late second century) contains the famous "Quo vadis, Domine?" story, in which Peter flees Rome, meets Jesus and turns back. It is a legend, not history. The so-called Gospel of Peter and Apocalypse of Peter were written long after him and are not his.
What the Bible itself says
Scripture does not record Peter's death. Jesus foretold it: "when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God" (John 21:18-19). And on "upon this rock I will build my church", we follow GotQuestions.org: the rock is most likely Christ Himself, the foundation (1 Corinthians 3:11) and the chief cornerstone (1 Peter 2:6-7).
Sources
- Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 5; Ignatius, Letter to the Romans 4; Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.1; Tertullian, Prescription Against Heretics 36; Eusebius, Church History 2.15, 2.25, 3.1, 3.30, 3.39; Jerome, Lives of Illustrious Men 1; Tacitus, Annals 15.44.
- GotQuestions.org, What did Jesus mean when He said "upon this rock I will build my church"?
- Scripture quotations: King James Version.