indigo: In a nutshell :) and the version that has come down to us. In 64AD there is the 'Great Fire of Rome'.
Nero gets the blame for starting it in order to expand his palace.
Nero in order to get the heat off himself :) puts the blame on a weird new religious cult...Christianity.
A Christian persecution begins.
St. Peter is crucified in the 'Circus of Nero'. You can see this Circus (racetrack) in relation to the present day St. Peter's Basilica in the 2nd website below.
Other Christians bribe the guards for the dead body which is common.
He is taken across the street to a cemetery and placed in a tomb. The tomb was probably donated by a fellow Christian.
It's very common for Romans to visit their family tombs and picnic there. Tombs usually had a small hole in them for the family to pour wine in and drop in pieces of food.
So the Roman Christians would also visit this tomb (it would be a very revered place) and it's location would be passed on thru the generations until the 1st church was built at the site.
I'm a history buff and an atheist so I have no religious bias regarding this site.
But I believe this is the tomb of the historical Jesus Christ's disciple Peter. And IMO this site is the only actual physical link we have to Jesus Christ.
www.ucd.ie/%7Eclassics/96/Curran96.html
http://www.ku.edu/history/index/euro...iani_plan.html
Regards, Walter
p.s. Although the Christians probably didn't start the Great Fire, it's *possible* that they helped it spread. The timing of the fire was just perfect to fulfull an ancient prophesy about the destruction of Bablyon which is what the early Christians called Rome. And there were reports of men starting other fires while the Great fire raged.