Great Fire of Rome

In July 64 CE, fire breaks out near the Circus Maximus and burns for nine days, destroying or damaging ten of Rome's fourteen districts. Whether Nero started the fire is debated, but the historian Tacitus records that Nero deflected suspicion by targeting Christians — subjecting them to horrific public executions including being covered in animal skins and torn apart by dogs. This marks the first known Roman state persecution of Christians as a distinct group, separate from Judaism.