No.
jk yes sure of course, but briefly, you can fact check me solo.
Basically, I just mean the obvious: Nero’s palace and all records were buried, the account by Tacitus can be confirmed as not fact based Flavian propaganda, etc.
During a personal creative period now known as “The Sobriety Sessions” (which officially ended when “The Stroke Struggles” began, although the latter are a direct sequel to the former), I went to a shop and had most of the famous images of martyrs printed on good paper and taped them to the walls around my sleeping spot. This included Caravaggio’s crucifixion of Saint Peter. Became obsessed with the symbology of the upside down cross, not as the traditional interpretation of humility (I had meditated on that enough), but as a symbol of the empire upside down. The sticking point is that some governor agreed to honor the request of Peter to turn the cross upside down, which is to imply the thinking was “you can turn the world upside down and Rome stands.” But this also planted the seed of Christianity flipping Rome, putting the cross above the crown.
The Stroke Struggles are mostly defined by the good headphones and FLAC files leading to a review of the dynamic range of various rock albums, leading to various shocking discoveries. In a review of indie rock, which revealed several deeply troubling issues, ran across Craig Finn’s “Saint Peter Upside Down” (sonically simple but good DR compared to his rock albums which are standard smoothed causalties of the loudness war). The painting and song led to a review of the materials on the period, which led to the concerning realization that there is no documentation to support this “evil and insane” image of Emperor Nero, who I can much more easily reconstruct as a gentle artist who leaned towards populism and was eliminated by ruthless elite actors, those selfsame ruthless actors ruthlessly defaming him after his elimination (sound familiar?).
I do not intended to deny the martyrdom of the saints or question any of that. But Paul describes in much detail his persecutions, which were by local authorities, not a mandate from the emperor. The stories of the latter half of the New Testament become impossible if the emperor himself had ordered a systemic campaign of persecution of Christians.
The theory of “evil and insane” requires one to assume that Paul simply forgot, in his meticulous list of grievances, to mention it was an orchestrated imperial campaign.
In practical DS terms, while the Jews would prefer Hadrian the Great be the representive of “evil Rome,” using Nero as a stand in doesn’t bother them. Further, while Nero is now a part of Christian mythos, that is irrelevant, because the facts do not support it, nor does the text of the New Testament itself.
Fact check this: Nero Redivivus legends, widespread belief Nero had faked his suicide and would return to save the people from the new dynasty. Unlike Tacitus’ accout of Nero’s reign, written decades later after burying all relevant records, Nero Redividivus is well documented. No one prays for an evil and insane leader to come back from the dead and save them. Arguably. But that onus isn’t on me. The documentation of evil Nero is so lacking and claims afterward so absurd (Christians doused in wax and used as candles), the historians involved in this defamation need to prove their case.
And yes I am aware that historical revisionism on this issue is now widespread in the academy, probably for the purpose of undermining Christian mythos. That can be true alongside “Jews promoted the narrative they are now debunking.” The explanation would be that because Hitler exists as the image of “evil and insane” white leader, Nero is no longer needed as a stand-in for “this is what happens when white people are left alone.” Further, modern information flow sort of necessitates you can’t base an entire myth on a single line in a two thousand year old propaganda tract.
jk yes sure of course, but briefly, you can fact check me solo.
Basically, I just mean the obvious: Nero’s palace and all records were buried, the account by Tacitus can be confirmed as not fact based Flavian propaganda, etc.
During a personal creative period now known as “The Sobriety Sessions” (which officially ended when “The Stroke Struggles” began, although the latter are a direct sequel to the former), I went to a shop and had most of the famous images of martyrs printed on good paper and taped them to the walls around my sleeping spot. This included Caravaggio’s crucifixion of Saint Peter. Became obsessed with the symbology of the upside down cross, not as the traditional interpretation of humility (I had meditated on that enough), but as a symbol of the empire upside down. The sticking point is that some governor agreed to honor the request of Peter to turn the cross upside down, which is to imply the thinking was “you can turn the world upside down and Rome stands.” But this also planted the seed of Christianity flipping Rome, putting the cross above the crown.
The Stroke Struggles are mostly defined by the good headphones and FLAC files leading to a review of the dynamic range of various rock albums, leading to various shocking discoveries. In a review of indie rock, which revealed several deeply troubling issues, ran across Craig Finn’s “Saint Peter Upside Down” (sonically simple but good DR compared to his rock albums which are standard smoothed causalties of the loudness war). The painting and song led to a review of the materials on the period, which led to the concerning realization that there is no documentation to support this “evil and insane” image of Emperor Nero, who I can much more easily reconstruct as a gentle artist who leaned towards populism and was eliminated by ruthless elite actors, those selfsame ruthless actors ruthlessly defaming him after his elimination (sound familiar?).
I do not intended to deny the martyrdom of the saints or question any of that. But Paul describes in much detail his persecutions, which were by local authorities, not a mandate from the emperor. The stories of the latter half of the New Testament become impossible if the emperor himself had ordered a systemic campaign of persecution of Christians.
The theory of “evil and insane” requires one to assume that Paul simply forgot, in his meticulous list of grievances, to mention it was an orchestrated imperial campaign.
In practical DS terms, while the Jews would prefer Hadrian the Great be the representive of “evil Rome,” using Nero as a stand in doesn’t bother them. Further, while Nero is now a part of Christian mythos, that is irrelevant, because the facts do not support it, nor does the text of the New Testament itself.
Fact check this: Nero Redivivus legends, widespread belief Nero had faked his suicide and would return to save the people from the new dynasty. Unlike Tacitus’ accout of Nero’s reign, written decades later after burying all relevant records, Nero Redividivus is well documented. No one prays for an evil and insane leader to come back from the dead and save them. Arguably. But that onus isn’t on me. The documentation of evil Nero is so lacking and claims afterward so absurd (Christians doused in wax and used as candles), the historians involved in this defamation need to prove their case.
And yes I am aware that historical revisionism on this issue is now widespread in the academy, probably for the purpose of undermining Christian mythos. That can be true alongside “Jews promoted the narrative they are now debunking.” The explanation would be that because Hitler exists as the image of “evil and insane” white leader, Nero is no longer needed as a stand-in for “this is what happens when white people are left alone.” Further, modern information flow sort of necessitates you can’t base an entire myth on a single line in a two thousand year old propaganda tract.
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