Nero Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Jewish tradition=== An [[Aggadah]] in the Talmud says that at the end of AD 66, conflict broke out between Greeks and Jews in [[Jerusalem]] and [[Caesarea Maritima|Caesarea]]. According to the [[Talmud]], during the [[First Jewish–Roman War|Great Jewish Revolt]], Nero went to Jerusalem and shot arrows in all four directions. All the arrows landed in the city. He then asked a passing child to repeat the verse he had learned that day. The child responded, "I will lay my vengeance upon [[Edom]] by the hand of my people Israel" ([[Ezekiel 25]]:14).<ref>[[Ezekiel]] [http://av1611.com/kjbp/kjv-bible-text/Eze-25.html 25:14]</ref> Nero became terrified, believing that God wanted the [[Second Temple]] to be destroyed, but that he would punish the one to carry it out. Nero said, "He desires to lay waste His House and to lay the blame on me," whereupon he fled and converted to Judaism to avoid such retribution.<ref>Talmud, [[Treatise|tractate]] [[Gittin|Gitin]] 56a-b</ref> [[Vespasian]] was then dispatched to put down the rebellion. The Talmud adds that the sage [[Rabbi Meir|Reb Meir Baal HaNess]] lived in the time of the [[Mishnah]], and was a prominent supporter of the [[Simon bar Kokhba|Bar Kokhba]] [[Bar Kokhba's revolt|rebellion]] against Roman rule. Rabbi Meir was considered one of the greatest of the [[Tannaim]] of the third generation (139–163). According to the Talmud, his father was a descendant of Nero who had converted to Judaism. His wife [[Bruriah]] is one of the few women cited in the [[Gemara]]. He is the third-most-frequently-mentioned sage in the Mishnah.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}} The Talmudic legend about Nero is not supported by contemporary sources. Roman and Greek sources nowhere report Nero's alleged trip to Jerusalem or his alleged conversion to Judaism.<ref>[[Benjamin Isaac|Isaac, Benjamin]]. 2004. ''The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity''. [[Princeton University Press]]. pp. 440–91. {{ISBN|978-0691125985}}.</ref> There is also no record of Nero having any offspring who survived infancy: his only recorded child, [[Claudia Augusta]], died aged 4 months. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page