Pliny the Younger

====Epistle concerning the Christian religion====
{{Main article|Pliny the Younger on Christians}}
As the Roman governor of [[Bithynia et Pontus|Bithynia-Pontus]] (now in modern Turkey) Pliny wrote a [[Epistulae (Pliny)|letter]] to Emperor [[Trajan]] around 112 AD and asked for counsel on dealing with [[Early Christians|Christians]]. In the letter (''Epistulae'' X.96), Pliny detailed an account of how he conducted trials of suspected Christians who appeared before him as a result of anonymous accusations and asked for the Emperor's guidance on how they should be treated.<ref name=Phil>''The Early Christian Church'' Volume 1 by Philip Carrington (2011) {{ISBN|0521166411}} Cambridge Univ Press p. 429</ref> Pliny had never performed a legal investigation of Christians and thus consulted Trajan in order to be on solid ground regarding his actions. Pliny saved his letters and Trajan's replies<ref name=Benko5>'' Pagan Rome and the Early Christians'' by Stephen Benko (1986) {{ISBN|0253203856}} pp. 5–7</ref> and these are the earliest surviving Roman documents to refer to early Christians.<ref>{{cite journal|last=St. Croix|first=G.E.M|title=Why Were the Early Christians Persecuted?|journal=Past & Present|date=Nov 1963|volume=26|issue=26|pages=6–38|jstor=649902|doi=10.1093/past/26.1.6}}</ref>