It seems that this name quickly acquired public recognition, since even in the last half of the first century, the Roman historian Tacitus, in his work The Annals (Book XV, Chapter XLIV), when discussing Rome’s destruction by fire under the Emperor Nero, tells us that the Emperor blamed for this those “called by the people Christians [christianos].” Further on, he explains: “...the originator of that name, Christ [Christus], was sentenced to death by Pontius Pilate, the procurator, under the reign of Tiberius.” [⁴]