10 Bizarre Things We Used To Believe
8. Nero Threw Christians To The Lions In The Colosseum
Roman emperor Nero didn't play the fiddle while Rome burned. He wasn't even in Rome during the point of the great fire in 64 AD, and the fiddle hadn't even been invented yet.
Needing a scapegoat, Nero put much of the blame of the fire on the fairly young religion of Christianity. This led to a period of persecution where thousands of Christians were thrown to lions in the Colosseum.
Except this never happened, and the Colosseum wouldn't even be opened until the reign of Emperor Titus sometime around 80 AD.
There's something about Nero and lies it seems.
Yes, there was Christian persecution. And yes, many died; but the idea that the executions were perpetrated specifically by lions, specifically against Christians, specifically in the colosseum is unfounded.
Several groups aside from Christians were commonly put to death by wild beast. These included deserters, patricides, those who employed sorcerers to hurt others, and those who kidnapped children for ransom. It wasn't just lions either: beasts included bears, leopards, and bulls.