First Epistle to the Corinthians
Rome · 99
C
Clement of Rome
Clement of Rome
?–99 CE · Rome
Clement of Rome (died c. 99–101 CE) was an early bishop of Rome and one of the Apostolic Fathers; he is traditionally listed as the second, third, or fourth successor of Peter, depending on the source (Tertullian places him second after Peter; Irenaeus and Eusebius place him third or fourth). His First Epistle to the Corinthians, written from Rome to address a schism in the Corinthian church, is one of the earliest Christian writings outside the New Testament and demonstrates both his pastoral authority and his familiarity with Paul's letters. The letter is anonymous but the attribution to Clement is early and consistent, attested by Dionysius of Corinth and Irenaeus. Almost nothing is certain about his personal biography beyond his Roman ministry; traditions of exile to Crimea and anchor-martyrdom are pious legends first appearing in the 5th century and elaborated only in later apocryphal texts. He is traditionally counted among the early popes.
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Stop 1 of 188–99Bishop, Ministry, Death
RomeרומאItaly
What they did here
The sole historically attested location of Clement's ministry: he led the Roman church as bishop (Irenaeus gives c. 88 CE; Eusebius gives 92–101 CE as the Eusebian dating), authored 1 Clement from here, and tradition holds he died here — the Basilica of San Clemente in Rome preserves a tradition that it stands over his titulus church, though this is unverified archaeologically.
Rome in this era
Under the Julio-Claudian and Flavian emperors Rome was the capital of a pagan empire with an early Christian community. According to Acts, the apostle Paul arrived there as a prisoner around 60 CE; Christian tradition holds that both Peter and Paul were martyred under Nero, c. 64-68 CE.
About Rome
Rome, on the Tiber in central Italy, grew from an Iron Age settlement into the capital of the Roman Republic and then of an empire that by the 1st century CE ruled the whole Mediterranean. Its Jewish community, attested from the 2nd century BCE, is among the oldest in Europe. Christian tradition holds that the apostles Peter and Paul died there, and the city became the seat of the popes. After the Western Empire ended in 476 it passed to Gothic kings, to Byzantium and then to papal rule as capital of the Papal States, until it became the capital of unified Italy in 1871. Vatican City, independent since 1929, lies within it.
In Rome at the same time
John the Apostle, Evaristus, Bishop of Rome, Anacletus, Bishop of Rome
Across the traditions, in Rome at the same time
In the same place & time
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Sages whose lives overlapped with Clement of Rome’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
Across the traditions
- Silius Italicus, Tiberius Catius· Rome
- Musonius Rufus· Rome
- Quintilian· Rome
- Josephus· Rome
- Martial· Rome
- Valerius Flaccus, Gaius· Rome
- Rabbi Yehoshua· Rome
- Statius, P. Papinius (Publius Papinius)· Rome
- Plutarch· Rome
- Rabban Gamliel of Yavneh· Rome
- Domitian· Rome
- Epictetus· Rome
- Juvenal· Rome
- Tacitus, Cornelius· Rome
- Eleazar ben Azaryah· Rome
- Pliny, the Younger· Rome
- Suetonius· Rome
- Florus, Lucius Annaeus· Rome
In the same tradition
John the Apostle, Evaristus, Bishop of Rome, Anacletus, Bishop of Rome
The world in their lifetime
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Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Clement of Rome’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.