Conclusion

In the Acts of the Apostles, Peter and Paul play the lead roles. The impulsive fisherman from Galilee and the erstwhile persecutor of the followers of Jesus become the primary mouthpieces for this new movement among both Jews and Gentiles. Yet for all of Luke’s descriptions of the apostles’ travels and their deeds, he leaves large gaps in the overall narratives of their lives—gaps also not addressed in the letters ascribed to these apostles. For later Christians these biographical gaps needed to be filled. This gave rise to a robust corpus of literary and artistic traditions that drew inspiration from, and expanded freely upon, both the Acts of the Apostles and the Pauline and Petrine epistolary traditions. These later authors and artists gave particular attention to the ends of these apostles’ lives, for their identification as martyrs further elevated their spiritual authority and gave special prominence to Rome, the city in which they had traditionally both preached and died.