الزميل لوجكال
أنا شفت فيلم تسجيلي عن محاكمة جاليليو علي قناة PBSمن مدة وما أدهشني فيه هو ذكرهم إن جاليليو نفسه كان شخصا متدينا وماذكره في المحاكمة كان يعبر فعلا عن موقفه وليس لمجرد تفادي حكم الإعدام!!

علي نفس القناة برنامج إسمه secrets of the dead وكان بالأمس يعرض فيلما عن حريق روما الذي أتهم بتدبيره الإمبراطور نيرون وفوجئت بباحث تاريخي ينفي تماما أن يكون نيرون فعلها وأتهم المسيحيين الموجودين بروما وقتها ببدء هذا الحريق تنفيذا لنبوءة سفر الرؤيا
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/case_rome/

Certainly, it's hard to know whether to trust the allegations in the writings of Tacitus. Yet, what about the explanation offered by Nero, that the Christians were to blame? At least one scholar believes Nero was on the mark. Professor Gerhard Baudy of the University of Konstanz in Germany has spent fifteen years studying ancient apocalyptic prophecies. His studies have shown that in the poor districts of Rome, Christians were circulating vengeful texts predicting that a raging inferno would to reduce the city to ashes. "In all of these oracles, the destruction of Rome by fire is prophesied," Baudy explains. "That is the constant theme: Rome must burn. This was the long-desired objective of all the people who felt subjugated by Rome."

Moreover, the Book of Revelations, written a mere 30 years later, seems to equate evil with Rome. The Whore of Babylon, the source of this evil according to Revelations, is described as having seven heads. "The seven heads are seven mountains," Revelations says. Rome, of course, is famously known as the city of seven hills. What's more, an ancient Egyptian prophesy that would have been well-known in the Christian quarters of Rome foretold the fall of the great evil city on the day that the dog star, Sirius, rises. In 64 AD, Sirius rose on July 19, the very day the great fire of Rome began. Baudy believes that, bearing this prophetic date in mind, some of the Christians, maltreated and embittered, may have started the fire -- or perhaps lit additional fires, adding fuel to the larger conflagration -- in hopes of realizing their prophesies.

Regardless, over two hundred years would pass before the Christians escaped the kind of persecution they endured under Nero. In the meantime, Nero's reign soon crumbled. Four years after the fire, as the senate and the army turned against him, Nero was forced to flee Rome. Aided by a secretary, he stabbed himself to death with an iron blade.