I have thought that the fire of Rome might have been a false-flag. Either by the jews or by the first christians going rogue but the classic interpretation makes more sense really. I dont trust Tacitus but i must admit he was a good writer. The persecutions of christians were on and off for centuries and sometimes local but some emperors really drove it as a personal crusade. The last big one being Julian, deeply involved with the Jews, tried to build the 3rd temple and found defeat and death in Persia. 'You have won, oh pale Nazarene!'