12:5). Here decisions we make about other aspects of the historical and cultural background of the epistle come into play. If, for instance, the community is assumed to be at Rome, then the persecutions under Claudius in A.D. 49 and Nero in A.D. 64 are important, as is the supposed persecution that took place under Domitian (A.D. 91–95). If, however, the epistle was written to Palestine, there were of course persecutions afflicting the Christian church from its inception at Pentecost, recorded as