Confusing Peter and Paul

Abstract

The stories about the deaths of Peter and Paul display variety on a number of details, but many emphasize the unity of the apostles—the concordia apostolorum. The desire to show unity at times went to the point of making the apostles indistinguishable from each other or even confusing Paul and Peter with each other. This chapter will analyze examples of conflated or reversed descriptions of apostolic speech (particularly Peter speaking with Pauline epistolary language), actions, and fates. It will then explore the influence of these examples on later literary traditions and evidence of similar confusion in early Christian art.