According to Tacitus and later Christian tradition, Nero blamed Christians for the Great Fire of Rome in 64, which destroyed portions of the city and economically devastated the Roman population. Anthony A. Barrett has written that "major archaeological endeavors have recently produced new evidence for the fire" but can't show who started it. In the "Annals" of Tacitus, it reads: This passage in Tacitus constitutes the only independent attestation that Nero blamed Christians for the Great Fire of Rome, and is generally believed to be authentic. Suetonius, later to the period, does not mention any persecution after the fire, but in a previous paragraph unrelated to the fire, mentions punishments inflicted on Christians, who are described as "men following a new and malefic superstition." Suetonius, however, does not specify the reasons for the punishment; he simply lists the fact together with other abuses.