How did the biblical Peter die?

 

Early Christian traditions tended to be self-serving, with one of the most consistent myths being that the apostles and many others were martyred, thereby demonstrating that they “knew” what they preached to be true. In the case of Peter, the legend perpetuated in the late-second-century Acts of Peter states that Peter was crucified upside down at his own request. A more reliable source may be the late-first-century First Clement, which mentions the hardships Peter faced before his eventual death, but makes no mention of him being martyred, by crucifixion or otherwise.