Peter

Peter, born Simon son of John (or Jonah), was a fisherman from Bethsaida in Galilee who became the most prominent of Jesus's twelve apostles. Jesus gave him the name Cephas (Aramaic) or Peter (Greek), both meaning 'rock,' saying he would build his church on this rock (Matthew 16:18). He was among the inner circle of three disciples who witnessed the Transfiguration (Matthew 17) and was present in Gethsemane. Despite his famous denial of Jesus three times (Mark 14:66–72), he was restored after the resurrection (John 21:15–17) and led the earliest Jerusalem church (Acts 1–5, 10–15). Tradition holds that he was martyred in Rome under Nero, crucified upside down at his own request, and two letters in the New Testament bear his name. Paul describes him as an 'apostle to the circumcised' (Galatians 2:7–8).