The Gospel of Mark is anonymous.[8] Early tradition commencing with Papias of Hierapolis links it to John Mark, a companion and interpreter of the apostle Peter, and hence its author is often called Mark, but most scholars are content to identify the author of Mark's gospel as an unknown first-century Christian.[9] It was probably written c. AD 66–70, during Nero's persecution of the Christians in Rome or the Jewish revolt, as suggested by internal references to war in Judea and to persecution.[4] The author used a variety of pre-existing sources, such as conflict stories (Mark 2:1–3:6), apocalyptic discourse (4:1–35), and collections of sayings (although not the Gospel of Thomas and probably not the Q source).[10]