Why was stpaul beheaded?

In AD 64 Rome burned. There were rumors that Nero was responsible for the fire because he wanted to rebuild a new and more glorious Rome. Because of this, Nero started to loose favor (we would say that his approval rating was low) and he needed a "scape goat". So Nero laid the blame for the fire on a new, misunderstood group at the time called -Christians.

A great persecution began of Christians and St. Paul was arrested as one of their leaders. St. Paul was a Roman citizen. One of the rights of citizenship was that of not being tortured or crucified when executed. Beheading was considered a painless and quick way to die.

St. Paul was beheaded in the spring of AD 68 for being a Christian.