Late-second-century Christian writing; based on the earlier Acts of John; narrates a fictionalized "miracle contest" between Simon Peter and the magician Simon Magus (contrast with Acts 8). The concluding chapters, which seem at some point to have circulated separately from the rest of the document, describe Peter's death by upside-down crucifixion; these chapters may represent an authentic tradition as to his execution. Nevertheless, no early Christian writer considered Acts of Peter to have any place among the canonical Scriptures, possibly because it could not be clearly connected to an eyewitness. See also canon.