[1] The novel Quo Vadis tells of a love that develops between a young Christian woman, Lygia (Ligia in Polish), and Marcus Vinicius, a Roman patrician.

Sienkiewicz studied the Roman Empire extensively before writing the novel, with the aim of getting historical details correct.

[2][3][4] It was first published in instalments in the Gazeta Polska between 26 March 1895 and 29 February 1896,[5][6] as well as in two other journals, Czas and Dziennik Poznański, starting two and three days later.

[9] Several movies have been based on Quo Vadis, including two Italian silent films in 1913 and 1924, a Hollywood production in 1951, a 1985 miniseries directed by Franco Rossi, and a 2001 adaptation by Jerzy Kawalerowicz.

[10][11] A young Roman patrician, Marcus Vinicius, falls in love with Lygia, a barbarian hostage being raised in the house of the retired general Aulus Plautius.

Secretly a Christian after having been converted by Plautius' wife Pomponia Graecina, Lygia is appalled by the degenerate Roman court.

Petronius takes pity on the desolate Vinicius, and hires cunning Greek philosopher Chilo Chilonis to help him find Lygia.

He traces Lygia to her hiding place in Transtiber Rome, but is stopped and severely wounded by her barbarian bodyguard Ursus when he goes in to kidnap her.

He starts treating his slaves with more kindness, and rejects the advances of the depraved empress Poppaea Sabina.

When Chilo brings him information of Lygia's new hiding place and advises him to surround the house with soldiers, Vinicius has him whipped.

When Nero returns to Rome and sings his poem about Troy in public, the masses accuse him of igniting the fire.

"), Petronius' suicide in the aftermath of the Pisonian conspiracy, and concludes with an account of Nero's ultimate death based on Suetonius.

Playwright-actor-manager Wilson Barrett produced his successful play The Sign of the Cross in the same year as publication of Quo Vadis?

Stanislaus Stange adapted the novel into a stage play of the same name which premiered in Chicago at McVicker's Theater's on 13 December 1899.

It was satirized as the quintessential school play gone horribly awry in Shivering Shakespeare, a 1930 Little Rascals short by Hal Roach.