Acts 8:1-3 in the NIV says
And Saul approved of their killing him.
The Church Persecuted and Scattered On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.
Is there historical evidence for this?
To give further information (although slightly off topic to the question at hand) the reason I'm asking is that I'm curious about 1 Peter 1 (NIV) where Peter addresses the "exiles scattered throughout"
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,
I want to know if these exiles were scattered by persecution or if they were "scattered" simply in the sense that they weren't gathered in singular locations but were rather intermingled with "pagans." Perhaps the word "sprinkled" would be more accurate although I understand Peter's desire to make parallels with the Jewish diaspora.
The dating of 1 Peter has some varied opinions so I'm trying to find historical evidence of what early persecution was like prior to 70AD.