Week 7—The Roman Empire
and Christianity
Early Christianity
In the 1st century BCE there were 4 distinct groups of Jews in
Palestine:
 Pharisees—strict interpretation of holy books, very
conservative, wealthy
 Sadducees—liberal, life after death, open to new ideas (largest
group)
 Essenes—withdrawn, cult like, small number
 Zealots—disliked Romans, liberal, revolted regularly
Pivotal Jewish belief in the coming of the Messiah
Jesus of Nazareth
Scholars know virtually nothing concrete about Jesus
 Primary sources written decades after his death
Emerged around age 30 and preached a blend of Hebrew beliefs
(did not have strict Pharasee interpretation)
 Preached love, charity, humility
 Judgment Day will end life on earth
Jesus of Nazareth
Inevitably began to be seen as the Messiah (christos) by many
Hebrews
 Appealed to the uneducated lower classes
Jewish leadership viewed him as a troublemaker
 Turned over to Roman authorities
 Crucifixion—common form of execution
 Martyr status
Paul (Saul) of Tarsus
Life of Paul
 Came from Asia Minor, Hellenistic influence
 Never knew Jesus
Paul of Tarsus--First major missionary who created many of the
core Christian beliefs
 Christian teachings were for everyone (gentiles), not just Jews
 Through his death, Jesus had come to save all people from sin
and death
 Because of original sin, one must be baptized, “purified with
water,” before entering a union with Jesus
Recipe for the Spread of Christianity
 Wide variety of religions and mystery cults during the Roman
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Republic and Empire
Romans never had a uniform religion, borrowed beliefs
Hellenism had expanded beliefs considerably and brought logic
and rationalism to Western World
Unmeet emotional needs of lower classes
Only thing this vast group of people had in common was the
empire
Christianity as an Outlet
Appealed to the lower classes, especially
 Women and slaves big converts early on
 Offered a better life after this one, “glory”
 Social outlet for people who didn’t belong in society
Roman Government and Christianity
 Roman law generally tolerant of different religions
The size and stability of Rome during Pax Romana made the spread
possible
 Missionaries and apostles used Roman vias—roads
Eventually Roman government began to see Christians as a threat to
the social order, their loyalty belonged somewhere else
 64 CE Emperor Nero ordered Christians be burned alive, fed
to lions, used in sporting events—would continue until 303 CE
Persecution made Christianity stronger
 Martyrs
 Secret meetings in catacombs
Christianity Accepted Officially
 Edict of Milan—313 CE, Emperor Constantine issues
official toleration of Christianity, needed Christian
support in empire
 First Council of Nicea—325 CE, canon law
established
 Theodosius I—makes Christianity the official religion
of Roman Empire in 392 CE, empire actually begins to
persecute non- Christians
Christian Philosophy
Philosophers emerged to debate the philosophy of Christianity
Became “Hellenized,” heavily written about in Greek
 Stoics (Plato) saw people as equal
 Logic and reason thus incorporated
Bishops emerged in the major cities
(Rome, Antioch, Constantinople, Alexandria, Jerusalem)
 Bishop of Rome claimed ultimate authority—becomes Pope
 Apostle Peter chosen by Jesus to succeed him (Matthew 16:18)
founded church in Rome
Historical Implications of the Bible
New Testament complied in the years after Jesus’ death
 First book (Mark) began 35 years later, others 100-200
years later
 Books of Mark, Matthew, and Luke synoptic: how the
world operates, man’s role
 Books of John and Paul recount history
By the end of the 2nd century, Church collected all books
and decided what was authentic and what wasn’t
 Destroyed or discarded what did not fit, some found in
Egypt in the 1940s
4th Century Problems
By 4th century, size of the Church caused problems
 No uniform set of beliefs—different views of Jesus and his
teachings
First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea in 325 established the
Nicene Creed—core set of beliefs of the Church (Catholic
Church) today
 Trinity
 Women as inferior
 Permitted slavery
The Roman Empire, 27 BCE - 476
Augustus ruled from 27 – 14 BCE
 Maintained a façade of a Republic and pretended to rule with
peoples’ consent
 Later rulers would rule absolutely, some even worshipped
Due largely to reforms of Augustus, Rome entered into Pax
Romana (27 BCE – 180 CE)– 200 years of peace and prosperity
 Bureaucracy
 Military
 Economy
 Incredible construction: bridges, aqueducts, coliseum
 Laws protecting slaves and women
Paradox: Bad Leadership after Augustus
 Tiberius (14 – 37 CE)
 step son of Augustus Caesar
 “The gloomiest of men.” –Pliny the Elder
 Left his empire in the hands of his advisors and escaped to the island of Capri
 Caligula (37-41 CE)
 “Little Boots”
 Tyrannical, sadistic, sexual deviant
 Assassinated by conspirators
 Nero (54-68 CE)
 Tyrannical, extravagant, executed his mother and brother, lit Christians on fire
 Committed suicide
 The Great Fire of Rome
 25 emperors in 50 years
Achievements during Pax Romana
Rome made great accomplishments in science, literature, and law
 Aneid—large work recounting the founding of Rome, written by
poet Virgil
 Galen—Roman doctor, advanced the science of anatomy
 Civil law developed over hundreds of years,
written rules of criminal and civil law that
applied to everyone
 Law of nations, “natural law”
 Though a world empire, all citizens seen
as “Romans”
Cravings for Brutality
 Physical contests and combat main source of entertainment
for Roman citizens
 Colosseum: men fighting other men/animals to the death
3rd Century Problems
Pax Romana ends around 180 CE with death of Marcus Aurelius,
Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire gives
several problems in the third century that led to the fall of Rome:
 Economic problems
 Religious tensions
 Environmental problems
 Huge boarders
 Foreign invasion
“Barbarian” Invasions
 Germans lived NE of the Rhine and Danube rivers for
centuries.
 In 3rd century, Huns (warrior nomads from central Asia) began
marching through eastern Europe
 Ostrogoths (east Germans) and Visigoths (west Germans)
moved into the Roman Empire for protection from Huns
 Roman emperor allowed them to cross the Danube in return
for their aid in defending it
 Lack of food and provisions in the region, Visigoths revolted
 In 378 the Roman army was defeated at Adrianople and the
emperor Valens was killed
Diocletian’s Tetrarchy, 4th Century
Western and Eastern Empires
Fall of the Roman Empire
After 378, Germans invaded all of the empire and Roman
authority rapidly declined in the late 5th century (400s)
 Borders collapsed, western regions virtually abandoned
 Attila (406-452) most notorious Hun
476 CE—official date for the Fall of the Western Roman
Empire when 14 year old emperor Romulus Augustus is
made a slave, and a German declared himself “King of Italy”
 Eastern half of the Roman empire continued another
thousand years as the Byzantine Empire with capital at
Constantinople