Chapter 5: The Roman
Empire
I. Pax Romana
Pax Romana
“Roman Peace”
Augustus: The
“First Citizen”
• Announced desire to restore
the republic
– Princeps
– Actually a monarchy disguised
as a republic
– Augustus
• Title of divinity
Augustus and the
Pax Romana
• Economic prosperity
– Agriculture
– Trade
– Currency
– Greek and Latin languages
Augustus and the
Pax Romana
• Stability and Order
– Government
– Society
– Census
– Sought social reforms
Successors of
Augustus
• Relatives of Augustus
• Roman generals
– Civil wars in third century AD
Chapter 5: The Roman
Empire
II. Roman Culture and
Achievement
Roman Culture and
Achievement
• Romans learned much
from the Greeks
• Greeks built with an eye
for beauty
• Romans built with an
eye for usefulness
Roman Culture and
Achievement
• Greeks made significant
contributions in art and
philosophy
• Romans made significant
contributions in law and
politics
Contribution to Law
• System of justice
– Individual rights and
property
– Equal rights before the
law
– Legal codes
Latin Literature and
Language
• Modeled after Greek
examples
• Cicero
– Great orator
Latin Literature and
Language
• Poetry of the Augustan
Age
– Virgil
• Considered greatest Roman
poet
• Aeneid
• Rome as the ideal state
Latin Literature and
Language
• Poetry of the Augustan
Age
– Horace
• Poet
• Satires
– Ovid
• Mythology and love
• Metamorphoses
• Exiled from Rome
Latin Literature and
Language
• History
– Livy
• Lengthy history of Rome
Latin Literature and
Language
• Later Roman Writers
– Juvenal
• Bitter satires
– Tacitus
• Historian
• Annals and Germania
– Latin continued as the
dominant language
Greek Contributions
• Plutarch
– Parallel Lives of
Illustrious Greeks and
Romans
• Galen
– Medicine
• Ptolemy
– Geocentric theory
Art and Architecture
• Statues and portrait
busts
• Relief sculpture
• Building techniques
– Aqueducts
– Bridges
– Roads
– Public buildings
The Roman Games
• Circus Maximus
• Colosseum
Religious Beliefs
• Romans originally
worshipped gods of
nature
• Two philosophies
borrowed from Greeks
Religious Beliefs
• Epicureanism
– Summary
– Lucretius
• On the Nature of Things
– Became an excuse for
excesses of behavior
Religious Beliefs
• Stoicism
– Summary
– Seneca
– Marcus Aurelius
• Meditations
Religious Beliefs
• Eastern Influence
– Mystery religions
• Polytheism and mythology
• Tolerated by Rome as long
as it was acknowledged the
emperor was also a god
– Pontifex maximus
• Emperor worship
Chapter 5: The Roman
Empire
III. The Introduction of
Christianity
The World Made Ready
•
•
•
•
Roman society
Moral decay
Synagogues
Septuagint
The Turning Point of
History
• Jesus the Christ
– Birth, life, and ministry
– Rejected by most of His
people
– Preached of repentance and
faith
The Turning Point of
History
• Christ’s death
– The plot
– Pontius Pilate
– Crucifixion
• Christ’s resurrection
– The gospel
– Jesus will reign
The Spread of the Gospel
• The Great Commission
• Jewish Persecution
– Stephen
• The Apostle Paul
– Epistles
– Impact
Church Organizational
Development
• Originally very simple
– In private homes
• Earliest leaders were the
apostles
• Pastor-bishops
– Some gained prominence
Persecution of the Church
• Romans deemed them
“social misfits” and “haters
of humanity”
• First official persecution
was under Nero
• Sporadic persecution until
AD 250
Persecution of the Church
• Diocletian
– Last and most widespread
• Church continued to grow
despite persecution
From Imperial Persecution
to Acceptance
• Edict of Milan
– Constantine
– AD 313
• Council of Nicaea
– Affirmed Christ’s deity and
the doctrine of the Trinity
– Branded Arianism a heresy
From Imperial Persecution
to Acceptance
• Theodosius I makes
Christianity the official
religion of the Roman state
• Decline in church purity
• Monasticism
Chapter 5: The Roman
Empire
IV. Collapse of the Roman
Empire
Reason for Decline
• Political disorder
• Economic troubles
• Moral decay
Reform and
Reorganization
• Diocletian
– Supreme authority
– Chose a co-emperor
• Diocletian ruled in the
East
– Economic measures
Reform and
Reorganization
• Constantine
– Ruled in the East
– Byzantium
Barbarian Invasions
• Germanic tribes
• Roman army includes
more “Romanized”
tribes
• Huns
• Visigoths
– Battle of Adrianople
Fall of Rome
• Alaric
– Plundered Rome in 410
• Attila the Hun
• Vandals
• 476: A non-Roman is
placed on the throne
in the West