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The Roman World of the First Century


In order to more fully understand the New Testament, we have to learn about the Romans, who dominated Israel during the first century. By understanding the Romans, and what they required the Jews to do, we will better understand how Christianity developed in this time period.

Contents of this page

  1. Roman History up to AD 100.
  2. What did the Romans require of people that they conquered?
  3. What exemption did the Romans make for the Jews?
  4. Pax Romana or "Roman Peace" (What did the Romans give the conquered people in return for their obedience? Think about this: many people did not mind that the Romans were in control because the Romans gave many advantages to those they conquered.)
  5. Critical thinking: Jesus lived at the perfect time: He could not have been born 75 years earlier.
  6. Roman persecution of Christians in the first century.

1. Roman History up to AD 100

The city of Rome was founded in 753 BC. After the death of Alexander the Great (who was Greek) in 323 BC, Rome began to gain territory. At first they were simply a small kingdom, but eventually grew to a large empire. For a video of the growth of the Roman Empire (see the year in the upper left-hand corner; sorry for the advertisement), click here. During the first century (AD 1-99), Romans controlled the entire region around the Mediterranean Sea.

2. What did the Romans require of the people they conquered?

Before the Romans, whenever one kingdom conquered another kingdom, the conquerers usually relocated people to their kingdom so they wouldn't rebel. (This was true of the Assyrians with the northern kingdom of Israel in 732 BC, and the Babylonians with the southern kingdom of Judah in 586 BC. They both required most of the Jews to relocate to Assyria and Babylonia. That is why Daniel, in the OT, ended up on Babylonia.) But this was very expensive, which meant those kingdoms did not last long. After all, the conquering kingdom had to pay to move the people, house the people, feed them, clothe them, etc. The Romans rejected this expensive system and practiced a much more cost-efficient system, therefore, they lasted much longer. How were the Romans different? They realized that war is usually about making money (whether you try to gain money, land, oil, etc.) The Romans thought, if war was about making money, why would we conquer a kingdom and then spend lots of money moving them back to Rome? Therefore, the Romans tried a new, more cost-effective system: they allowed conquered people to stay in their homeland and maintain the same religion, laws, and (often) leaders as before the Romans defeated them. The Romans only added three new requirements:

  1. Pay Roman taxes (since they were mainly concerned with making money).
  2. Obey Roman laws.
  3. Worship the Roman gods or even the Roman emperor himself.
© The Trustees of the British Museum
Coin from the time of Caesar Augustus. In 2014, a similar coin sold for $650,000

That way, the city of Rome remained free of prisoners (except the slaves brought to work there), the land they conquered remained stable, and the Romans became very wealthy.

But the practice of forcing people to worship Roman gods or the Roman emperor caused a problem for both Jews and Christians, who were monotheistic, meaning they believed in one God. All the other conquered nations worshipped many gods. They didn't care if they had to add Roman gods or the emperor to their list of gods. On the other hand, while Jews and Christians paid taxes and obeyed Roman laws, but they refused to worship Roman gods or the emperor.

3. What exception did the Romans make for the Jews?

Therefore, out of all the kingdoms Rome controlled, the Jews were the only people that the Romans did not force to worship Roman gods or the Roman emperor. Why? Because the Romans knew Jews would fight to the death before they would worship Roman gods or the emperor. But, since the Romans were only interested in making money from each kingdom they controlled, they agreed to let the Jews worship their one God as long as they obeyed Roman laws and paid taxes. This means that the Jews had an exemption. They had to do #1 and #2 from the list above but not #3. That system worked for about 120 years. We will discover in the next lesson on “The Jewish World” how that eventually fell apart.

This exemption included Christians for a short time, really up to the mid-90's. Why? It was an accident. For decades after the ascension of Jesus, Romans considered Christians as a Jewish group. To the Roman thinking, Jesus was a Jew and all the early followers were Jews, so Christians were simply another division of Jews, like Pharisees and Sadducees. But once the Romans realized that Christians were not Jews, they required Christians to worship Roman gods and the emperor. The Romans finally realized that in the A.D. 90s, and that is when the Romans began to persecute Christians for their faith. (Many people think that the Romans began persecuting Christians from the time right after Jesus, but that is not true.)

One note: The Romans did persecute the Christians in the mid-60s during Nero. Instead, that was not because of their faith but because of the fire in Rome (see below).

4. Pax Romana: Roman Peace

The period from 27 BC to AD 180 in the Mediterranean Sea area is known as Pax Romana, which is Latin for “Roman peace.” For the first time in history, the entire Mediterranean Sea area experienced peace. That included the lifetime of Jesus and the writing of the New Testament.

During that time, many people did not like being conquered by the Romans, but others didn't mind. Why? Because they could enjoy the benefit of being under Roman domination, which was Pax Romana.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Section-of-a-Roman-road-cut_fig2_259221228
Sketch of the construction of a Roman road.

As examples of the peace the Romans brought:

Therefore, Jesus lived and the NT came into existence at a time when Pax Romana had spread throughout the Mediterranean Sea region.

5. Critical Thinking: Jesus lived at a perfect time: He could not have been born 75 years earlier

If Jesus had been born 75 years earlier, the Apostles would have traveled during a time of civil war within the Roman Empire (see the year 44 BC in Roman history above). Since Pax Romana did not exist 75 years earlier, they could not have traveled freely, and Christianity probably would have remained a small religion in a small part of Israel instead of an empire-wide religion. Therefore, Jesus was born at a perfect time when his future Apostles and followers could take advantage of Pax Romana.

6. Roman Persecutions of Christians in the First Century

The Romans persecuted Christians in two separate events in the First Century:

  1. AD 64: The Fire in Rome
    • In AD 64, a fire in Rome lasted for six days and destroyed or damaged over half of Rome. The area where Christians lived was not burned, and so Nero blamed Christians for setting the fire [which they did not do]. He ordered them killed in terrible ways, including being sewn in bags and fed to hungry dogs as well as being crucified and then lighting fires under the crosses while the Christians were still alive.
    • While this was the first persecution of Christians by Romans, it did not happen because of the beliefs of Christians but because Christians happened to live in areas not damaged by the fire. Also, this was not an empire-wide persecution but was limited to the area around Rome.
    • Peter and Paul most likely died during this persecution. Peter was crucified upside-down (per his request), and Paul was beheaded (as a Roman citizen, he could not be crucified; Paul was both a Jew and a Roman citizen).
  2. Mid-AD 90s: Domitian
    • Domitian became emperor in 81. His family did not originate from nobility, therefore, in order to gain respect and obedience, Domitian tried to strengthen the idea that the emperor (and his family) came from the gods. Since Christians did not worship him, in his last years, he put some Christians to death and had the Apostle John placed on the island of Patmos. John wrote the book of Revelation while on Patmos, probably in the year 95.
    • This persecution did happen because of the beliefs of Christians, and it was widespread; therefore, it is counted as the first Roman persecution of the Christians because of their beliefs.
    • Domitian died in the year 96 and Nerva became emperor. With a new emperor, the persecutions of Christians ceased. After the Apostle John was released, he probably traveled to Ephesus, where he died several years later of natural causes (old age).

Quiz with hover answers (Hover doesn't work for some smart phones and pads, so questions and answers here. Hint: you might want to answer all the questions before looking at the answers.)

1. In 63 BC, the Romans fought a long war against Israel and finally conquered them.

True Incorrect
The Romans were such an overwhelming force that Israel surrendered without a fight.
   
False
Correct
The Romans were such an overwhelming force that Israel surrendered without a fight.

2. The Romans required Jews to worship the emperor.

True
Incorrect
While Romans required other nations they conquered to worship Roman gods and/or the emperor, they did not require this of the Jews. The Romans knew the Jews would fight to the death before they worship anyone other than their one God, and so did not require the Jews to do this.
Extra info: as long as the Romans believed that Christians were Jews they did not persecute Christians for their faith. But once they realized that Christians weren't Jews, probably during the latter part of Domitian's reign in the 90s, then Romans began persecuting Christians for their faith.
   
False
Correct

3. Pax Romana, or "Roman Peace," was a time during the lives of Jesus and the Apostles and later that everyone, including Christians, could travel freely throughout the Roman Empire.

True
Correct
This enabled Christianity to spread far beyond the borders of present-day Israel.
   
False
Incorrect
Pax Romana did allow for free travel throughout the Roman Empire. It greatly added the spread of Christianity.

4. The New Testament was originally written in Latin since that was the official language of the Roman Empire.

True
Incorrect
The New Testament was originally written in Greek. It was translated to Latin around the year 400.
   
False
Correct
It was translated to Latin around the year 400.

5. The Romans did not realize that Christians were not Jews until at least the 90s, and so began persecuting them for their faith then but not before.

True
Correct
   
False
Incorrect
The key phrase is "for their faith." The Romans did persecute Christians once before for being Christians, during the time of Nero and the fire in Rome, but that time occurred because Nero needed someone to blame for the fire and not for their beliefs or faith.

6. What do you think? If you were a Jew in the First Century, would you have liked the Romans to be in charge of Israel?

Response
Jews were divided. The Romans did bring Pax Romana or Roman peace to the region, so you could travel freely. The Jews had safety within Israel with limited crime plus they did not have to worry about serving in the Army nor Israel being attacked. But many Jews wanted their own land, even if it meant potential problems. And no Jews enjoyed paying taxes to an occoupying force.

Timeline

Note about the timelines: I will include a timeline at the bottom of every link. I will add the new information from that link to the previous timeline so you can watch the timelines grow. Also, I will add the new information each time in boldface so that it will stand out. (You will see this in the next link.) Once we get to Revelation, you will have a detailed timeline of all major events in the First Century plus the years that the different books were written.

Year Event
63 B.C. Romans conquer Israel.
27 B.C. Pax Romana began and lasted until A.D. 180.
All dates after this are A.D. ["c." means "about"]
64 Fire in Rome and Christians persecuted by Emperor Nero; Peter crucified upside down and Paul beheaded.
95 Persecution by Emperor Domitian; Apostle John exiled on the island of Patmos, where he wrote Revelation.
96 Emperor Domitian died; Apostle John probably moved to Ephesus.
c.100 Apostle John died; he was the last Apostle to die.

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