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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.

• 63 BC: Rome was such a dominant force that Israel surrendered without a fight.
• 44 BC: Roman leader Julius Caesar was assassinated by various Roman leaders: Brutus, Cassius, and others. Mark Antony (Caesar’s second-in-command) seized power. He and Octavian (Caesar’s nephew) fought for control. This civil war involved many battles over a 13-year period.
• 37 BC: Antony married Cleopatra in Egypt.
• 31 BC: Octavian’s forces defeated Antony and Cleopatra’s forces; they both committed suicide.
• 27 BC: Octavian was given the name of Augustus and became Augustus Caesar. This is the beginning of Pax Romana. [Which I will describe below.]
• AD 14: Augustus Caesar died [All years after this are AD.] He was the emperor when Jesus was born.
• 14-54: Three different emperors ruled.
• 54-68: Nero was emperor.
• 64: Fire in Rome and the first persecution of Christians (only in and around Rome, it was not empire-wide; Peter and Paul died as a result of this persecution).
• 68-81: Five different emperors ruled.
• 81-96: Domitian was emperor.
• 95: Persecution of Christians (the Apostle John was placed on the island of Patmos).
• 96-98: Nerva was emperor
• 98-117: Trajan was emperor
• c. 100: The last Apostle died, John, of natural causes.

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.

• Roads The Romans primarily built roads to move their military quickly throughout the empire. The result was a wonderful road system that ordinary citizens also used for travel and trade. For example: would you rather drive on a dirt road with potholes or a paved highway? Paul and other Christians used this road system to carry the message of Jesus to the countries around the Mediterranean Sea.

Sketch of the construction of a Roman road.

• Protection Romans and non-Romans traveled freely with no concern of being involved in a war. In addition, since the Romans controlled the entire area, conquered nations did not need to have their own military to protect themselves. Therefore, the citizens of conquered kingdoms were free from military service.
• Laws Rome required all conquered people to obey Roman laws. This meant that travelers did not have to learn different laws in different kingdoms since everyone used the same basic laws.
• Money All conquered kingdoms used Roman coins (paper money didn't exist). Exchanging money to a different currency when traveling to different kingdoms was unnecessary since everyone used the same money.
• Language During this period, Greek was widely used throughout the Roman Empire. As Pax Romana progressed into the second century, Latin became more common, but, during the first century, Greek was the language used by the Roman government and most citizens. That is why the New Testament books were written in Greek. Jews in Israel spoke Aramaic, which included Jesus, but the authors of the NT decided to write in Greek since most of their audience used Greek.

As examples of the peace the Romans brought:

• A public orator, Aelius Aristides of Smyrna, wrote to Antoninus Pius in c. 150, “Wars have so far vanished as to be regarded as legendary events of the past. A man can travel from one country to another as though it were his native land . . . to be a Roman citizen, nay even one of your subjects is sufficient guarantee of personal safety.”
• Thirty years later, Ireneaus, Bishop of Lyons, wrote, “The world has peace thanks to the Romans. Even the Christians can walk without fear on the roads and travel [wherever] they please.”

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).

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