Rome

ROME: A Christian Education Forum

A Brief Introduction to an Enormous Topic

Why Should a Christian Study Rome?
Because Jesus was a Roman. Well, not really—He was a Roman subject, not a Roman citizen. Jesus was born, raised, crucified, and resurrected within the Roman Empire. He died on a Roman Cross, at the hands of a Roman governor and Roman soldiers. Rome destroyed the Second Temple and razed Jerusalem, Revelation’s “end of the world.” And eventually the Empire that executed Christ would come to bow the knee to Him.

Why Should an American Study Rome?
Because we are Rome. If you want to know where people like us show up in the Bible, look to the Romans. Our institutions—government, religion, military, courts, vocabulary, values, economy, architecture, entertainment, worldview—all of it have their roots in ancient Rome. This is true for Western civilization as a whole: the HRE, France, Spain, Britain, Russia, and even Turkey all claim the Roman Empire as their rightful inheritance.

Why Do I Study Rome?
Because it’s been my happy place ever since I took high-school Latin as an elective. Classical Greece and Rome fascinate me because they feel so familiar. Juvenal, a first-century satirist, honestly sounds like he’s writing as an American in the twenty-first century. Latin is the language of science, magic, theology, and much of philosophy. And everything with which our society struggles has some precedent in the Roman past.

What Can We Say of Roman Government?
The Roman Republic won its independence from a monarchy, and was governed by an elite Senate (senex means “old man”) and a popular assembly. They argued over citizenship, immigration, the urban-rural divide, land redistribution, and welfare (the dole). Their two main political parties were Optimates and Populares: the best and the rest. Eventually the Republic fell to ridiculously wealthy strongmen and militarization.

What Can We Say of Roman Religion?
According to the first-century BC historian Varro, Roman religion consisted of the mythic (mystery cults, personal devotion), the natural (philosophy), and the civic. The civic focused on the power of the state and traditional national cults. The philosophical ranged from the Platonic through the Stoic to the Epicurean. Mystery religions included the Eleusinian, Orphic, Bacchic, Serapian-Isiac, Mithraic—and Christian?

What Can We Say of the Fall of Rome?
In truth, Rome fell many times. 476 ended the Empire in the West, but it continued in the East for another thousand years, until 1453. And what of Charlemagne in AD 800? That line of succession didn’t end until 1806. Or the Kaisers? Or the Czars? Most all who conquered Rome claimed the mantel for themselves. What if Rome never truly fell?

What About Rome in the Bible?
The 400-year leap from the Hebrew Bible to the New Testament can be utterly jarring. Why is Israel under Roman occupation? Why are all the Judeans suddenly writing in Greek? The Apocrypha, or Greek Old Testament, helps to bridge this gap. It tells of the rise of Alexander the Great, his creation of the Hellenistic world, and the subsequent squabbling of his successors. The Maccabees bring in Rome in order to keep out Greece.

What About Rome in Church History?
For 300 years, the Roman Empire persecuted Christianity. That changed with Constantine. Suddenly a persecuted cult became the favored faith. The exchange went both ways: secular government took on Christian causes, while Church organization came to reflect the imperial system. Five urban centers became the Great Patriarchates: Rome, Constantinople, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria.

What About the “Ghost of Rome”?
When the Empire fell in the West, who could unite the faithful in the face of barbarian hordes—“barbarians” who themselves were often Christian? Only the Bishop of Rome had the necessary clout. The hierarchical Church became the ghost of the Empire, the spiritual successor to its secular predecessor. The Emperor in the East was too far away. And when a new Emperor was crowned in the West, it would be the Pope who did it.

What of the Great Schism?
The Church suffered schisms before 1054, but these mainly involved Christianity beyond the borders of the Empire (all the way to China). 1054 split the Church in two, East and West, along the lines of the old division between the Latin and Greek halves of the Empire. Both the Roman Catholic Church—and subsequent Protestant offshoots—and the Eastern Orthodox Church are direct descendants of the old Imperial Church. This is still reflected in everything from our architecture (basilica) to our vestments (stole).

Hail, Caesar!

Augustus (27 BC-AD 14)—Princeps. Pax Romana. Found Rome brick, left her marble.

Caligula (AD 37-41)—“Little Boots” went nuts. Serial killer. Thought he was a sun god.

Nero (AD 54-68): Psychopathic. Domus Aurea. Fiddled while Rome burned.

Vespasian (AD 69-79)—Razer of temples, raiser of Colosseum. Claimed to be Christ.

Trajan (AD 98-117)—Greatest Roman Emperor? Expansion, building, welfare.

Hadrian (AD 117-138)—Hadrian’s Wall. Pantheon. Highwater mark of the Empire.

Marcus Aurelius (AD 161-180)—The philosopher-emperor. Great Stoic writer.

Commodus (AD 180-192)—Aurelius’ greatest failure. Thought he was Hercules.

Caracalla (AD 198-217)—“Common enemy of mankind.” A wannabe Alexander.

Maximinus Thrax (AD 235-238)—7’11”! All military, no economy. Killed Church leaders.

Diocletian (AD 284-305)—Tetrarchy. Last great persecutor of the Church.

Constantine (AD 306-337)—Milvian Bridge. Edict of Milan. Constantinople.

A Timeline of Roman History

by ErdrawMind

753 BC: The “Foundation of Rome”
By the most recent century BC, Romans accepted that Rome had been established in exactly 753 BC. The debated story was that the twins Romulus and Remus, children of the god Mars, were left to pass on by being placed in a bushel, set helpless on the bank of river Tiber. The vessel, in the end, came shorewards later site of Rome. The name Romulus exactly was made up from that of Rome itself, and archaeology has exposed proof of settlement on the Palatine Hill as soon as 1,000 BC.

509 BC: The Creation of the Roman Republic
Similarly, as with the creation of the city, later Romans accepted they knew the exact date of the start of the Republic: 509 BC, when the seventh and last ruler of Rome, the overbearing Tarquinius Superbus, was thought to have been expelled by a blue-blooded coup. The Republican process itself was based around the possibility that individually a group of people reserved the privilege to pass laws and choose officers.

338 BC: The Settlement of the Latin War
Somewhere around 341 and 338 BC, the Romans confronted a resistance by their adjoining Latin partner groups. After Rome alleviated its successor, the settlement they forced supported the resulting Roman successes of Italy and abroad regions. The Latins, and other Italian alliances, were illegal to direct diplomacy or go into deals with different states.

264–146 BC: The Punic Wars
Rome consistently battled three severe wars in the giant North African city of Carthage. These are called the Punic Wars, from the Latin name for Carthaginians, Poeni. The First Punic War (264–241 BC) was held about control of the island of Sicily, the Second Punic War (218–201 BC) viewed the renowned attack of Italy via Carthaginian general Hannibal and the Third Punic War (149–146 BC) was an inevitable result, in which Rome was at last effective in breaking its opposite rival.

The Second and First Centuries BC: The Hellenization of Rome
During the previous two centuries, Rome vanquished the Eastern Mediterranean by overcoming the Hellenistic empires established by the replacements of Alexander the Great. The Roman higher classes accepted Greek literature and philosophy, art and engineering, and by the most recent century BC. It was important to be completely acquainted with Greek culture to be acknowledged as a core member from the Roman upper class due to their connection with Greek.

67–62 BC: Pompey in the East
The adventures of Pompey in the eastern Mediterranean were more critical in the development of Rome. Pompey at first went toward the east in 67 BC as an effective part of his mission against privateers who were invading the Mediterranean. Having damaged the privateers in only three months, in 66 BC Pompey prevailing to the order against the longer enemy of Rome, Mithradates VI of Pontus.

31 BC-AD 14: Augustus Reintroduces Monarchy to Rome
The extension of the kingdom broken the Roman Republic. After a welter of civil wars, Augustus comes up as the victor, flaunting that he had re-established the Republic. Augustus went through several years while exploring different positions regarding his sacred position his point was neither to 'cover up' his sole guideline, nor to make a joint standard among himself and the senate.

AD 235–284: The Third Century Crisis
In the last 50 years among AD 235 and 284, the Roman empire had hugely suffered ongoing political and military vulnerability. Three elements brought the emergency. In the east, continuous Roman attack and bombarding had sabotaged the Arsacid army of Parthia, Roman trade and diplomatic strategy had supported the development of huge and hazardous brute confederations, and a significant war was brought up for the power of the ruler.

AD 312: Constantine Converts to Christianity
At the war of the Milvian Bridge in AD 312, the ruler Constantine sent his soldiers into battle with crosses painted on their protection. Constantine's transformation to Christianity deeply affected European, and world history. In AD 249, in the face of scaling challenges and looking to reestablish divine kindness to Rome, the ruler Decius requested every one of his concerns to struggle to the agnostic divine gods.

AD 410: The Fall of Rome
In AD 410 the Goths terminated the city of Rome. After 66 years Romulus Augustulus (the 'Little Emperor') was dismissed, and the Roman empire in the west was at a lasting stage. In ancient times, a few researchers have contended that Rome's breakdown was a cycle of accommodation and bargain between the Romans and the different barbarian groups. Others, all the more adequately, have emphasized the brutality, destruction, and terror of its defeat.


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