Religious Change in the Roman Empire

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Religious Change in the Roman Empire
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By the year 10 BC/BCE, The Romans had taken
control of most of Europe, as well as the lands
of the Middle East and Africa that bordered on
the Mediterranean Sea. When the Romans moved to
the Middle East, they took over the land known as
Judea, in what is modern day Israel, Syria, and
Lebanon.
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As was the custom of the Romans, they allowed the
leaders of the conquered territory of Judea to
remain in control of their people with Roman
supervision. The people inhabiting most of Judea
were a religious group known as the Hebrews, who
practiced the monotheistic religion of Judaism.
As long as their were no problems, the Romans
allowed the Jewish people to worship as they
pleased, even though most of the Roman Empire was
polytheistic.
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At some point around the year 30 AD/CE, a Jewish
man named Jesus, from the town of Nazareth came
about and began to question the actions and
teachings of the Jewish Rabbis (teachers) and
Sanhedrin (judges). He gained a large following
as he spoke out and insisted that the Jewish
leadership was going against the will of their
God.
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As Jesus became more popular and influential, he
was seen as a trouble-maker in the region. The
Sanhedrin turned to the Roman administrator of
Judea for help, and Jesus was put on trial for
being an agitator against the peace of Judea. He
was found guilty and sentenced to death by
crucifixion (hanging on a cross until dead), a
common death sentence in the Roman Empire because
a hanging body was a deterrent against further
trouble making.
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Unfortunately for the Romans, the crucifixion of
Jesus did not have its intended consequence.
Instead, after a few days, his followers began to
go around insisting that Jesus had returned from
the dead. While most thought this was
impossible, some believed the rumors and began to
listen to the teachings of Jesuss followers, who
came to be known as Christians. The numbers of
Christians grew slowly.
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By the year AD/CE 64, Christians had established
themselves as a fairly popular religious group
that was found throughout the Roman empire, not
only in Judea. The early Christians were able to
spread their ideas by traveling on the extensive
road systems created by the Romans. Also, they
were able to pass along written information
throughout the empire because the Romans had
established the universal language of Latin.
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The Roman government did not like Christians, as
they didnt like the Hebrews, because the two
groups refused to accept the many gods of Rome
and refused to worship the Roman Emperor as
god-like. The Romans grew to dislike Christians
more because they were more wide-spread through
the empire. In the year AD/CE 64 much of the
city of Rome burned, and Emperor Nero blamed the
fire on the Christians.
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Because the Christians were blamed for the fire,
they were seen as disruptive to peaceful Roman
life and persecuted. Some were simply harassed,
while others were executed. The executed were
crucified, burned, killed by animals in the
coliseum, or simply killed with a sword.
Throughout the next several centuries, Christians
were persecuted from time to time because of
their beliefs.
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Eventually, this persecution of Christians
backfired on the Romans in a way similar to the
execution of Jesus. Christians could escape
death simply by renouncing their Christian
beliefsbut most didnt. Many seemed much more
willing to die than to go against their beliefs.
As more Christians died, more non-Christians
began to wonder about this idea that so many were
willing to die for. The Christian numbers grew.
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In the year 313 AD/CE the Roman Emperor
Constantine actually publically announced that he
had become a Christian. Many debate if this was
a true conversion or only a political move to
endear himself to a growing group in the
population. Constantine issued the Edict of
Milan, which proclaimed tolerance for ALL
religions in the Roman Empire. In 380 AD/CE
Christianity actually became the official
religion of Rome. As its usual custom, Rome
claimed the religion as its own and began to call
Christianity, the Roman Catholic Church
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Once Catholicism became the official religion of
the Roman Empire, it spread even more quickly.
Within 100 years, almost the entire population of
Southern and Central Europe were Christians.
Upon the fall of the Roman Empire, which would
occur very soon, The Roman Catholic Church would
become the most dominant force in all of Europe.