Religion and the Roman Empire

Ms. Carmelitano

Numina: Powerful spirits or divine forces

worshiped by the earliest Romans Believed to live in everything

Lares: Guardian spirits of each family Names were given to them and honored

through rituals

Early Religion

Adopted the Greek Gods and Goddesses

Changed the names to “Roman” names

Later Gods and Goddesses

Religion was linked to the government

Deities were symbols of the state Romans were expected to honor them in

shrines in their homes but also in public ceremonies at the temples

Religion and the Government

As the empire grew, so did a new religion

It was born out of Judaism Roman power spread to Judea, where the Jews

were living in 63 BCE 6 AD Judea became a province

The Jews believed that they would again be enslaved under a non-Jewish king

Rise of Christanity

Estimate birth 6-4 BCE Born in Bethlehem, Judea

There is little historic information about his life The majority of information about his life is

found in: The Bible and the Gospels

The first four books of the New Testament of the Christian Bible

Jesus was raised in Nazareth in Northern Judea He became a carpenter

Jesus of Nazareth

By age 30 he began public ministry

He preached for 3 years He began preaching a new Monotheistic religion:

Christianity The Ten Commandments was the foundation for

religious law Belief: good people would live in an eternal kingdom

after death, wicked would be punished for their sins The Torah is the Old Testament to the Christian Bible

DIFFERENCE: Jews who believed Jesus was the Messiah became Christians, those who did not, remained Jewish

Jesus’ Teachings Rise out of Judaism

29 AD Jesus visited Jerusalem

People flocked calling him the Messiah or king – the one who would rescue the Jews

Roman governor, Pontius Pilate accused Jesus of defying the authority of Rome He was not the Roman King

He was sentenced to crucifixion a common punishment for opponents to Rome

His body was placed in a tomb Gospels preach that three days later his body was gone,

and a newly living Jesus was appearing to his followers

Death of Jesus

66 AD a group of Jews rebelled against Rome

70 AD Romans destroyed the temple complex All that was left was the western wall – which is the holiest

place for Jews to worship today Half a million Jews were killed in the rebellion until the

Romans won in 73 AD 132 AD

Another rebellion, half a million again were killed Many Jews were driven from their homeland in the Diaspora:

The time when Jews were driven into exile from their homeland This facilitated a further spread of the religion

Jewish Rebellion

Gospels were written by disciples or pupils

12 men, later called apostles These people helped to spread the message of

Christianity They traveled around the Roman Empire,

teaching of Jesus, and the Monotheistic Religion

The Movement Grows

Followers spread the ideas and teachings of

Jesus outside of the Roman empire The Apostle Paul

Never met Jesus At first and enemy to Christianity Believed he had vision of Jesus Spread the word of his teachings

Christianity Spreads

Safe roads, common language Made trade safe and easy Made the spread of ideas easy as well

This allowed for the religion to spread quickly and easily

Pax Romana

Three million Christians by the third century

AD People converted because Christianity:

Embraced all people – men and women, enslaved, poor, nobles

Gave hope to powerless Appealed to those who disliked the extravagance

of Rome Offered personal relationship with God Promised eternal life after death

Becoming a world Religion

312 AD

Constantine was a Roman Emperor fighting for leadership of Rome

He Reported seeing an image of a cross symbol of Christianity

He put symbol on shields, troops won At the battle of Milivian Bridge

313 AD announced an end to persecution of Christians EDICT OF MILAN

380 AD Emperor Theodosius made it official religion of empire

Constantine

Roman hierarchy Priest: lead a small

group Bishop: priest who

supervised many churches Peter was first Bishop of

Rome Pope: leader of whole

church Peter was the first Pope Bishop of Rome was

leader of church

Early Church

Old Testament: The Jewish Torah – first part of

the Christian Bible New Testament : Second part of the Christian

Bible Compilation of four Gospels believed to have

been originally written by the apostles 325 CE Constantine wrote the Nicene Creed

defining basic beliefs

Holy Book: Bible