Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Prelude: Jesus Christ, foundation of Christianity
- Part I The Political, Social and Religious Setting
- 1 Galilee and Judaea in the first century
- 2 The Jewish diaspora
- 3 The Roman empire
- Part II The Jesus Movements
- Part III Community Traditions and Self-Definition
- Part IV Regional Varieties of Christianity in the First Three Centuries
- Part V The Shaping of Christian Theology
- Part VI ‘Aliens’ become Citizens: towards Imperial Patronage
- Conclusion: retrospect and prospect
- Bibliographies
- Index
- Map 1. The Roman Empire in the time of Marcus Aurelius
- References
3 - The Roman empire
from Part I - The Political, Social and Religious Setting
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Prelude: Jesus Christ, foundation of Christianity
- Part I The Political, Social and Religious Setting
- 1 Galilee and Judaea in the first century
- 2 The Jewish diaspora
- 3 The Roman empire
- Part II The Jesus Movements
- Part III Community Traditions and Self-Definition
- Part IV Regional Varieties of Christianity in the First Three Centuries
- Part V The Shaping of Christian Theology
- Part VI ‘Aliens’ become Citizens: towards Imperial Patronage
- Conclusion: retrospect and prospect
- Bibliographies
- Index
- Map 1. The Roman Empire in the time of Marcus Aurelius
- References
Summary
The imperium romanum and its subjects
The local and global impact of Roman power
The Roman empire forms the broader political, social and religious context for the emergence of early Christianity. Two developments are especially important for the situation we find in the first century ce. The first one, beginning perhaps in 229–228 bce with the first Illyrian war, is the successive conquest of the eastern part of the Mediterranean world by the Romans, who were able to capitalise on the spread of Hellenism to all of Asia Minor, Persia and Egypt in the wake of Alexander and his successors, the Diadochoi. Then, in the second half of the first century bce, the Roman republic was transformed into something new, retaining the name republic, but in fact now an autocracy of one man, who later took the eponymous title Caesar (Kaisar in Greek).
The beginnings: Caesar and Augustus. The path leading to Rome’s imperial history was set by Gaius Julius Caesar, who was assassinated in 44 bce by senators fearing that he was trying to become a new Roman king. His grand-nephew and adoptive son Octavian won the struggle for power with his decisive victory over Mark Antony at the battle of Actium in 31 bce. Warned by Caesar’s fate, Octavian avoided claiming for himself the title of king, but, owing largely to the military strengths of his legions which were strictly loyal to him, he now was without doubt Rome’s most powerful individual.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge History of Christianity , pp. 69 - 84Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006
References
. A history of Roman literature from Livius Andronicus to Boethius: with special regard to its influence on world literature, 2 vols.,
and
(revs.), Mnemos.Sup. 165 (1997).
‘Pontius Pilatus und das Tiberieum von Caesarea Maritima’, Scripta classica Israelica
18 (1999)Google Scholar
The social history of Rome,
and
(trans.) (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988).
Die Religionspolitik des Kaisers Claudius und die paulinische Mission, Herders biblische Studien (Freiburg: Herder)
19 (1999).Google Scholar
Die Juden und das römische Reich: Geschichte einer konfliktreichen Beziehung (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2002).
, and
. Religions of Rome, 2 vols. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998).
(ed.). The Greek magical papyri in translation, 2nd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992).
(ed.). The Oxford history of classical art (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993).
‘Introduction: reading Flavian Rome’, in Flavian Rome: culture, image, text,
and
(eds.) (Leiden: Brill, 2003)Google Scholar
and
, (eds.). Flavian Rome: culture, image, text (Leiden: Brill, 2003).
Slavery and society at Rome, Key themes in ancient history (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994).
Rome and the friendly king: the character of the client kingship (London: Helm, 1984).
The Roman army, 31 bc–ad 337: a sourcebook (London: Routledge, 1994).
Travel in the ancient world (repr., Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994, original 1974).
Kaiser und Gott: Herrscherkult im römischen Reich (Stuttgart: Teubner, 1999).
The column of Trajan,
(trans.) (Rome: Editore Colombo and German Archaeological Institute, 2000).
The Stoic tradition from antiquity to the early middle ages, vol. I: Stoicism in Classical Latin Literature, 2nd ed. (Leiden: Brill, 1990).
Benefactor: epigraphic studies of a Graeco-Roman and New Testament semantic field (St. Louis, MO: Clayton, 1982).
Greek and Latin literature of the Roman empire: from Augustus to Justinian,
(trans.) (London: Routledge, 1994).
(ed.). Art and text in Roman culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996).
(ed.). Greco-Roman perspectives on friendship, SBLRBS
34 (1997).
Das Verhalten der römischen Behörden gegen die Christen im 2. Jahrhundert dargestellt am Brief des Plinius an Trajan und den Reskripten Trajans und Hadrians, MBPF
52 (1967).
Twice Neokoros: Ephesus, Asia and the cult of the Flavian imperial family, Religions in the Graeco-Roman world 116 (Leiden: Brill, 1993).
(ed.). Curse tablets and binding spells from the ancient world (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992).
and
. The Roman empire: economy, society and culture (London: Duckworth, 1987).
Paul and Philodemus: adaptability in Epicurean and early Christian psychagogy, NovTSup
81 (1995).
The Roman world, 44 bc–ad 180 (London: Routledge, 1997).
Emperor worship and Roman religion, Oxford classical monographs (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2002).
Magic in the ancient world, RA
10 (1997).
‘Slavery’, in Dictionary of New Testament background,
and
(eds.) (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2000)Google Scholar
The manumission of slaves in early Christianity, Hermeneutische Untersuchungen zur Theologie (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck) 32 (1995).Google Scholar
Ancient literacy (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989).
and
(eds.). Zwischen den Reichen: Neues Testament und römische Herrschaft, TANZ
36 (2002).
‘Le iscrizioni relative all’introduzione nel 9 a.C. del nuovo calendario della provincia d’Asia’, Studi classici e orientali
16 (1967)Google Scholar
Pilate et le gouvernement de la Judée: textes et monuments, EBib (1981).
Paul and the popular philosophers (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1989).
The Roman near east, 31 bc-ad 337 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993).
The Roman philosophers: from the time of Cato the Censor to the death of Marcus Aurelius (London: Routledge, 2002).
‘The emperor’s saturnalia: Statius, Silvae 1.6’, in Flavian Rome: culture, image, text,
and
(eds.) (Leiden: Brill, 2003)Google Scholar
Christianity and the Roman empire: background texts (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2001).
‘Rome: the republic and early empire’, in The Oxford History of Classical Art,
(ed.) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993)Google Scholar
Handbook of classical rhetoric in the Hellenistic period, 330 b.c.–a.d. 400 (Leiden: Brill, 1997).
Rituals and power: the Roman imperial cult in Asia Minor (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984).
Pergamon: Geschichte und Bauten einer antiken Metropole (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1999).
(ed.). The family in ancient Rome: new perspectives (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1986).
A history of ancient philosophy, vol. IV: The schools of the imperial age,
(ed. and trans.) (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990).
(ed.). Collected ancient Greek novels (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989).
Das Nachrichtenwesen des Altertums, mit besonderer Rücksicht auf die Römer (repr. Hildesheim: Olms, 1972, original 1913).
The logistics of the Roman army at war (264 bc–ad 235), CSCT
23 (1999).
Personal patronage under the early empire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982).
Studien zum Nerobild in der lateinischen Dichtung der Antike, Beiträge zur Altertumskunde 116 (Leipzig: Teubner, 1998).
Agrippa I: the last king of Judaea, TSAJ
23 (1990).
As the Romans did: a sourcebook in Roman social history, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998).
Roman documents from the Greek east: senatus consulta and epistulae to the age of Augustus
(Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1969).
Untersuchungen zu den Dakerkriegen Trajans: Studien zur Geschichte des mittleren und unteren Donauraumes in der Hohen Kaiserzeit, Antiquitas, ser. I, Abhandlungen zur alten Geschichte, vol. 33 (1984).
Hellenism and empire: language, classicism, and power in the Greek world, ad 50–250 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996).
The Cambridge ancient history, vol. x. The Augustan empire, 43 bc–ad 192,
, and
(eds.), 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996).
The Cambridge ancient history, vol. XI: The high empire, ad 70–192,
, and
(eds.), 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000).
The civic world of professional associations in the Roman east, DMAHA
17 (1997).
Le pain et le cirque: sociologie historique d’un pluralisme politique, L’univers historique (Paris: Du Seuil, 1976); ET Bread and circuses: historical sociology and political pluralism; abridged version,
(ed.),
(trans.) (London: Penguin, 1990).
Pax romana and the peace of Jesus Christ,
(trans.) (London: SCM Press, 1987).
The power of images in the age of Augustus,
(trans.), Jerome lectures 16 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1989).