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Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer, by Jean-Léon Gérôme (1883) Christians were persecuted, sporadically and usually locally, throughout the Roman Empire, beginning in the 1st century AD and ending in the 4th century.
- Diocletianic Persecution
The Diocletianic or Great Persecution was the last and most...
- Edict of Milan
Bust of Emperor Constantine I, Roman, 4th century. The Edict...
- Damnatio Ad Bestias
Leopard attacking a criminal, Roman floor mosaic, 3rd...
- Diocletianic Persecution
- Hero Cults & The Imperial Cult
- The Great Fire of Rome & The Jewish Revolt
- The Crime of Atheism
- Crises & Roman Persecution
- The Arenas
- The Critics
- The Concept of Martyrdom & The Cult of The Saints
- Conclusion
Sometimes half-human, half-divine, Greek heroes such as Hercules had performed great deeds in life, and after their death, they were believed to be among the gods or in the Elysian Fields in Hades. This process was known as apotheosis ('to deify'). Several towns claimed to have the tombs of these heroes where people made pilgrimages to pray. These ...
Nero (r. 54-68 CE) became infamous as the first Roman emperor to persecute Christians. When he was accused of starting a devastating fire in Rome in 64 CE, to allay suspicions, he blamed the Christians. He arrested them and invited the displaced poor to a banquet and show where Christians were tortured and crucified. This is when Peter allegedly di...
Vespasian's second son, Domitian (r. 81-96 CE), renewed all the old policies that usually got emperors killed. He quickly went through the treasury and then remembered his father's Jewish tax, the collections of which had been neglected. Domitian sent the Praetorian Guard to scour the tenements looking for Jews to pay up. This is most likely when R...
Traditional histories of Christianity(as well as Catholic litanies) list thousands of Christian martyrs. There is little historical evidence for this claim; over the course of 300 years, we only have evidence for persecution perhaps seven or eight times, and usually only in the provinces. Even then, we only have a handful of names. This is because ...
Rome did not have an established institution for convicted felons; there were no set periods of detention or a life sentence. Each city had holding cells for convicted prisoners until the next magistrate was available, and punishment was based upon class. The higher classes on a charge of murder or treason suffered decapitation, the lower-class cri...
Unfortunately, the literature of the ancient world comes from upper-class, educated men, and we have no idea what the average, lower-class Greeks or Romans thought of the new movement. Among the educated elite, however, there was criticism of Christians. Two 2nd-century CE philosophers, who read Christian scriptures and interviewed Christians, wrot...
In 167 BCE, the Jews rebelled against the Greek rule of Antiochus Epiphanes who had outlawed Jewish customs. In 2 Maccabees, as the victims were tortured, they made final speeches. They willingly sacrificed their lives because God "will raise them up" ('anatasis' in Greek, 'resurrection' in English), and the term 'martyr' was introduced (meaning 'w...
The growth of Christianity and its eventual triumph in medieval Europe is currently a major topic of interest for historians. The traditional view was that Christianity offered a system of morality and solace to a world that was spiritually bereft. This is patently not true; the ancients were just as pious and spiritually awakened as Christians. Ch...
- Rebecca Denova
Jun 10, 2023 · Three decades after Christ’s crucifixion, Emperor Nero began the Roman Empire’s persecution of the early Christians. It all culminated with executions in Nicomedia almost 300 years later. Emperor after emperor tried to stifle the Christian faith with prohibitions, extreme torture, and monstrous methods of execution.
Public Domain. In its first two centuries of existence Christianity witnessed the persecution of many of its members by officials of the Roman Empire; the causes of these persecutions have been and continue to be investigated by various scholars.
Religious persecution in the Roman Empire. Bust of Germanicus defaced by Christians. As the Roman Republic, and later the Roman Empire, expanded, it came to include people from a variety of cultures, and religions. The worship of an ever increasing number of deities was tolerated and accepted.
Nov 21, 2016 · The emperor Nero is referred to as the first persecutor of the Christians by Lactantius. After the Great Fire of Rome in A.D. 64, when rumours swirled that the emperor himself was responsible,...
