Ancient Rome the Spread of Christianity

Ancient Rome The Spread of Christianity ● The notes on Christianity mentioned that Jesus was crucified, but they don’t go into great detail as to why ○ While there was general religious tolerance in the Roman Empire, people were supposed to put the emperor and Roman gods above all else (remember that Rome was a polytheistic culture prior to adopting Christianity as their state-sponsored religion) ○ Romans were trying to avoid more Jewish revolts and viewed Jesus as a threat to their power (i.e. they didn’t want to get overthrown) ○ In Crash Course World History #11, John Green states that the Romans condemned Jesus to death, not the Jewish people ■ The simple answer to that is that both groups didn’t want Jesus around ■ In the New Testament of the Bible, the Roman Governor of Judea Pontius Pilate literally “washes his hands” of killing Jesus after his wife had a dream about Jesus and she begged for his life to be spared ■ In the same story, the Jewish people in the crowd chose to free a murder known as Barabbas instead of Jesus The Spread of Christianity ● Prior to his death, Jesus predicted that one of the twelve apostles was going betray him (Judas) ● Jesus was crucified on a hill called Golgotha in Jerusalem...if you remember completing a worksheet on the city of Jerusalem way back when, there was a location on the map called the Church of the Holy Sepulchre: the church was built on top of the hill that Jesus was crucified on ● Had we been in school, we were going to watch an Expedition Unknown Episode on finding the cross that Jesus was crucified on ○ Legend claims that Constantine sent his mother Helena to Jerusalem in AD 326 to find the cross ○ Helena found a cross on the hill of Golgotha & in order to prove it was indeed the cross that Jesus died on, she had a sick woman touch it. When the woman was miraculously healed, Helena claimed the true cross was found ○ Supposed pieces of the cross are stored in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but the church refuses to test the wood scientifically to date it; they claim it is an article of faith The Spread of Christianity ● In the show, Josh Gates visits an expert on crucifixion who claims the way the story of Jesus’ death is told could be wrong ○ Christian accounts of crucifixion state that people were nailed to the cross ■ There is actual proof of this, there is only 1 piece of evidence in the world that proves crucifixions did take place: archaeologists have found a human heel bone with a nail sticking through it ○ Despite this evidence, the expert in the show doesn’t believe nailing people to a cross was common: people who are nailed to a cross are likely to pass out and the whole point of crucifixion is to make the person suffer. In addition, it is unlikely that nails can support the weight of a body ○ The expert asserts that he believes people were crucified on an “X” shaped cross and were tied to it with rope; if true, one of the main symbols of Christianity could be wrong ○ One other important thing is noted during the conversation: the Romans crucified people at a rate of several people every day so it was a common occurrence The Spread of Christianity ● The notes on Christianity mentioned 2 notable figures important to the spread of Christianity: Saints Peter and Paul ● Peter was one of the 12 apostles; the New Testament claims that Jesus predicted that Peter would deny knowing Jesus 3 times in order to save himself from persecution ○ Peter eventually became the first Pope of the Christian church and was crucified upside down ● The notes did state that Saint Paul used to persecute Christians ○ One day he had a vision and was temporarily blinded; after regaining his sight, he converted to Christianity and traveled throughout the empire to spread the faith ○ Many of Saint Paul’s letters have ended up in the New Testament of the Bible ○ Since early Christians were persecuted, Paul and others held secret meetings in underground catacombs As the Crash Course video you watched today explained, the Byzantine Empire kept a lot of Roman cultural customs. That’s where Constantine made his new capital. Turkey is located in a geographically strategic position:travel to the northwest and you’re in Europe, travel to the southwest and you’re in Africa; to the northeast is Asia and to the southeast is the Middle East. Over the years, the city of Byzantium in modern day Turkey has had many different names including Constantinople and Istanbul. In the days of Emperor Constantine, it was a Christian city, but even the Hagia Sophia shown above which began as a Christian Temple became an Islamic Mosque. Why did Rome fall? ● There are several different factors listed in the paragraph below that explain why the Roman Empire collapsed: ○ "Rome faced a series of crises that contributed to its decline. Some problems were military. The empire had expanded too far and had too many miles of border to protect. Without enough Roman troops to meet its needs, the empire had to hire barbarians to protect its frontier. At the same time the Roman economy was suffering from trade deficits. Large numbers of unemployed citizens lived off of government handouts, called the dole. Politically, a series of corrupt or incompetent rulers resulted in poor leadership and much infighting. Revolts occurred in Roman territories as the empire's hold weakened. These internal struggles weakened Rome's ability to react to threats from outside." Assessment of the Romans ● In Roman conquests of other lands, it was common to loot cities. There are stories of Caesar burning the harbor of Alexandria in Egypt if you recall. People were crucified, Christians were persecuted, and people were taxed. Then there’s the fact that they forced people to partake in deadly gladiator fights simply for the amusement of crowds in the Colosseum. When the Roman Empire fell, some people celebrated. So was this a truly evil empire? ○ Consider that the Romans continued to maintain classical Greek culture and they had a Representative Republic ● After the collapse of Rome, the Middle Ages in Europe began & some people call it the “Dark Ages” for a reason ○ Life expectancy rates went down...to about 36 years old in fact ○ Literacy rates went down ⇒ most peasants were unable to read ○ Sanitation got worse ⇒ people in close proximity of cities and villages often left waste in city streets (this causes the Black Death) ○ Cultural achievements were generally lacking until the Renaissance when people tried to revive the classical culture of Ancient Greece and Rome Assessment of the Romans ● The analysis on the previous slide begs the question: when you think of the future, what do you think of? ○ Large cities, with flying cars? Advanced technology? That’s what most people think of and it is certainly possible! ○ But if the collapse of the Roman Empire teaches us nothing else, it teaches us that Human History is not always about society and life improving, sometimes it gets worse ■ We need to apply this lesson to our lives, because we can’t take for granted that things will always be great...as we’ve seen this year, it is impossible to know how quickly things can turn from good to bad and how something unexpected can have lasting impacts on our lives ○ While there is one possible future that is a utopian society, there is another that is a dystopia ○ What could lead to another collapse in civilization? Could it be a nuclear war? A scarcity of natural resources? Assessment of the Romans ● That being said, it is also important to note that the “Dark” Ages weren’t so “Dark” everywhere: culture was thriving in places such as the Middle East and China while Europe was in decline ● Thanks for your work this week, have a great weekend!!!.

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