religion and the roman empire
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Religion and the Roman Empire. Ms. Carmelitano. Early Religion. 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. Later Gods and Goddesses. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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