When most People Think of Romans Persecuting the Christians They Think of This Building the Roman Colosseum?
Also Known as the Flavian Amphitheater built in The Late 1st Century was Essentially an Ancient Entertainment Complex used for Gladiatorial
Battles Animal Hunts and yes Executions Although
We don't Have Any direct evidence That Christians were Executed in This Particular
Amphitheater The Stadium Execution Motif Shows Up Everywhere in Early Christian Literature Some of These Stories are very Graphic
Christians Are Pulled Limb by limb
[They're] Disemboweled by the Romans and in One Story that even Thrown Onto a frying Pan and Although Many of These Stories are Probably
Exaggerations the Historical Evidence, Is pretty Clear [That] Christians were Occasionally Executed by romans, However what is Usually ignored is why why?
Did Romans Execute Christians what was it About Christianity that Attracted This sort of violent Attention
When Talking about the Romans Persecuting the Christians the general public tends to do two things that I want to correct in this Video
One They tend to Downplay how
Well The Christians Actually got Along With Their Fellow Greeks and Romans in Two they tend [to] exaggerate These Persecutions?
Imagining that Romans Were Rounding up Christians by the Thousands Kicking Down Doors and Throwing Them to the lions [but] in fact the most Accurate
Historical Picture Lies Somewhere Between These Two assumptions Persecutions, were not Quite as Common as
We might Imagine and The Christians Actually got Along Pretty?
Well With Their Fellow Greeks and Romans so let's Tackle our First Assumption Which is the Tendency to exaggerate These?
Persecutions for the Most Part The Roman Persecutions of Christians was not universal but Rather
Sporadic and Local Let's use Nero as an Example the Roman Emperor who is Probably the most Famous Persecutor of Christians in
64 [Cea]
Huge Fire Destroyed Half of Rome and in Order to Escape Blame Nero [Scapegoat] [of] the Destruction on A weird new Cult Called
Christianity According [to] the Roman Historian Tacitus
Nero inflicted the Most
Exquisite Tortures on These Christians for being Implicated for Arson now Because of this Nero Goes on to become one of the most hated Figures
In Early Christianity but Notice that This wasn't an Empire-Wide
Edict nero's Persecution of Christians Only Occurred in Rome and Only lasted A few Years
We Can Assume that things were a little Quieter for Christians Elsewhere in The empire Another Early [example] Comes from a roman
Her Name Clinic in A famous
Correspondence Between
Emperor Trajan and Pliny When he Asks for Advice on how to deal [With] this new Cult that has Popped Up in his Province of
Athenian He Said he Executed A few [Christians] but by and Large he Really
Didn't know how to prosecute Them I have Never attended hearings Concerning Christians so I'm unaware what is Usually punished or?
Investigated and to What extent and Trajan writes Back With A
Surprisingly Tolerant Answer You Have Followed the
Appropriate Procedure and Examining the Cases of Those Brought before you as Christians for no general rule Can
Be laid Down Which Would establish A?
Definite Routine
Christians Are not to be Sought out
Notice Here That Neither Plenty or Trajan have it out for Christians There is no Demonic anger Here or malicious Intent but Rather
We see two Confused Politicians trying to deal With what They See as a local problem [Christians] by and large
Were ignored by the vast Majority of Roman Politicians Throughout the empire and This Makes Perfect sense Because even Though
We may view Rome as the Paragon of legislative power it Actually was Woefully under governed There
Was just Too Many People and Too few Administrators in fact the Historian Peter Brown Probably one of the greatest Historians of Late Antiquity?
Surmises That Even in A, well-Regulated Province like egypt There was One Administrator for Every 10,000 People so no
Wonder That Most Christians Worshiped under the Radar so yes Christians did die under the legal system of the Roman empire
Guys Like Nero and Pliny did indeed Execute Christians but We Should Think of These events as more Sporadic and Local Phenomena big events?
Empire wide events Are much more Rare and Didn't start Cropping up until much Later in Christian History the two that are Best
Documented in Our sources are the Persecutions under Decius and 250 and Emperor Diocletian in 303 in 250 C
II and for [Decius] sent out an Edict to prosecute Anyone who refused to offer a sacrifice on Behalf of the Roman Emperor
Although Christians Are Not Explicitly Targeted Many Assume that the Christians
Were the intended Target since Many Christians Would have refused to do this so why
did These Persecutions Happen you
May Have Noticed that I was Calling Christianity at Cult Earlier in This Video
That's Because I'm Trying to Emphasize how the romans Would have viewed Christianity not the, well-established World Religion that
We see today but Rather a small and Poorly Understood group that Would have struck the Romans as very weird?
Roman Religion was not like modern Religions in fact The Latin Word Religio Where
We get our english Word?
Religion Really has Nothing [to] do With our modern Definitions of Religion rather than a system of Beliefs and Practices As
We try to define Religion Today religio was the Proper Traditional Honours Page of the Gods and This, was done Through Action?
Sacrificing to the Gods at public State-Funded Temples
Attending Sanctioned Festivals and Donating Money To One of the Civic Cults Everything About Religio was Public and Deeply Tied to
Politics From The Roman Point of view Religio Brought Order and Harmony to the empire Because it fostered good Relations with the Gods
Many Scholars See This as the Impetus underlying dcss Persecution in 250
He wasn't so much Trying to target Christians as much as he?
Was trying To bolster the Patriotic piety of the Roman Empire?
Christians Were Just Caught in The Crossfire [but] not all religious Actions
Were good and Proper to the romans Point of view Religion that was Considered excessive Irregular and secretive was Called Superstition
Where We get the english Word for Superstition Religio and Super-City are not so much polar Binaries as much as
Superstition Is Just A dangerous in A legitimate Form of Religio it's A sort of social Blunder that you do before the Gods and While
Religio was Useful for Maintaining Roman Solidarity and social order?
Superstition was A destabilizing Factor to the roman State and According to the romans Christianity, was Solidly in the super City?
Oakham Plenty who I mentioned Earlier [calls] Christianity A depraved an excessive Superstition and Though this might sound weird to us today because
Christianity Is so Mainstream [to] the roman Point of view it Makes perfect sense
Christianity was A tiny illegal Cult that Could Potentially Destabilizing
Order First of all Christians don't Participate in The Civic Sacrifices if Good Improper Religion Requires Giving
Sacrifices in The Whole City Participating the Sacrifice
Imagine How antisocial and
[Isolationist] This Would Have Appeared if Some Christians Didn't Participate to Make Matters Worse they meet in Small Groups in Their Houses
That's Way Too secretive for good Proper Roman Religio that Requires you to be out in Public
Donating Statues and Inscriptions to the Major Temples and to seal the deal not all but Many
Christians Refuse to Sacrifice on Behalf of the Roman Emperor this is like Refusing to pledge allegiance to the [state] you May as
Well Out Yourself as a potential Traitor so Christianity from the Roman Perspective of good [Old-Timer] Lydia
Was too new Too Secretive and Too weird to Avoid?
Suspicion it was Only a Matter of Time [before] Roman Governors Started to Discourage Christianity Through Legislation
Or by Force [Now] the Reasons underlying the Roman Persecutions and Christianity are
Complex but A lot of it has to do With Christianity being labeled as super stick to you
Christianity Along With A few other foreign Cults Were viewed as Potentially Problematic Groups at Different Times but
We shouldn't ignore that Many Christians live?
Perfectly normal Lives under The Roman Empire the Romans Were Relatively Taller when it Comes to foreign Religions and We have evidence like in the
City of [Dura] [Europos] [on] The Eastern Border of The Roman Empire That Christians and Jews Live Peacefully Side-By-Side With
Traditional Greek and Roman Religions in Fact Many Christians were Perfectly Happy [to] Sacrifice to the Emperor and attend Their Weekly meetings on Sunday
For Most of its Early History [the] Persecution of Christians was a local and Sporadic
Phenomenon That Really Depended on The Whims of a local Population or Politician even The largest and Most extensive
Anti-Christian Persecution under Emperor Diocletian in The Early 4th Century Came to a quick end Once Constantine Came to power With
Constantine as A new Political Patron of [Christianity] Christian Groups are Quickly, able to establish Themselves Both Politically and Financially
Ironically They Turn the tables on the traditional Greco-Roman Religions in Just A few Years Within decades Christian Emperor's were
Legislating The Destruction of Temples Or Outlawing Public Sacrifices for Many of the Same Political
Reasons I'm not Saying This to absolve the Romans of Blame or to Paint the Christians as the real Bad Guys in Antiquity but Rather
To [Show] that the Reasons Underlying Religious Persecutions are not Always Obvious and They May Change Depending on the Context in Which they Kurt
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