T owards the end of the third century, an emperor named Diocletian (r. 284-305) had finally proved able to stabilise imperial government after 50 years of regime change and violence. In 293, he established a college of four emperors, all senior generals unrelated to one another except by marriage. The idea was to ensure that one emperor would always be on hand to deal with any outbreak of violence and to prevent rebellion or civil war. Diocletian intended for himself and his senior colleague to retire a research report, after which their junior partners would bring two new emperors into the imperial college to replace them. The goal was to ensure a handover of power at a convenient and peaceful moment so that the framework of government would remain undisturbed. But Diocletian’s intentions were thwarted by rivalries, in which Christianity played an important role. The middle and late third century also witnessed the first dramatic outpouring of Christian theological works. Some of these theological works focus on detailing heresies – wrong beliefs – of which there was already a rich variety. Because Christianity centred so much on beliefs rather than ritual behaviours, the policing of what did and did not constitute true and acceptable belief has always preoccupied Christian theologians and been a central dynamic in Christian politics. That a world religion should have emerged from an oriental cult in a tiny and peculiar corner of Roman Palestine is nothing short of extraordinary. Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew, though an eccentric one, and here the concern is not what the historical Jesus did or did not believe. We know that he was executed for disturbing the Roman peace during the reign of the emperor Tiberius, and that some of his followers then decided that Jesus was not merely another regular prophet, common in the region. Rather, he was the son of the one true god company background essay, and he had died to bring salvation to those who would follow him. While theologians have always been able to render Christianity subtle to the point of incomprehensibility, to many it has always appeared breathtakingly simple: ‘Believe exclusively in the Christian god, who is the one and only god, and you will find eternal life.’ On earth the book report network, Christianity offered community, and it offered support – dining, celebrating, working and playing together examples of a 3 paragraph essay, people who would bury you if you died. In a cosmopolitan Roman empire, where cities sucked in expendable labour from the countryside, and where artisans and craftsmen had to travel a very long way from home, that kind of community could not be taken for granted or created casually. Christians would and did look after one another, sometimes exclusively so. Stricter Christians didn’t mix with non-Christians. More importantly, they didn’t worship other gods along with their one god. Much of ancient civic life – the holidays and public festivities which were many people’s only opportunity to eat any quantity of meat – was wrapped up in sacrifice to the various deities of a flexible and syncretic Greco-Roman pantheon. Good Christians were expected to shun these celebrations, the festivals and ceremonies their fellow townsfolk kept at the centre of their social lives. That made Christians very strange. In the meantime, in 306, Constantius’s son Constantine had succeeded his father in the imperial college. Within five years, Constantine had made himself master of the western Roman empire and openly embraced Christianity. Always sympathetic to Christians, he claimed to have had a divine vision that helped lead his troops, flying Christian symbols on their standards, to victory in civil war in 312. The most reductionist reading of the evidence would say that types of outlines for essays, in 310, Constantine saw a solar halo, a rare but well-documented celestial phenomenon, in the south of France and in the company of his army, but Constantine’s account of events changed over the years and we can’t be sure. We can say with greater certainty that for several years he wavered between Christian and non-Christian interpretations of the sign. He eventually decided, to the delight of the Christian leaders in his entourage, that he had been sent a sign by the Christian God. He became a Christian, as a matter of belief and perhaps policy too. Of course, the eccentricity of neighbours begins to look more sinister when life gets difficult and livelihoods grow tenuous. A Christian exclusivity that was also status-blind could look suspicious – so there were occasional pogroms, though surprisingly few: the pornographic violence of martyrologies pay for homework essay, the tormented saints of a million works of Catholic art, were the loving harvest of later centuries, not any ancient reality. Like all empires, the Roman state hated disorder more than anything, and violence that disturbed the public peace was not encouraged. Technically 5 paragraph essay writer, for a time, Christianity was illegal (its god had been nailed to a cross like a common bandit after all). But a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy was easier on everyone, not least the emperors. As the letters of the emperor Trajan make crystal clear, Christians were not to be sought out or persecuted unless they made themselves a conspicuous nuisance, at which point they had no one but themselves to blame for their fates. B y the third century, Christian communities had grown. One would have been hard-pressed to find even a modest town without a Christian household or three. From a fringe movement, Christianity had become a central fact of urban life. Yet the religion’s normalisation made it suddenly vulnerable in the middle of the third century, when – thanks to dynastic instability, epidemic disease and military incompetence – imperial government went into a potentially terminal decline. The Jews had kept themselves separate for as long as anyone could remember, but Greeks and Romans were used to that. Jewish communities were concentrated, nowhere large essay on myself example, and they were exempt from mandatory participation in a public cult. Around the Mediterranean, people could look at Jews with a sort of tolerant, if uncomprehending, disdain. But Greeks and Romans sitting out the traditional cult of their own cities made no sense. Were these monotheist Christians pretty much the same as atheists, refusing to give the divine its due? What exactly did they get up to in their exclusive meetings? What was this business about eating their lord’s body? Were they cannibals? Probably it was all just another eccentric. The world of ancient Rome, after all, was one in which initiates of one cult bathed in the spurting blood of a freshly slaughtered bull. Those of another passed the night in temples awaiting divine revelation and sleeping with the sacred priestesses. Some scholars now believe that Paul might have gone to Spain, not just talked about wanting to go. What matters is not whether Paul went there, or if he really was executed at Rome during the reign of the emperor Nero, but rather the person of Paul himself. When he was arrested as a threat to public order, his Jewish enemies having complained to the Romans, Paul needed only two words to change the balance of power – cives sum. ‘I am a citizen’ – a Roman citizen. The fact that he was a Roman citizen meant that, unlike Jesus, he could neither be handed over to the Jewish authorities for judgment nor summarily executed by an angry Roman governor. A Roman citizen could appeal to the emperor’s justice, and that is what Paul did. Get Aeon straight to your inbox The Severans and the Soldier-Emperors (193–284 A.D.) The Flavians (69–96 A.D.) W ith no strong leader to oppose him, Octavius, declared (27 BC) himself "Caesar Augustus" and first Emperor of Rome, initiating the great peace or "Pax Romana" which would last through 180 AD. Emperors to follow included (in order) Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero all toefl essay pdf, Vespasian, Titus, Domitian, and Trajan, whose reign (98-117 AD) marked the maximum extent of the Roman Empire. Then emperors Hadrian, Antonius Pius, and Marcus Aurelius essay in apa style, completing 200 years of peace. B y 133 BC, Rome had added Spain, northern Italy as far as the Alps, Greece, and present day Turkey to its map. In 55 BC Julius Caesar invaded Britain. By 70 AD Rome ruled every country that touched the Mediterranean, all of Europe, Egypt and the rest of Africa above the Sahara, grabbing more land with every passing year. Although the Roman empire was not the largest empire in total territory in world history (that distinction goes to the Mongols and the offspring of Genghis Khan), it was the greatest in "square miles continuously occupied per year", and had an influence in language, law, education, government, architecture, and culture that has never been equaled. As can be seen, the Roman Empire was great for its time in more ways that one, with its undefeatable strength and size. It was greater than the empires before it and even though it should seem that later empires should be more advanced and greater, the greatness of the Roman Empire still exceeded the later ones. In terms of land, they were great for they had conquered much during the Republic essay on paper, which gave them a head start on the Empire. As for a government, a sound one was set up by Augustus that continued to keep Rome under control even after he died. Rome s economy was in good shape because of their conquests and to make it even better, it was made so the poor had some wealth, too. Although it is claimed that the decline of the Roman Empire began after Augustus reign, it was a slow decline, not a sudden collapse. The Empire was still strong and thriving for many years. The Empire ended when the western part fell. In actuality, the Roman Empire did not end there. Because the western portion of the Empire was gone, the Empire was considered to be ended there. But the eastern half actually flourished for years to come. The Roman Empire was a great one and the accomplishments made during the time lived on after its existence of the empire. It was looked up to by other nations for its obvious greatness in size and strength, and the other aspects of this empire that made it so great. During the Roman Empire, there were many influences from different cultures of the different people they had conquered. Thus, Roman culture was adapted to many cultures. Two major aspects of culture that flourished were religion and literature. Romans took on Greek culture and became blended into a Greco Roman culture. Also Greek influences were the philosophies of Epicureanism and Stoicism. Stoicism taught that all was controlled by a superhuman power, and later beliefs developed from the popular philosophy. During the Empire, Christianity developed and Judaism spread as well. Judaism sprung a conquest of the Jews. Christianity was developed from Jesus, a Roman spread his teachings and beliefs which became to be a widespread religion. Literature also developed, taking on new forms. Patriotic works written about Rome, such as Livy s History and the Aeneid written by Virgil, were approved of by emperors. However, during the Empire, new forms developed in Latin literature where writers works were of criticism rather than patriotism; they mocked the society and politics of great Rome. Although the works mocked the Empire, they were of a new developed form during the Roman Empire at its peak and were tolerated. They were important as well, for they named the period of time the silver age of literature. Land was not a problem for Rome, for it had an abundance, more than any empire before, due to the gains from the Republic, which decreased the Romans will to conquer more land. Their ambitions, instead, pointed towards other aspects of civilization. In the peace of Pax Romana, they put their conquered lands and people into good use, having them flourish, as one unified empire, in terms of politics, economics and culture.
After the many wars during the Republic, there wasn t much of a government in Rome. During the last years of the Republic, rulers ruled according to what satisfied them. At the beginning of the Empire, however, Augustus set up a sound government that kept the Empire under control. He set up a system of policies with governing plans that assured him a strong government for such a large Empire. The Roman laws established by Augustus are still used in society today. Also established by Augustus was coinage throughout the whole empire, unifying the people. The Empire underwent a great reconstruction, a rebuild that was largest ever in history at the time. The outcome was so magnificent, the extravagant buildings made Rome look richer than ever, as if it was the capital of the world. Later empires look up to these spectacular accomplishments of the Romans.
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