Background

Roman Religion

The Roman religion had existed longer than Christianity. The Roman religion was similar to that of the Greeks. They saw their gods as protectors of their cities and in battles. The Romans and Greeks relied on the gods for good harvests and safe traveling. There were usually temples built for the gods where there were living sacrifices to the gods.

During the reign of Emperor Augustus, a man called Jesus started a new religion. It spread throughout the Earth due to people who preached about the gospel. The gospel was the story that Jesus was resurrected and that he died for the people’s sins. The followers were called Christians or Christiani in Latin. They received this name from the Romans. The Romans named every religion after the founder. For instance, the people who followed Hercules were called Heraclists (Wilken 34).

Christians Outcasts?

In Rome these people were seen as outcasts. They did not worship like other people did. There were no animal sacrifices, women and men could worship together, and there were no priests or priestesses. Instead, they came together once a week and worshiped their god because they all had the common beliefs of the religion. They sang songs, ate, and fellowshipped together. These meetings seemed secretive to the Romans. The Christians also refused to worship the emperor like everyone else or to burn incense at the altars of the emperor, which made the Romans think that the Christians were not loyal (Wilken 45).

The actions of the Christians made some of the politicians feel threatened and upset. For instance, one man named Celsus wrote about his theories of the Christians. He said they formed a group against the Roman laws (Wilken 45). However, some Romans attempted to learn more about this religion. Pliny, a Roman governor, was known for writing his observations of the Christians. Wilken wrote about one of Pliny's interviews:

After Pliny had passed judgement on the second group of Christians brought before him, he decided to interrogate two Christian slavewomen. He had heard rumors about Christians rites and wished to inquire further into what the Christians actually did when they gathered together. The women told him that when Christians assembled they shared a common meal, sang hymns, prayed, and exhorted one another to live God-pleasing lives. After the interview Pliny wrote Trajan to report that he had not turned up any new information. All he found wrote Pliny, was a "depraved superstition carried to extravagant lengths." (48)

Like Pliny, most Romans saw Christians as superstitious people. ". . . the term superstition referred to beliefs and practices that were foreign and strange to the Romans" (Wilken 50). They clearly did not understand the new religion. They thought of Christianity as another fad religion similar to the Mithras cult (Hutchinson and Garrison 18).

History and Thought of Western Man
Rich East High School * Park Forest, IL 60466

This page was created by J.S. Lasted revised 11/13/99.

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