Adina Samuels
Latin 3
Ms. Hatmaker
18.1.2010
Christian Persecution
The Roman Empire is well known and regarded for their inclusion of other religions in its own. So why did the Roman Empire attack Christianity with the intensity that they did? The reason is as easy as looking at the death of Jesus of Nazareth. In Christian beliefs, Jesus died as a martyr for human sins. But for Romans, who were there ones that crucified him, Jesus died a criminal and an enemy of Rome. That may be the main reason why Romans persecuted Christians and not Jews.
When the Jews had their own nation and the Romans conquered and controlled it, they had an idea of what the Jewish religion was about and what they were doing. Christianity, however, never had the chance to thrive as a nation, so it remained mostly underground. When there is a group of people who practice a religion that no one knows about, rumors can easily emerge. This could be another reason.
The rumor that really started the persecution of Christians was under the reign of Nero. In the year 64 a fire started that devastated Rome and ruined its economy. This fire was at first thought to be started by Nero. To avoid trouble from this Nero and his advisor used the Christians as a scapegoat in order to evade the rebellion of the people. This rumor successfully calmed the roman people, and lead to mass execution of the Christians. This set the attitude towards Christians for the next few hundred years.
After a couple hundred years of minor persecution, the Diocletian took the throne and, backed by Maximian and Galerius, started withdrawing laws that previously protected Christians and issued a series of edicts that demanded they comply with traditional religious practices or die. The first edict stated that Christian churches should be burned down, Christians could not be defended in court, and any Christian of rank would be stripped of their title. At first, the edict was requested to be carried out peacefully by Diocletian. The judges instead listened to Gallerias who requested all Christians to be burned. The rest of the edicts stated that Christians needed to attend ritual sacrifices and if they choose not to they would die.
The rumor that really started the persecution of Christians was under the reign of Nero. In the year 64 a fire started that devastated Rome and ruined its economy. This fire was at first thought to be started by Nero. To avoid trouble from this Nero and his advisor used the Christians as a scapegoat in order to evade the rebellion of the people. This rumor successfully calmed the roman people, and lead to mass execution of the Christians. This set the attitude towards Christians for the next few hundred years.
After a couple hundred years of minor persecution, the Diocletian took the throne and, backed by Maximian and Galerius, started withdrawing laws that previously protected Christians and issued a series of edicts that demanded they comply with traditional religious practices or die. The first edict stated that Christian churches should be burned down, Christians could not be defended in court, and any Christian of rank would be stripped of their title. At first, the edict was requested to be carried out peacefully by Diocletian. The judges instead listened to Gallerias who requested all Christians to be burned. The rest of the edicts stated that Christians needed to attend ritual sacrifices and if they choose not to they would die.
This behavior is unfair considering it is based solely on rumors and lies. Among other things, had Nero taken the fall for his actions as opposed to blaming the Christians, a lot of this “drama” could have been avoided.
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