Why did the Romans persecute the early christians?

Answer 1

There are many answers to the question. The earliest Roman author we have speaking on the subject is Tacitus, who in Annals XV talks about the Christians as being a 'vile sect' and being persecuted by the Emperor Nero. Originally they were charged with starting the great Fire of Rome (which Nero may have started himself), but the fact that they refused to worship the Emperor as a god and the Roman deities (Jupiter, Mars, Venus, etc.) made them abhorrent to Roman culture.

Early Christians face persecution from the Romans because they refused to worship Roman gods. This refusal was seen as opposition to Roman rule.

Answer 2

They really didn't. The Romans were pretty tolerant of the variety of religions within their empire. As the empire expanded they refrained from imposing their own beliefs. The Roman authorities hesitated for a long time how to react to the cult of Christianity and eventually saw it as subversive and potentially dangerous. Christian's also seemed to threaten the principle of religious freedom and tolerance which guaranteed peace among all people in the empire. They refused to worship Caesar and to the Romans this was disloyalty. The persecution began with Nero's slaughtering in 64 AD and this was only sporadically an event. Yet it is the one that is remembered. Towards the end of the first century Christians severed ties with Judaism and established itself as an independent religion. With this separation Christianity emerged as an unknown religion to Romans. Thus, they became suspicious of the religion and rumors talked about of secret ritual and things like child sacrifice. The revolts in Judaea in the second century just added to repression by the Romans and they were persecuted for beliefs of not giving reverence to the gods and the emperor. This was civil disobedience to the Romans. The great persecutions of AD 165-180 under Marcus Aurelius included acts committed upon Christians of Lyon in AD 177. This was a period defined by Christians understanding of martyrdom. Christianity is often portrayed as a religion of the poor and slaves, but in reality the wealthy and influential people were involved.