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The Romans had their own well established religion, purified by their legendary king, Numa, centuries ago. But any religion, however strange, was welcome so long as it did not claim to be the sole way to the truth. To the Romans, with their many gods, monotheism was strange, which they therefore called the Jewish superstition. Besides they were by far the most powerful nation of the time, and could not believe that an obscure rleigious figure from Judaea could be the Messiah. Marcus Aurelius, the philosophically enlightened emperor, disapproved of the "sheer oppositon" of the Christians, who, following Paul, generally refused meat which had been offered to what they denounced as idols. Cicero, a contemporay of Julius Caesar, wrote learned books expounding the practices of Roman religion. Augustus, in whose time Jesus was born, inaugurated a great age of peace and of architectural (he "found Rome brick and left it marble") and literary ( Virgil, Horace) achievement, which meant that Romans considered themselves especially blessed, without any any need for an imported religion and one (and this is important) which considered all other religions false or at best partial. And Christians were considered the source of civil dissension in the Empire. Finally, in the 4th century, Constantine converted to Christianity, which then became the official religion of the Empire. Edward Gibbons' great work "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" looks at Christianity in relation to Rome in a critical spirit. But the Emperor Julian took the eastern Empire (the Western Empire had indeed fallen) back to its ancestral religion and became known as the Apostate.

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How roman empire cope with the notion that Jesus is God?

The Romans did not have much of a problem with this notion. There were many religions in the areas they conquered and they respected their religions and customs. Therefore, they were not bother about other creeds. The problems that some of the Roman Emperors had with Christianity was that the Christians refused to comply with their orders. The first persecutions followed an order that everyone in the empire should perform the sacrifices of Roman religion. Many Christians refused to do so and were persecuted. To the Romans, politics, the state and their religion were intertwined. A refusal to comply was seen as a threat to the state. Eventually, Christianity became the religion of the masses of the empire and was then adopted by the emperors in the Late Empire. Mainstream Christianity became state religion in 380 (dissident sects were banned and persecuted).


Why were christians considered disloyal to the Roman Empire?

The number of Christians started to grow, so the Romans saw them as a threat to Roman order and patriotism.The Romans believed they were favoured by the gods because of their devotion to them. They even brought the images, statues and sacred objects of the gods of some of the tribes that they conquered to Rome, so that they could show devotion to them.In this sense, because Christians did not honour the traditional gods, they were considered to be a danger to the welfare of the Roman state. While this was not necessarily a universally held opinion, this attitude seems to have influenced Emperor Decius, who in 250, soon after becoming emperor, declared that everyone had to declare that they supported the (traditional) gods. This led to the first empire-wide persecution of Christians.The same religious conservatism, and a fear that Christians in the army were hindered the prayers to the gods for military success, was probably behind the Great Persecution, begun by Emperor Diocletian and his colleagues in 303, which continued off-and-on until 313, when the last of these persecutors, and one of the most determined, eventually gave up.In the meantime, Constantine (now a co-emperor) won a victory in a civil war in Italy against a usurper, and at the time believed that he had been aided by the Christian god. This changed the dynamics of the situation, and it turned out to be a long-lasting change, with Constantine eventually coming to a better understanding of the Christian faith.In its early years, Christianity was too small to be thought by many to be a threat to the Roman Empire. We do find in the epistles (for example 1 Peter: "you are a holy nation") obscure references that could suggest that some Christians felt themselves independent of secular rule, but these would have passed unnoticed by the Roman people.By the third century, there were enough Christians for people to notice if the Christians refused to abide by the same rules as everyone else. People were becoming aware that Christians paid more obedience to their bishops than to the civil authorities, and even had their own courts.Christians incurred the displeasure of the pagan Roman government because they did not seem entirely loyal. They were becoming a threat to the proper governance of the Roman Empire, which required respect for the civil authorities and obedience to the law. At last, there were three periods of widespread, official persecution in 249-51, 257 and 303-311.As an example of treason or desertion, Edward Gibbon mentions Marcellus, the centurion who threw away his arms and the ensigns of his office, and exclaimed with a loud voice that he would obey none but Jesus Christ the eternal King, and that he renounced forever the use of carnal weapons and the service of an idolatrous master. The soldiers, as soon as they recovered from their astonishment, secured the person of Marcellus, who was condemned and beheaded for the crime of desertion. Examples like this savour less of persecution than of martial or even civil law, but they served to alienate the emperors.


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Pericles promoted imperialism. Sparta was the isolationist and considered as threat to the Athenian Empire.


Why did rome tolerate the eastern mystery religions but persecute early Christianity?

Rome tolerated the eastern mystery cults because they posed no threat to the empire. The Romans were very tolerant of othes' religious beliefs and only banned or persecuted them if they were decadent or treasonous. Christianity was considered both.Rome tolerated the eastern mystery cults because they posed no threat to the empire. The Romans were very tolerant of othes' religious beliefs and only banned or persecuted them if they were decadent or treasonous. Christianity was considered both.Rome tolerated the eastern mystery cults because they posed no threat to the empire. The Romans were very tolerant of othes' religious beliefs and only banned or persecuted them if they were decadent or treasonous. Christianity was considered both.Rome tolerated the eastern mystery cults because they posed no threat to the empire. The Romans were very tolerant of othes' religious beliefs and only banned or persecuted them if they were decadent or treasonous. Christianity was considered both.Rome tolerated the eastern mystery cults because they posed no threat to the empire. The Romans were very tolerant of othes' religious beliefs and only banned or persecuted them if they were decadent or treasonous. Christianity was considered both.Rome tolerated the eastern mystery cults because they posed no threat to the empire. The Romans were very tolerant of othes' religious beliefs and only banned or persecuted them if they were decadent or treasonous. Christianity was considered both.Rome tolerated the eastern mystery cults because they posed no threat to the empire. The Romans were very tolerant of othes' religious beliefs and only banned or persecuted them if they were decadent or treasonous. Christianity was considered both.Rome tolerated the eastern mystery cults because they posed no threat to the empire. The Romans were very tolerant of othes' religious beliefs and only banned or persecuted them if they were decadent or treasonous. Christianity was considered both.Rome tolerated the eastern mystery cults because they posed no threat to the empire. The Romans were very tolerant of othes' religious beliefs and only banned or persecuted them if they were decadent or treasonous. Christianity was considered both.


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