The Pax Romana is described as a golden age for the Ancient Roman empire. A golden age is defined as a time with peace, order, unity, and prosperity. The Pax Romana was about 200 years long between the rule of Augustus to the rule of Marcus Aureliuz. The Pax Romana led to peace and prosperity as a result of trade and stable government. Specifically, trade expanded throughout the Mediterranean, creating wealth, and the Roman Republic created stability.
Despite the knowledge that it was dangerous to contradict Roman beliefs, they continued to refer to themselves as Christians. As Document G exhibits how Christianity was governed, Pliny the Younger a Roman Judge interrogated whomever claimed to be Christan and persistently threatened them with punishment until they were executed for their stubbornness (Doc G). However, this did not fear the Christians because they knew that Jesus was with them protecting them from harm. Within Roman society the belief in immortality was very difficult, they believed when you die you would be judged by a Roman god (Styx) to then be sent into one of the two afterworlds. As the religious historian, Helemt Koester states that the Christan community was an interest to many because of the promises of a future life free of sickness, poverty, and hatred (Doc B).
The Romans society, culture, religion, and government were influenced by the Etruscans. The Etruscan used fasces and Roman society were no different, the fasces was a political symbol, judicial, military, and religious authority. It represented civil authority and the power over life and death. The actual fasces was a bundle of birch sticks with bronze blades attached to it. They were carried by lictors, which were civil servants and they would protect the magistrates, acting as bodyguards.
The Pax Romana was a period of peace and stability after years of civil war. It renewed the citizens’ hope and for a while, trade flourished, they had a steady transfer of power set up by preceding emperors, stopping any more civil wars over leaders. They also had strong virtues regarding loyalty, government, family, and honor. Soon the period ended bringing with it pandemonium and poverty. Their sufficiency in trade decreased and slaves took the place of paid workers making the gap between rich and poor widen bringing with it an increase in class tensions.
Roman religion had two types of cults. The first religion was the native cult that supported what the state said and was supported by the state. The second was the imported oriental cultures. Religion is talked about in a positive way in the book. The roman women sought joy and release from religion and were included in festivities.
From the earliest days of Roman society, religion played a central role in every aspect of life. However, by the time Caesar was assassinated, somewhat of an erosion of religion’s importance had taken place and many desired a return to those lost religious practices. Augustus had similar aspirations and introduced the imperial cult to both foster the restoration of lost religious traditions by deifying him and others who would serve as emperor. In addition, the imperial cult was used to control the population and included measures to take against those who failed to participate in its practice.1 Augustus demonstrated great adeptness in fostering a culture that accepted the imperial cult ideology.
The Roman Empire has been well known for its religious believes, mostly being Christianity; however, there in one particular cult name Isis that spread within the Empire through the years. Cults are a small group of people that have religious beliefs toward a particular person or thing. The cults were often based on sacred stories that involve rituals and promise a better afterlife. These cults were called mysterious due to the involvement of secret ceremonies. The mysterious Isis cult had a strong impact in the Roman Empire and all over the Mediterranean.
Suetonius: Lives of the Caesars Introduction: The historian Suetonius compiled an organized biography of the Caesars, starting with the reign of the Deified Julius Caesar, and ending with the reign of Domitian. His organization was very precise. He started his biographies with the lineage of the Emperor and the roles they had in society, next he followed with the birthdate of the Emperor he was talking about, then he listed their military characteristics (if any applied), and he concluded with the physical descriptions of that Emperor as well as the death of that particular Emperor. When discussing themes in the book, there are numerous to choose from.
Julius Caesar was a famous leader of the roman empire with a lot of power. However, the senate was giving Pompey benefits, and refusing to give the same to caesar. This angered caesar, so he broke the law forbidding a general without imperium to cross the river rubicon.
Strong civil rights activist Booker T Washington and W.E.B Dubois. Both helped us get our freedom, but what was their strategy? Both men had their story. Although Washington and Dubois had different views on how African Americans could get their equal rights, both of them where civil rights leaders that helped everyone. With their encouragement African Americans received their freedom.
The Roman Emperors continued to use the religion to affect the Egyptians and stabilize their rule in Egypt, although they were not ruling from Egypt as there was the praefectus who was usually represented in the Egyptian form. During the Roman period the practices and beliefs of the sacred animals in Egypt continued but less than the Ptolemaic period and vanishes with the appearance of the Christian religion. To the eyes of the Romans, the representation of the gods in an animal form was inappropriate, in truth a scandal. This is testified by a scene by Virgil, talking about the last battle against Cleopatra, about the confrontation between the venerable divinities of Rome and the barber Orient, which is also a victory of a religious universe
Once Vespasian became emperor, the Flavian Empire had to do something better. To condemn Nero’s memory, Vespasian wanted to build something more magnificent. The main parts of the Golden House were destroyed and Nero’s lake was drained to build the Flavian Amphitheater, also known as the Colosseum. Similarly to the Domus Aurea, the Colosseum stands as a spectacular monument of the Roman Empire with remarkable architecture and engineering. But, traces of the Domus Aurea could still be seen.
The Roman Empire regarded males higher than they valued female children, with a daughter’s chances of being reared being less than her brother’s . If a father decided his new-born daughter was not to be reared, there was no law to prevent him from offering it to the Gods by exposing the child on a mountain, leaving the child to die, in hope that it would be rescued by a wealthy family or raised in service2. The sex ratio found from the tombstones in both Alexandria and Pompeii indicated that there were more adult males in the population1, which indicates that selected infanticide occurred, with more males reared than females. However, this under-commemoration of females could be indicative of the Roman valuation of males over females, since in general, a population should have an equal number of males and females.
This creates a interesting question about Egypt and Rome. How did the way Egyptian deities, specifically Isis and Osiris, were viewed change between the Egyptian and Roman empires? In this essay, I will argue that the way that Isis and Osiris were viewed through their mythology changed across cultures. This is evident through the way they were worshipped, depicted in artwork, and shown in mythology in each of the cultures. One of the ways that the way that Isis and Osiris were viewed changed is in worship.
The story uses historical fiction to highlight the relationship between religion and science at the time amidst the decline of Greco-Roman polytheism
