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How Does Religion Influence Rome?

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Rome needed a powerful way to control a huge population. Religion was a key power in governing and influencing Rome. Rome was an extremely large society. With such a large population, controlling the masses was required to keep Rome successful and powerful. Since the beginning of Rome’s history, religion had a profound impact on every citizen. The biggest belief in the Roman religion was that “spirits inhabited everything around them, people included. The first citizens of Rome also believed they were watched over by the spirits of their ancestors” (Wasson). There were a number of unique, individual gods that Romans believed in. The gods characterized feelings and emotions like love and hate, they characterized material things such as plants …show more content…

Originally, Christianity was kept hidden and small from the general public, but it was able to spread and grow discreetly. As the religion gained more and more attention in Rome, followers of the original Roman belief claimed “the Christian refusal to sacrifice to the Roman gods [...] was an insult to the gods and potentially endangered the empire which they deigned to protect” (Rockliffe). As a result, Christians were targeted for persecution and humility. Christians were seen as a direct opposition to Roman rules. The hatred of Christians spread throughout the empire, claims and accusations against Christians ranged from incest and cannibalism. All of these accusations show the massive impact religion can have on such a large empire. Hate and intolerance against Christians continued to flow through the empire through many emperors. However, in 312 A.D, Constantine would be the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. The sudden conversion of an anti-Christian empire still baffles historians today, but in the end, Constantine’s total conversion of the Roman empire would ultimately change it forever. Constantine founded Constantinople, the potential new capital for Christian Rome, he created churches, temples, and holy symbols throughout the empire. Also, Christians gained more rights and positions in the government, all because of

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In the Roman Empire, Christianity was not freely practiced until Constantine became emperor and converted to Christianity. Romans were polytheists, and Diocletian, who was emperor of the Roman Empire before Constantine, increased the persecution of Christians. In his Life of Constantine, Eusebius recorded Constantine’s conversion to Christianity after he heard God’s command, “Use in his Wars a Standard made in the Form of the Cross” (Eusebius Ch. XXVIII) before battle with Maxentius, and after he won that battle Constantine converted to Christianity. In Life of Constantine, Eusebius only portrays Constantine as a good Christian emperor.

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This changed when Constantine, a Roman emperor, became a Christian, which lead to the large majority of

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Christianity in Rome For centuries, Roman civilization held fast to polytheistic beliefs they had adopted from Greek culture. During the reign of Emperor Constantine, Roman society swiftly transitioned to the monotheism of Christianity, which it continues to be known for today. The Roman Emperor made Christianity the official religion because he had a vision, he believed that the old emperor Maxentius hated Christians, and he thought it would improve the Roman Empire (“Roman empire”). These three reasons is why the emperor chose Christianity for the religion in Rome.

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Wolfe HIST 207 February 5, 2023 Throughout all of Rome’s history, the Roman people relied on their strong religious beliefs to make sense of the world. The Roman gods gave purpose and reason to the Roman people and drove them to expand Roman culture. The gods gave a basis for the Roman virtues and enabled the Roman people to develop their culture and traditions to the rest of the Mediterranean. The roman people held in high esteem their religious values and avoided any philosophy that denied the gods. The roman poet Horace warns in his “odes'' that the people need to cling to their religion to preserve Rome and warns them against turning away from the gods.

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The Romans evolved and modified Greek ideas to fit their values and socioeconomic framework. Roman religious traditions, for instance, were more structured and focused on preserving the gods’ favor to safeguard the state and its citizens (Grant, 2022). On the other hand, Greek religion placed more emphasis on close personal ties with the gods and was hence more individualistic. Romans also had their distinctive gods that weren’t part of the Greek pantheon. Roman-specific deities included Vesta, the goddess of the hearth, and Janus, the deity of beginnings and transitions (Grant, 2022).

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The views on Christianity throughout Rome changed immensely from the early years of the empire through the fourth century. For a while, Christians were looked at as a threat to many because of their belief in monotheism. Nero and his followers persecuted and punished the lower class and women who followed Christianity as well as use them as political scapegoats. As time went on, the tolerance for Christianity in Rome grew and Christianity gained acceptance. By the fourth century, Christianity was the official religion in Rome.

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Romans are viewed by many as people who lacked morals in their religion. Without a written code of morals, the Roman religion was viewed as sacrifices to appease the gods and maintain pax deorum. Some say it had nothing to do with morality, however roman religion was more than just sacrifices to the gods. Roman religion had a system of priests to interpret right and wrong. They used these interpretations to determine their standing with the gods and based their morals and actions on those that would be approved by the gods.

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Religion assumed a vital part in the day by day life of Ancient Rome and the Romans. Roman religion was based on divine beings and clarifications for occasions generally included the heavenly beings somehow. The Romans believed that heavenly beings controlled their lives and, thus, spent a lot of their time revering them. Jupiter was the most important god. He was the ruler of divine beings.

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the Roman god of war Religion was a big role in Rome. If bad things happened, it meant that the

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The privacy executed by followers of Christ in the early years of its establishment made the Roman state nervous about what may be discussed, as it was unknown to outsiders what occurred during meetings. Historian Jeff Anderson, in an extract written for a university lecture, discusses the status of Christianity in the Roman world; he says that in the ancient world, Christianity was simply “lumped together” (Anderson, 1999) with other mystery religions. Implicitly, this suggests that the Roman state did not understand the beliefs and rituals of Christianity, therefore simply placing it under a general description of “mystery” and in turn developing bias judgements against the religion. However, this was an unfair judgement as Christianity had many advantages for its followers, including the appointment of equal status to all members, removing all ethnic and social barriers. However, “this appalled men like Apuleius, an educated Roman of the upper-classes…”

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Christianity and Judaism were the two primary religions in Rome. The Catholic Church held power, as Christianity was the main religion and held influential on the people. This religion influenced the lifestyle of the Roman People, as the majority of the people were Christian. Secondly, the Roman people were settlers, and created large, powerful cities. The cities that the Romans created were large, included the Hippodrome, Mese, Housing, and the Imperial Palace.

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In Rome, the emperor was worshipped as a god. And people who didn’t follow the traditional Roman polytheism couldn’t worship him. He used common religions to gain political power and control over the people. Christians were the main focus of religious persecution in Imperial Rome. They were monotheistic, so their inability to worship the emperor as a god threatened his power.

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Throughout ancient history, having the title “Roman” brought great pride and joy to people. The peace, unity, stability and safeness they felt was what made a Roman citizen feel power. Religion also plays a huge role within the society because it was what governed the people’s thoughts and environment. The Romans relied on a pox deorum relationship with the gods, which was based on Romans keeping the gods happy so that they can in return be blessed (Messner 1-22-2018). However, there are new religions and new gods being brought up quite frequently.

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Religion was important to the Romans, the story of Jesus Christ and the bible played a heavy role in

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Roman society has revolved around religion since the first century. The religion in Rome prospered over time from Mythology to Christianity, which is still the main religion of Rome today. Alongside Judaism, Christianity is one of the most important religions not only in Rome, but around the whole world. Although the beliefs and rituals changed over time, Roman religion played an important role in the development of Rome’s society today.

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