THE ROMAN EMPIRE

Rome had long governed as a republic, but civil wars during the first century BC destroyed the old political balance. Octavian defeated Mark Antony and Cleopatra and became the dominant ruler of the Roman world.

In 27 BC, the Senate granted him the title Augustus. He maintained republican offices and language while concentrating military, political, and religious authority in his own hands.

The imperial system promised stability after civil war. Augustus reorganized provinces, armies, taxation, public works, and the succession of authority. His achievements were celebrated as the restoration of peace and order.

Yet the new peace depended on victory and centralized power. The Roman world had not freely chosen one ruler in a modern democratic sense. Augustus emerged from civil conflict and maintained control over the legions.

Augustus ruled from 27 BC to AD 14. The Gospel of Luke places the birth of Christ within his reign and within a world affected by imperial registration and taxation.

Tiberius ruled from AD 14 to 37. St. Luke dates the beginning of John the Baptist’s ministry to the fifteenth year of his reign. Jesus’ Passion occurred while Tiberius was emperor.

Caligula ruled from AD 37 to 41. His attempt to place an imperial image in the Jerusalem Temple produced a major crisis, although the plan was not completed.

Claudius ruled from AD 41 to 54. Acts mentions an expulsion affecting Jews in Rome, which brought Aquila and Priscilla into contact with St. Paul.

Nero ruled from AD 54 to 68. After the fire of Rome in AD 64, he inflicted a brutal local persecution upon Christians. Catholic tradition associates the martyrdoms of Sts. Peter and Paul with his reign.

Later emperors shaped the developing Church, but these rulers form the principal imperial background of the apostolic era.

Rome divided territory into provinces governed by officials accountable to the emperor or Senate. Governors oversaw military security, taxation, courts, and relations with local communities.

Not every territory was a province. Client kings and local dynasties ruled some regions under Roman supremacy. Cities could possess different privileges, charters, and degrees of self-government.

Judea illustrates this variety. Herod the Great ruled as a client king. After his death, his territory was divided among heirs. Judea later came under Roman prefects or procurators, while Galilee remained under Herod Antipas during much of Christ’s public ministry.

Roman officials generally preferred to preserve local customs when they did not threaten taxation or public order. They relied upon local leaders, councils, priests, and elites to govern subject populations.

The army protected frontiers, suppressed revolt, enforced taxation, built infrastructure, and upheld imperial authority. Legions consisted mainly of Roman citizens, while auxiliary units drew heavily from noncitizen peoples.

Soldiers were stationed throughout the empire, though not every peaceful province contained a permanent legion. Judea was ordinarily policed by auxiliary forces connected with the governor, while larger legions were stationed in neighboring Syria.

Centurions appear several times in the New Testament. They commanded units and could possess significant local authority. The Gospels and Acts portray individual centurions with nuance, including the officer who sought healing for his servant and Cornelius, who received the Gospel.

The favorable portrayal of certain soldiers does not sanctify every military action. The same imperial system crucified Jesus, suppressed revolts, and devastated Jerusalem.

Rome required revenue to support armies, administration, public works, imperial households, and grain distribution. Taxes could include assessments on land, persons, customs, markets, inheritances, and commercial activity.

Collection methods varied. Local elites, contractors, and publicans could participate in gathering revenue. Opportunities for overcollection and abuse contributed to popular resentment.

The Gospels’ references to publicans reflect this social reality. Their occupation connected them with foreign power and suspected exploitation. Jesus’ welcome of publicans therefore had both religious and social significance.

Debate over tribute to Caesar carried political danger. Refusing tribute could appear revolutionary; endorsing it without qualification could alienate people living under occupation. Jesus refused the trap and placed Caesar’s limited claims beneath God’s absolute sovereignty.

Roman citizenship was a privileged legal status. Citizens could possess rights concerning marriage, property, trial, punishment, and appeal, though actual protection depended upon circumstances and officials.

St. Paul’s citizenship affected his treatment in Acts. He challenged unlawful beating at Philippi, warned a commander before flogging, and appealed his case to Caesar.

Citizenship did not make the empire equal. Most inhabitants were not citizens during the first century. Slaves possessed no political freedom, women’s legal rights varied, and provincial subjects remained vulnerable to local and imperial power.

The Christian mission did not depend on citizenship, but St. Paul prudently used lawful protections when they served justice and the Gospel.

Roman colonies settled citizens or veterans and reproduced Roman legal and civic institutions. Philippi was a Roman colony whose citizens valued their status.

Other cities retained Greek forms of government under Roman sovereignty. Councils, assemblies, magistrates, temples, guilds, benefactors, and public festivals shaped urban life.

Imperial statues, inscriptions, coins, calendars, and festivals made Roman authority visible. Honor shown to the emperor could be political, religious, or both.

The Church formed communities inside these cities while proclaiming a higher citizenship. St. Paul told the Philippians that “our conversation is in heaven,” using language that challenged them to understand civic identity under the lordship of Christ.

Roman rule over Jewish communities involved accommodation and conflict. Judaism’s antiquity and monotheistic customs could receive legal recognition, including space for Sabbath observance and financial support of the Temple.

These arrangements were never entirely secure. Local hostility, imperial policy, political unrest, and disputes over images or taxes could produce crises.

Herodian rulers worked closely with Rome while presenting themselves as defenders or benefactors of Jewish life. Roman governors depended upon leading priestly families and local institutions.

The Jewish War of AD 66–70 revealed the limits of accommodation. Rome crushed the revolt, destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple, enslaved survivors, and displayed its victory publicly.

At first, Roman officials often viewed Christianity through its relationship with Judaism. Local conflicts could be treated as internal religious disputes rather than crimes against the state.

Acts sometimes portrays Roman magistrates protecting missionaries from mob violence or refusing to adjudicate theological disputes. It also records beatings, imprisonment, and political pressure.

Nero’s persecution after AD 64 was brutal but local to Rome rather than a permanent empire-wide law against all Christians. More systematic legal problems developed later as refusal of sacrifice and emperor worship made Christian identity publicly testable.

The New Testament commands respect for lawful authority while maintaining obedience to God above man. Christians prayed for rulers, paid legitimate dues, and sought peace, but they could not worship Caesar or obey commands contrary to God.

• Do not treat the empire as one uniform administration.
• Do not confuse relative peace with absence of violence.
• Do not imagine Roman citizenship gave equal rights to everyone.
• Do not assume every emperor immediately persecuted Christians throughout the empire.
• Do not romanticize client kings or governors as independent rulers.
• Do not claim Roman organization caused the spread of Christianity.

• Holy Bible, Douay-Rheims: Matthew 2 and 22; Luke 2–3 and 20–23; John 18–19; Acts 10, 16–28; Romans 13; First Peter 2; Apocalypse 13 and 17–18.
• Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1897–1927 and 2234–2246.
• Augustus, Res Gestae Divi Augusti.
• Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars.
• Tacitus, Annals and Histories.
• Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities and The Jewish War.
• Fergus Millar, The Emperor in the Roman World.
• Clifford Ando, Imperial Ideology and Provincial Loyalty in the Roman Empire.
• Adrian Goldsworthy, Pax Romana.