English: Magazines 20 Christianity and Roman Legacies Espanol: Revista 51 El Cristianismo y El Legado Romano
Study Guide: Roman Empire - The assassination of Roman ruler Julius Caesar in 44 BCE led to civil war. - In 31 BCE, Octavian’s forces defeated Antony and Cleopatra’s fleet in a sea battle at Actium, in Greece. - Octavian became the sole ruler of Rome. He took the name Augustus Caesar and the title princeps (“first one”). The Roman Republic was over. - Augustus reigned until his death in 14 CE. The empire he established would last for hundreds of years. - The Forum was Rome’s main political, religious, and business center. The Roman senate met there, in a building called the Curia. - Under Augustus’s leadership, the empire grew and prospered. By the end of his reign, Rome controlled lands in Africa, Asia, and Europe. - He also made taxation fairer and tried to improve the lives of the poor. - Pax Romana (Roman Peace). For about 200 years, the entire Mediterranean world remained remarkably calm under Rome’s protection. - The Pax Romana ended during the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (161–180 CE). Marcus (left) faced revolts and invasions at the empire’s borders in Syria, Germany, Britain, and elsewhere. - The End of the Roman Empire - In 27 BCE, the Roman Empire was the most powerful state in the ancient world. But beginning in the 3rd century CE, fierce tribes of people the Romans called barbarians invaded the empire. - To the Romans, anyone who was not Roman and did not speak Latin was a barbarian. - Finally, in 410 CE, barbarians called Goths stormed Rome, destroyed its buildings, and carried away its valuables. - The final blow came in 476 CE, when a barbarian named Odoacer declared himself king of Italy. The Western Roman Empire ended. - The Eastern Empire lasted another 1,000 years. - The fall of Rome changed the map. Barbarian tribes like the Franks turned Gaul into France, and the Angles and Saxons turned Roman Britain into Saxon England. - Around 370 CE, the Huns began invading the Roman Empire, helping cause its final collapse. - Diocletian divided the empire into two parts, East and West. Each had its own emperor. - Constantine the Great managed to reunite the empire in 324 CE. But it officially split for good in 395. Cities and trade grew in the Eastern Roman Empire, as the Western Roman Empire declined. - Instead of uniting against the barbarian threat, the Roman emperors and politicians plotted against each other. - Roman armies grew more powerful. Groups of soldiers fought one another to make their own favorite leader emperor. - Wealthy Romans moved to their country villas and stopped participating in or caring about the Roman government. - When Odoacer, a German tribal army commander, declared himself king of Italy, the Western Roman Empire officially was no more. - Emperor Constantine founded Constantinople, which became the capital of the Eastern Empire. The Eastern Empire survived until 1453, when it fell to the Turks. Constantinople is now known as Istanbul. - Religions In Rome - The Romans borrowed the Etruscan goddess of crafts, Minerva (right), gave her the traits of the Greek goddess Athena, and made her the goddess of wisdom and war. - The Romans honored their gods by building temples. Inside each temple was a statue of a god or goddess.People did not go to a temple to worship the god. Rather, a temple was where priests made offerings. - The Romans honored their gods with more than 100 festivals every year.Quinquatria was a five-day festival honoring Minerva, the goddess of wisdom. - On a festival day, priests performed rituals and sacrifices outside the temple of the god being honored. - People did not have to work, and in particular, no legal work was allowed. Celebrations included feasting, music, rest, and reflection. - Rome was a large empire with people of many different cultures and religions. - Some Romans participated in mystery religions. - Mithraism was a mystery religion that began in Persia and spread to Rome. In Rome, the god Mithras was associated with loyalty to the emperor. - The Romans were a very practical people. They believed that religious observances were a way of keeping on the good side of the gods, who had the power to help or destroy them. - The Jewish People Under Roman Rule - Jews living all over the Roman Empire. Thousands lived in the city of Rome. Syria and Egypt also had large Jewish populations. - They, the Jews, were allowed to practice Judaism in peace for many years. Over time, however, conflicts about religion grew between the Jews and the Roman government. - From 37 to 4 BCE, King Herod the Great was the local ruler of Judaea under the Romans. - Rome let the Jews practice their religion in peace. With the tax money that was left over, Herod rebuilt the Temple at Jerusalem, which had originally been destroyed by the Babylonians in about 586 BCE. - The Jews rebelled against Rome in 66 CE. Four years later, Titus – who later became the emperor of Rome – crushed the revolt and destroyed the temple. - After the destruction of the temple in 70 CE, Jewish troops at the mountaintop fortress of Masada made a last stand. It took 15,000 Roman soldiers almost two years to defeat 1,000 Jewish fighters. - Jews revolted again in 115 CE because of their treatment by the Romans. This time the revolt was not limited to Judaea. Jews living in Egypt, Cyprus, and other parts of the empire attacked Roman soldiers and towns. It took the Romans two years to put down this rebellion. - In 132 CE, the Jews in Judaea revolted against the Romans for the third time. The Roman response was more brutal than ever. - After the revolt was put down, the Emperor Hadrian forced the Jews to leave Jerusalem. - The Romans changed the name of Judaea to Syria-Palaestina. - After the end of the third Jewish revolt, missionaries from a new religion called Christianity began to carry their message outside of Judaea. Christianity had begun as a sect, or division, of Judaism. By 135 CE, when the third Jewish revolt was put down, it had become a separate religion. -Christianity's Beginnings - Four main sources tell about the life of Jesus and the beginnings of Christianity. They are the first four books of the New Testament, and they are called the Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - According to the Gospel of Matthew, when Herod heard that some people believed Jesus would grow up to be King of the Jews, he sent soldiers to find and kill the child. Jesus’s parents fled with their infant to Egypt. - The main source of information about Jesus and his teachings is the New Testament of the Bible. - Jesus didn’t preach rebellion against the Romans. In fact, he told people to pay their taxes to Rome. Jesus reminded his followers of basic Jewish beliefs, such as believing in one God and following the Ten Commandments. He urged them to love God and to love one another. - In the New Testament, Jesus teaches by telling parables, simple stories with lessons about life. Jesus used the parable of the Good Samaritan to teach people what it meant to be a good neighbor. - Because the Romans saw Jesus and his teachings as a threat, they looked for ways to silence him. Around 30 CE, Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judaea, ordered that Jesus be put to death by crucifixion. This means tying or nailing a person to a cross. - Some of Jesus’s followers began to call themselves apostles. - The Greek-speaking followers of Jesus called him Jesus Christ, meaning Jesus the Messiah. Thus, the followers of Jesus came to be known as Christians and their religion was called Christianity. - A Jew named Saul tried to stop the apostles from saying that Jesus was the Messiah.Then one day, Saul had a vision of Jesus that changed his mind. He became known as Paul. - He wrote letters to Christians in different places. These letters are called epistles and appear in the New Testament. - The Christians worried the Romans. Not only did they refuse to worship the Roman gods, but they also encouraged others not to worship them. - This led to the Christians being persecuted, or punished for having different beliefs. - When Rome caught fire in 64 CE, many Romans blamed the Emperor Nero. He in turn falsely accused the Christians of starting the fire. In the following years, many Christians were killed. They became martyrs, people who choose to die rather than give up their beliefs. - The Beatitudes The Beatitudes are a group of statements made by Jesus. The Beatitudes appear in the New Testament as a part of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3–12). - In 312 CE, the Roman Empire was divided. Constantine the Great set out to conquer the Italian Peninsula and reunite the empire under his rule. - Constantine claimed to have had a vision. “In this sign, conquer.” Believing this to be a sign from God, Constantine ordered his soldiers to paint Christian symbols on their shields, Constantine won the battle, his support for Christianity grew. - the Edict of Milan, giving Christians and all others the right to follow whatever religion they chose. - Thus, Christianity and all other religions were tolerated across the Roman Empire. - In 391 CE, Emperor Theodosius I made Christianity the state religion of the empire. He banned the practice of the old Roman religion and closed its temples. - At the same time, he made it clear that the power of the emperor was greater than that of church leaders. - Two Christian Emperors, Two Different Views The Emperors Constantine the Great and Theodosius I both embraced Christianity, though their viewpoints were different. Constantine, who ruled a united Roman Empire from 324 to 337 CE, declared that all religions were to be accepted in the Roman Empire, including Christianity. Theodosius, who ruled a united empire from 392 to 395 CE, made Catholicism, a form of Christianity, the only legal religion in the empire. - The bishop of Rome became known as the Pope, from the Greek word for father. Eventually, the Pope gained more authority than the other bishops and became known as the leader of the Christian church. - Peter, one of the apostles, is considered the first pope. According to Roman Catholic tradition, Jesus had given Peter the “keys of the kingdom of heaven,” making him the leader of the disciples. -
"I have experienced this in others and in myself, for I walked not in the way of righteousness. … But the Almighty God, who sits in the court of heaven, granted what I did not deserve." Constantine
WEDNESDAY 5/24
OBJECTIVE FOR WEDNESDAY 5/24: Study for Test
THURSDAY 5/25 & FRIDAY 5/26
THURSDAY and Friday Objectives: Thursday and Friday: Test
Objetivo de Jueves y Viernes Jueves y Viernes: Examen