Religion was important to the Romans. They got most of their gods from the Greeks, then changed them up to make them more original. The Romans believed that the gods controlled everything that happened to them. They were constantly giving offerings to the gods, such as honey cakes and fruit, and they also sacrificed animals. They also held festivals in honor of the gods. Over time, the Romans began to see their emperor as a god. Gods were very important to the Romans.
Christianity in Rome
The Romans studied the Christian religion. Christianity was founded by Jesus, a very wise man. Jesus lived from 6 B.C.E to 30 C.E. A Roman emperor named Constantine had a dream that if he accepted Christian beliefs, he would conquer the battle against a rival; Jesus was in his dream. In his daytime, Constantine had a vision that there was a cross in the sky, and around the cross there were words: “In this sign, you will conquer.” Because of believing in Jesus, Rome won the battle. After that, Constantine favored the Christian God over all the others. No one knows when Jesus was born, but it was probably around 6 B.C.E. There weren't many historians that wrote about Jesus, but, there were followers that wrote about him. These writings make up the New Testament for the Christian bible. In them are four Gospels. A Gospel is an account for Jesus’s life, written by people named Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
The Gospel of Luke is about Jesus’s birth. Before Jesus was born, his mother, Mary, was told by an angel that she should name her soon to be born child Jesus. Soon after, she gave birth to one son and named him Jesus. it is most likely that Jesus grew up in Nazareth and learned carpentry. When Jesus was 30, a preacher called John the Baptist saw Jesus as Messiah, also known as the savior the Jews had been expecting.
Jesus based his teachings off of Jewish beliefs. For example, emphasis on love and mercy. One law was, “You should love your God with all your heart and all your soul.” Another was, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Your neighbor is supposedly any stranger.
Once, Jesus stated that his enemies would come together to destroy him and that he would be killed. Christians call Jesus’s final meal “The Last Supper.” After that, Jesus was ordered to be executed. Jesus was then nailed to a cross and left to die between two other condemned men. However, the Gospels say that later Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to his disciples. This event was called “The Resurrection.”
Once there was a man named Paul. Paul came from Tarsus, what we now know as Turkey. At first, he helped to torture Christians. But then, Paul saw a bright light and heard the voice of Jesus. Paul then changed his religion and became a missionary. Paul then spent 17 years traveling and teaching everyone about Jesus. However, his visits sometimes caused Jews to start angry riots. After a while, Paul was beheaded by the Romans around 65 C.E.. By that time, Romans had begun persecuting Christian believers. After a while, the Christian religion was declared illegal. Christians were sent to their death or to be tortured. Some were crucified. Some were burned. Some were killed by wild animals. But the religion still would not be destroyed. The Christian religion taught that even the poorest slave could look forward to life after death. Gradually, everyone began to accept the new faith. by 300 C.E., there were 30 million Christians living in Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia.