Roman Religion Flashcards
Tacitus (d. 120 CE/AD)
– pagan Roman patrician/aristocrat
– served the Roman Empire in many different
capacities: governor, officer, priest
– wrote many books but The Annals are
especially important
– The Histories and The Annals: 30-volume
history of Roman Empire beginning in 69 CE;
most of it is lost but what remains is
influential
Tacitus (d. 120 CE/AD)
– history based on observations, interviews,
public records, & memoirs/diaries
– highly critical of the emperors and the
empire itself; looked back to “good ol’ days” of
the Republic when Senate was in charge
– pagan and moralistic: explained Roman
decline as the consequence of lax morality &
failure to respect the gods
– In Annals 15: 44 T. mentions Christians and
Christ, & this is one of the oldest non- Christian references to Jesus.
Roman Religion in Private &
Public Life
– goal of Roman religion was to maintain
peace & order
– humans recognized the gods & the gods
aided humans
– pagan Roman religion was based more on actions, than on beliefs; rituals & sacrifices
were key to right relations w/gods
– had both private & public aspects
– participation in public rites was an
important part of Roman patriotism
The Imperial Cult
– emerged in late 1st cent.
BCE
– Julius & Augustus Caesar among first deified for service to Rome
– deified emperors not prayed to but revered
– emperors came to be identified w/Rome itself
– praying for emperor = praying for Rome = sign of loyalty & support
– left: August as pontifex maximus or high priest
The Imperial Cult
– emerged in late 1st cent.
BCE
– Julius & Augustus Caesar among first deified for service to Rome
– deified emperors not prayed to but revered
– emperors came to be identified w/Rome itself
– praying for emperor = praying for Rome = sign of loyalty & support
– left: August as pontifex maximus or high priest
Judaism in General
– monotheistic
– sacred scripture:
Ha-Tanakh (a.k.a.
Hebrew Bible, Old
Testament)
– homeland in
Canaan between
Mediterranean Sea &
Jordan R.
– religion evolved in
stages
Ha-Tanakh (The Hebrew
Bible/The Old Testament)
– mostly Hebrew with bits of Aramaic
– composed ca 1200-200 BCE
– known to many modern Christians as “Old Testament”
– consists of 3 major parts: “Torah,” “Nevi’im,” & “Ketuvim”
– The Torah: literally “The Teachings;” a.k.a. Pentateuch,
contains books of Moses; the first five books
– The Nevi’im: lit. “The Prophets;” examples: Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel,
– The Ketuvim: lit “The Writings,” “The Books;” examples:
Psalms, Proverbs, Job, etc.
History of Ha-Tanakh
– down to 6th cent. BCE: existed as mostly oral tradition
until Babylonian Exile when writing down and editing the Tanakh became urgent
– ca 250 BCE: Hellenized Jews in Egypt compiled Septuagint, which formed the basis of the Tanakh for
Greek-speaking Jews & – much later – early Christians
– ca 90 CE: Council of Yavneh* at which final canon of
Hebrew version of Ha-Tanakh established (historicity of
council debated*)
– no later than 200 CE: the Tanakh in Hebrew reached
canonical form
– Masoretic standard text contains 24 books
Jewish History Timeline
1800 BCE: traditional date for Abraham
1250 BCE: traditional date for Hebrew exodus from Egypt
1000 BCE: King David est. Jerusalem as capital of Israel & built
First Temple
ca 930 BCE: Kingdom of Israel split into Israel in north & Judah in
south
721 BCE: Assyrians destroyed Kingdom of Israel, but Kingdom of
Judah survived
586-539 BCE: Judah fell to Neo-Babylonians; Babylonian Exile;
destruction of 1st Temple
515 BCE: dedication of Second Temple
ca 539-143 BCE: Achaemenid Persians, then Alexander the Great,
then Greco-Egyptian Ptolemies & Greco-Persian Seleucids ruled
over Jewish homeland
Flavius Josephus
(d. ca 100 CE)
– Jewish rabbi, general, & historian originally
from Jerusalem
– fought against Rome, but later became
supporter
– very Hellenized & Romanized Jew
– wrote History of the Jewish War & Jewish
Antiquities
– major source for Jewish history
– perhaps earliest non-Christian reference to
Jesus
Late Hellenistic Judaea/Roman Judaea
– ca 143: Hasmonean
Dynasty(Maccabees) rebelled against Seleucids & est. kingdom of Judaea
– 63 BCE: Romans
intervened to quell Hasmonean conflict
– 47 BCE: Julius Caesar
empowered Herodian Dynasty to rule Judaea
– 37 BCE: Herod the
Great became king of Judaea with Roman
support
Rome & the Jews After
Herod
– 66-70 CE: Jewish Revolt
against Rome; destruction of 2nd Temple
– 73 CE: last Jewish
resistance at Masada
– 132-135 CE: Bar
Kokhba Revolt; Roman
victory; Judaea
devastated; Jews exiled &
barred from Jerusalem
– Rabbinic Judaism
replaced temple-based
Judaism
Jewish Diaspora or Exile
– began with Babylonian Exile of 6th century; became more
or less permanent with Roman destruction of 2nd Temple in
70 CE
– But about 4/5 of the world’s then 5 million Jews were
already living outside Judaea
– Jews lived throughout the Roman and the Persian
Empires
– After anti-Roman Jewish revolts, Iraq (Babylonia) & Iran
had more Jews than Palestine
–Iraq & Iran were home to many important centers of
Jewish learning; e.g. Ctesiphon & Isfahan
– There were Jews in Arabia, especially in the west and
south; there were also Arab Jews (and there still are some)
Back to Judaism & Judea in
the 1st Century BCE
POLITICS
– Jewish Kings under under Roman rule
– Hasmoneans (Maccabees)
– Herod & the Herodian
Dynasty
SOME JEWISH GROUPS
– Pharisees: Talmud over
Torah
– Sadducees: Torah alone
– Essenes: mystics
– and others
The Historical Jesus
– ca 4 BCE: born in Roman
Judaea
– Jewish family; line of David
– prophet & miracle worker
– his message drew large crowds of mostly poor people
– his message upset the established order in Judaea
– 30 CE: died in Jerusalem
– Christians believe he rose
again after three days and ascended to Heaven
First Century Jewish
Christianity
– Jesus & Disciples were Jewish as were most if
not all of the first followers of Jesus.
– most viewed very early Christianity as a sect or
even a heresy within Judaism.
– Was it necessary to first convert to Judaism
before becoming Christian?
– proto-Christians of Jerusalem: conversion&
observance of Jewish law required
– Paul of Tarsus: argued that it was NOT
necessary to convert to Judaism or observe Jewish law to become Christian.
