LANDS AND PLACES
Rome is first the capital of the Roman Republic and then the Empire. It is the largest city of the Mediterranean world in antiquity. Rome spread across a series of hills with the Tiber River at its foot. Myth dated its founding to 753 BC, but evidence exists of earlier settlements. In five centuries, Rome became a great religious, economic, political and cultural center. Here we will focus on Rome’s importance to the Holy Land and to the beginnings of Christianity in the western Mediterranean until the reign of Emperor Constantine.
Rome’s influence in the Holy Land began in 161 BC when it intervened in the Jewish struggle with Syria. After the conquest of Palestine by Pompey in 63 BC, Rome dominated Jewish civil life. Jesus Christ was born under Roman rule (Luke 2:2) and was put to death by order of Governor Pontius Pilate (Luke 23). Although Rome is not directly mentioned in the Gospels, it is alluded to by the presence of its army of occupation and by the discussion of the legality of paying taxes to the emperor (Mark 12:13-17). The book of Acts indicates several times that Paul’s missionary goal was Rome (Acts 19:21; 23:11; 25:10-12) and to where he finally arrived as a prisoner. However, a vibrant church already existed there. Paul had even written one of his more important epistles to the Roman Christians.
A report by Suetonius in AD 51 or 52 attests to the Christian community in the city. He affirms that Emperor Claudius “expelled the Jews from Rome as a result of a tumult caused by Chrestus” (Claudius 25).The report may be a recognition of the strife that broke out among the Jews between those that accepted Christ as the Messiah and those that opposed the new doctrine. The conflict was so forceful that it resulted in the expulsion of all Jews from Rome for a certain time. (See also Ac 18:2). By the time Paul wrote his letter to the Romans (ca. 58), the Church of Rome was firmly established.
Paul arrived in Rome between 59 and 61 AD. He stayed there for two years under guard in a private home where he could preach the gospel with some liberty (Ac 28:14-16, 23-24, 30-31). New Testament books written in Rome were possibly the Acts of the Apostles, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, and 1 Peter. Paul was captured there twice, as implied in his captivity epistles. However, there is no mention of Peter’s arrival (though 1 Pet. 5:13 seems to be a cryptic reference to Rome).
In 64 AD, a great fire destroyed most of the city, and Emperor Nero was blamed for it (Tacitus, Annals 38-41). Nero accused Christians of causing the fire (Annals 15:44). The accusation unleashed the first persecution of Christians by Rome. Early tradition affirms that Paul and Peter were both martyred during this persecution (1 Clement5). The great destruction of the city required rebuilding, which was done in a more orderly fashion than before. The Neronian city lasted up to the end of the imperial period.
The Christian community grew under emperors Vespasian (69–79) and Titus (79–81). Some patricians were Christians under Domitian (81–96). Flavia Domitilla, the granddaughter of Vespasian and wife of Titus Flavius Clemens, was a first cousin of Domitian. She was exiled to the island of Pandateria, and her husband was put to death in the persecution of 95–96 AD. Her property outside Rome was used as a Christian burial site, later known as the catacombs of Domitilla.
The Shepherd of Hermas (Sim 8:4-11) describes a church community containing some rich and many poor members. It is probably portraying the Church of Rome near 150 AD. This church was a well-organized institution with bishops, priests, and deacons. In the second century, the bishops of Rome were respected for their leadership of the capital city church and their defense of the faith. They were consulted and expected to lead in the resolution of ecclesiastical conflicts such as the Quartodeciman controversy. The controversy was about the Roman bishop opposing those who celebrated the resurrection of Christ (Easter) on the fourteenth day of the month of Nisan. It was the date that the Jews commemorated as the Passover instead of the following Sunday, as most Christians did.
Roman Christians down to the late second century held their religious meetings in the houses of richer members and also used them as burial places. But archaeological remains and the tradition regarding Rome’s main churches show the existence in the late second century of buildings for church worship. Some forty distinct catacombs have been discovered outside the city on main roads running northeast and south. Until the fourth century, they were used primarily for burial and later as places for celebrating anniversaries and liturgies for the saints. In the catacombs were preserved the earliest examples of Christian art and symbolism in paintings of walls and designs on sarcophagi.
No statistics existed for the number of Christians in Rome when Emperor Constantine declared religious toleration for Christians in 313 AD. But when he accepted Christianity, Constantine erected three great churches in the city: the basilica on the Lateran, which was the residence for the bishop near the imperial gardens, the basilica of the Holy Cross, and the basilica on the Vatican commemorating the grave of Peter.
Rome’s cultural and archaeological importance cannot be overstated. Together with ancient Greece, they are the birthplace of ancient classical civilization that is the basis of modern western civilization. Christianity’s displacement of the ancient Roman religion also led to it largely shaping Western culture for over 1,500 years. Consequently, Rome became the center of Latin Christianity and all Western Europe until the Reformation. Its historical and archaeological remains are an important source of materials for the study of western Christianity.
For further reading
Green, Christianity in Ancient Rome: The First Three Centuries.
Withrow, Catacombs of Rome: and Their Testimony Relative to Primitive Christianity.