The book of Daniel

 

Bible Verses about 30 Days And 360 Days In A Year

 

But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time.

Revelation 11:2 

But do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.

Revelation 12:6 

And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.

Daniel 7:25 

He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.

Genesis 7:11  

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened.

Revelation 11:3 

And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

Daniel 9:27 

And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”

Daniel 9:1-27  

In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans— in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. …

Revelation 13:5  

And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months.

Revelation 12:1-17 

And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, …

Revelation 11:1-19  

Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. …

John 16:13  

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

Daniel 9:24 

“Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.

Daniel 9:24-27 

“Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”

Isaiah 12:1-6 

You will say in that day: “I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me. “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day: “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted. “Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. …

Isaiah 3:1-26 

For behold, the Lord God of hosts is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah support and supply, all support of bread, and all support of water; the mighty man and the soldier, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder, the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the counselor and the skillful magician and the expert in charms. And I will make boys their princes, and infants shall rule over them. And the people will oppress one another, every one his fellow and every one his neighbor; the youth will be insolent to the elder, and the despised to the honorable. …

Isaiah 1:1-31  

The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: “Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.” Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged. Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. …

Genesis 8:13  

In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry.

Genesis 7:24 

And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.

Revelation 21:16 

The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal.

Revelation 7:4 

And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:

Acts 2:41 

So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

Luke 21:1-38 

Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” And while some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said, …

Matthew 24:15 

“So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),

Daniel 12:12  

Blessed is he who waits and arrives at the 1,335 days.

Daniel 12:11 

And from the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1,290 days.

Daniel 12:10 

Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand.

Daniel 12:7 

And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream; he raised his right hand and his left hand toward heaven and swore by him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time, and that when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end all these things would be finished.

Ezekiel 39:1-29  

“And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog and say, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. And I will turn you about and drive you forward, and bring you up from the uttermost parts of the north, and lead you against the mountains of Israel. Then I will strike your bow from your left hand, and will make your arrows drop out of your right hand. You shall f mountains of Israel, you and all your hordes and the peoples who are with you. I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. You shall fall in the open field, for I have spoken, declares the Lord God. …

1 Kings 6:38 

And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts, and according to all its specifications. He was seven years in building it.

Exodus 29:7 

You shall take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him.

Exodus 13:4 

Today, in the month of Abib, you are going out.

Revelation 21:17  

He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel’s measurement.

Revelation 21:1-27 

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” …

Revelation 17:1-18 

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” …

Revelation 13:5-7 

And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation,

Revelation 13:1-18 

And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?” And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. 1260 year to be precise …

Revelation 12:5-6

She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.

Revelation 12:1 

And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

Revelation 11:8 

And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.

Revelation 7:1-17 

After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed, 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 from the tribe of Gad, …

Revelation 1:3 

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

2 Peter 3:8 

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

2 Peter 2:5 

If he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;

Titus 2:13 

Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

2 Thessalonians 2:4 

Who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

Philippians 3:20

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,

Galatians 4:10 

You observe days and months and seasons and years!

Acts 3:19-21 

Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.

John 12:12-13 

The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”

Luke 21:36 

But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Luke 21:28 

Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

Luke 21:24 

They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

Luke 2:42 

And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom.

Matthew 27:51 

And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.

Matthew 26:53 

Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?

Matthew 24:21 

For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.

Matthew 24:3 

As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?”

Hosea 6:2 

After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.

Daniel 12:1-13 

“At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” Then I, Daniel, looked, and behold, two others stood, one on this bank of the stream and one on that bank of the stream. …

Daniel 11:31 

Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the regular burnt offering. And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate.

Daniel 9:25 

Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time.

Daniel 8:14 

And he said to me, “For 2,300 evenings and mornings. Then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state.”

Ezekiel 40:1-49 

In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck down, on that very day, the hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me to the city. In visions of God he brought me to the land of Israel, and set me down on a very high mountain, on which was a structure like a city to the south. When he brought me there, behold, there was a man whose appearance was like bronze, with a linen cord and a measuring reed in his hand. And he was standing in the gateway. And the man said to me, “Son of man, look with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and set your heart upon all that I shall show you, for you were brought here in order that I might show it to you. Declare all that you see to the house of Israel.” And behold, there was a wall all around the outside of the temple area, and the length of the measuring reed in the man’s hand was six long cubits, each being a cubit and a handbreadth in length. So he measured the thickness of the wall, one reed; and the height, one reed. …

Ezekiel 38:1-23 

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him and say, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. And I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords. Persia, Cush, and Put are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; …

Ezekiel 4:6 

And when you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the punishment of the house of Judah. Forty days I assign you, a day for each year.

Jeremiah 29:10 

“For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.

Isaiah 30:1-33 

“Ah, stubborn children,” declares the Lord, “who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin; who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking for my direction, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation. For though his officials are at Zoan and his envoys reach Hanes, everyone comes to shame through a people that cannot profit them, that brings neither help nor profit, but shame and disgrace.” …

Isaiah 7:1-25 

In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. When the house of David was told, “Syria is in league with Ephraim,” the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind. And the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field. And say to him, ‘Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah. Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying, …

Isaiah 2:1-22 

The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. …

Psalm 19:1 

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Esther 3:7 

In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur (that is, they cast lots) before Haman day after day; and they cast it month after month till the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.

2 Kings 23:30 

And his servants carried him dead in a chariot from Megiddo and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s place.

2 Kings 11:12 

Then he brought out the king’s son and put the crown on him and gave him the testimony. And they proclaimed him king and anointed him, and they clapped their hands and said, “Long live the king!”

2 Kings 9:6 

So he arose and went into the house. And the young man poured the oil on his head, saying to him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, I anoint you king over the people of the Lord, over Israel.

2 Kings 2:1-25 

Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. And Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. And the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you?” And he said, “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.” Elijah said to him, “Elisha, please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jericho. The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you?” And he answered, “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.” …

1 Kings 8:2 

And all the men of Israel assembled to King Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.

1 Kings 6:37 

In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, in the month of Ziv.

1 Kings 6:1

In the four hundred and eightieth year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of the Lord.

1 Kings 1:39 

There Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, “Long live King Solomon!”

2 Samuel 19:10 

But Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now therefore why do you say nothing about bringing the king back?”

2 Samuel 5:3 

So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel.

2 Samuel 2:4 

And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. When they told David, “It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul,”

1 Samuel 16:13 

Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.

1 Samuel 10:1 

Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, “Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. And this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you to be prince over his heritage.

Joshua 10:12-14  

At that time Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, “Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.” And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel.

Numbers 29:1-40 

“On the first day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work. It is a day for you to blow the trumpets, and you shall offer a burnt offering, for a pleasing aroma to the Lord: one bull from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish; also their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths of an ephah for the bull, two tenths for the ram, and one tenth for each of the seven lambs; with one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you; …

Numbers 28:1-31 

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Command the people of Israel and say to them, ‘My offering, my food for my food offerings, my pleasing aroma, you shall be careful to offer to me at its appointed time.’ And you shall say to them, This is the food offering that you shall offer to the Lord: two male lambs a year old without blemish, day by day, as a regular offering. The one lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight; also a tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a grain offering, mixed with a quarter of a hin of beaten oil. …

Numbers 12:1-16  

Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman. And they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” And the Lord heard it. Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth. And suddenly the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting.” And the three of them came out. And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward. …

Numbers 6:1-27  

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the Lord, he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes, fresh or dried. All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins. “All the days of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the Lord, he shall be holy. He shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long. …

Numbers 4:1-4 

The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “Take a census of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their clans and their fathers’ houses, from thirty years old up to fifty years old, all who can come on duty, to do the work in the tent of meeting. This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting: the most holy things. When the camp is to set out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and take down the veil of the screen and cover the ark of the testimony with it. …

Leviticus 25:1-55  

The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord. For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits, but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. You shall not reap what grows of itself in your harvest, or gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. …

Leviticus 23:4  

“These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them.

Leviticus 23:1-44  

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are the appointed feasts of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts. “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places. “These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the Lord’s Passover. …

Exodus 29:9  

And you shall gird Aaron and his sons with sashes and bind caps on them. And the priesthood shall be theirs by a statute forever. Thus you shall ordain Aaron and his sons.

Exodus 24:1-18 

Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. Moses alone shall come near to the Lord, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.” Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. …

Exodus 23:15 

You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. None shall appear before me empty-handed.

Exodus 6:23 

Aaron took as his wife Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab and the sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

Genesis 18:25 

Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”

Genesis 8:14  

In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried. This evil beast worked with the power of the other beast. Well, he does exactly what he sees the first beast do in ruling merciless, wickedly and uses their subjects as slaves, killing some for spots and entertainment or just for fun. They do not have any regard for

This beast made the world to worship the beast other beast and to make reverence to him in obedience to his decree of worshipping on Sunday which the first beast decreed in violation to God’s commandment of 7th day Sabbath keeping honouring the Almighty God who created the heavens of heavens and earth.
This evil beast performed wonders in front of the whole through sorceries, mediums, witchcraft magical means and wizardry. Speaking blasphemous words against (High) God. He performed wonders before the unsuspected world in the conquest that she made as to the fierce Roman Empires and her influence on many nations that she conquered and turned into slavery with hard labour.
This evil beast known as Rome forced people to make an image to the first beast and forced people to worship the image of the beast and anyone that refuses to worship the image are killed, their belongings confiscated, or destroyed or imprisoned, or burnt alive or fed to Hungary beast. This making of the image of the beast was when Justinian elevated the Pope to be the head of all churches all over the world, not just the Roman Catholic Churches alone. The Pope was addressed as the Pontiff, his holiness, infallible and the vicar of Christ or representative of Christ on earth. And has power like that of Jesus Christ to forgive sins and can excommunicate people from the churches. He instituted many festivals like Easter, Christmas, Valentine day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Halloween days. He removed the 7th day Sabbath of God to the Sunday worship. He elevated Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ as queen of heaven and that she is the co-creator with Christ. He told the churches to pray to Mary for help and the forgiveness of sins. He made numberless images of Mary and all the death people that he promoted to sainthood, even if they did not accept Jesus Christ before they died. He canonizes dead people to sainthood at his own will. He forced people to pray to images of dead people and worship them.

He forces the world to receive a mark of the beast on their right hand or their foreheads. Now this is what the Lord made me to understand the meaning of one’s right hand and foreheads

This mark is definitely the decree of Sunday worship that was decreed by the Papacy to supersede the 7th day Sabbath that was decreed by the Almighty God in the Book of Genesis 2.1-3

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the hosts of them

And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made

And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made

This passage is to do with the glory of God Almighty who is the source of all things visible and invincible in heavens of heavens and earth. God specifically said that He will not share His glory with anything. Isaiah 42.8 I am the Lord, that is My name, and My glory will I not give to another, neither My prise to graven images

To crown the sayings of God He predicted that someone will come to change His Laws in Daniel 7.25 And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Highest, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time

He will think to change the times and laws of God. The times were changed by the Julian calendar, but the Gregorian calendar made amends to it by adding the Ten day’s that Julian calendar dropped from the calendar: when the Julian calendar in 1582 was corrected by Pope Gregory Leon as Gregorian calendar. These Popes played God in changing land Thinkstock to adding to God’s time or taking from it. This has never had any effect on the bible calendar. The week in use at the time of Christ is exactly the same as what we use in our calendar today, nothing lost whatsoever. Our Sunday is still the same that God named for His creation, 1st day of the week is Sunday. Saturday is still the seventh day. One might go further to say what about the different times or distances of Countries like America and other countries, the answer is every country has Saturday or Sunday. That is why God is the creator of days, months and years Genesis 1. 14, And. God said Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night and let them be. for signs, and. for seasons and for days, and years. That is exactly why God’s feats days are fixed, and New year fixed and the Sabbath as well. God is not a God of confusion, Every God did was accurate, perfect and must be obeyed till eternity It has come to the point now as Paul the apostle said in the second epistle to the Thessalonians 2.3. Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come, “except there come a falling away first,” and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition ( the antichrist)This is the revival that the churches are praying for and some did not belong. This revival will be mainly for the churches all over the world when real believers in Jesus Christ will come back to accept the commandments, the feats, and the New Year of God which He had ordained to set His saints apart from the world before the foundation of the world. The Papacy is of so great authority and power that he has been authorised by the Almighty God to modify, explain, interpret even divine laws. In the Catholic catechism, the divine law of God was completely taken out, the tenth commandments were divided into two, and more surprisingly, the fourth Commandments ( God’s 7th day Sabbath) was changed to the 6th day in violation to God’s words in Leviticus 23. 14. 
It is very appropriate at this time to talk about the saints of God “given into the hand of the Papacy “ in the book of Daniel chapter 7.25. What the given into the Papacy’s hands meant according to bible interpretation. What the frontlets mean and what our foreheads mean as you read along below.

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At this point, I have to include the other characteristics of the book of Daniel chapter 7.23 concerning the beast from the earth, according to Lords revelation to me.

Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon the earth, which shall be diverse from all the kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break in pieces. The denotes the ruthless rule of Rome, by taking all the conquered places and lord over them, changing their customs, cultures, languages, at the moment the whole world is under Roman rules in a calendar, months that she named after their gods and goddesses, days lime Monday to Sunday after their Gods and goddesses, months after their emperors.

Now the evil characteristics of this beast are known, who in the world can have these evil characteristics but Rome.

So God is true to His word when He told me that Rome is the false prophet according to Gods revelation to me even with diagrams which will appear in this book

The atrocities of Rom

Gospel of John 11.48

48 If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation

At the end of the Old Testament, Israel had returned from their exile, Jerusalem had been rebuilt, and the temple had been reconstructed and was functioning again. The world power was then Medo-Persian Empire. In the 400 years between the testaments, the Greek Empire rose to prominence under Alexander and then splintered upon his death. Israel was persecuted by the Seleucids, one of the splinter kingdoms of the Greek Empire based in Syria. The Seleucid ruler, Antiochus IV Epiphanes(“manifest god”) was especially brutal. He enforced the Hellenization of the Jews and profaned the temple. His actions lead to the Maccabean revolt in which Israel expelled the Greeks and gained their independence.

During the time of the revolt, the Maccabees were supported by the up-and-coming Romans (1 Maccabees 8; 15:15–24). As the power of Rome grew, it became an empire and swallowed up Israel/Palestine. The Jews were allowed to maintain their religious practices as long as they did not make trouble for Rome. Rome placed a series of puppet kings (the Herod family) and military governors (e.g., Pilate, Felix, Festus) over various provinces of Israel

Scripture prophesied many centuries before, that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), in the dreamed that God told Joseph when they left Egypt Mary and Joseph were firmly established in Nazareth of Galilee according to the instructions of God through the dream that was told, Joseph. (Luke 1:26). A decree of the Roman Emperor Augustus (Octavian) mandated that all should return to their City of birth for registration so “So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem in Judaea, the town of David because he belonged to the house and lineage of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child” (Luke 2:4–5). God had already instructed Joseph through a dream to move Mary and Joseph into the place that had been prophesied in the bible. 
1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
3 When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.
5 And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,
6 And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.
7 Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.
8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.
9 When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.
10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
12 And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.
13 And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.
14 When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:
15 And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.
17 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying,
18 In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.
19 But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,
20 Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child’s life.
21 And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.
22 But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee:
23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.

God Almighty who knows the end of things even before it’s beginning had already told His prophet Micah 5.2 that Jesus Christ who is the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem of Judaea the town of king David the linage of Jesus Christ according to the flesh Romans1. 3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;

Certainly, Mary and Joseph did not choose to go to Bethlehem on their own in order to fulfil the prophecy; in Micah 5. 2  But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

however, the Roman emperor’s decree that set everything in motion demonstrated that Mary and Joseph did not manipulate events to “set up their son” as a potential Messiah.

One of the priorities of the Roman Empire was peace for their citizens, but known Roman citizens were not given that privilege , they were treated with an iron hand. The Pax Romana (“peace of Rome”) guaranteed that the Roman citizens could live and travel within Roman Empire in relative safety. Roads were constructed that made travel much easier, and a common language broke down communication barriers among various ethnic groups and provided something of a common culture. The apostle Paul traveled all over the Roman Empire on Roman roads and shared the gospel with diverse groups of Gentiles in the common Greek language. (The common trade language of the Roman Empire was Greek and was not replaced with Latin for several centuries.) Paul’s Roman citizenship allowed him to move about the empire more freely and provided him with an additional measure of protection (see Acts 22:22–29). Not only Paul, but many Christians spread out all over the Roman Empire, taking the gospel with them.

It is commonly accepted that Rome was the primary persecutor of the church in the first century, but an examination of the evidence in the New Testament does not bear this out. Widespread persecution by the Romans did not occur until the time of Nero (the late 60s) and later emperors. The observable pattern in the New Testament is that Rome cared very little about Christians and only took action against them at the instigation of the Jewish authorities (see Acts 22:30). Rome often attempted to placate the Jewish authorities to keep the peace. The Roman governor Pilate wanted to release Jesus, but the Jewish authorities demanded His execution (Matthew 27:15–23). Likewise, Paul was most often opposed by his own countrymen who either took things into their own hands, stirred up the pagan populace, or appealed to the Roman authorities for help. This happened at Thessalonica (Acts 17:1–9) and at Corinth (Acts 18:12–17). The one time when Paul was arrested by the Roman authorities, he used his status as a Roman citizen to gain an apology upon his release (Acts 16:35–40).

When Paul was spotted in the Jerusalem temple, it was his countrymen who attacked him and the Roman authorities who arrested/rescued him (Acts 21:27–36). The Roman governor saved Paul from a plot by the Jews to kill him (Acts 23). Both Felix and Festus, Roman governors, are presented as being sympathetic to Paul but unwilling to release him because it would anger the Jewish leadership (Acts 24–26.) Ultimately, Paul appealed to Caesar, for he knew he could not get a fair trial in Jerusalem. In the final analysis, the Roman governor Festus and the Roman puppet king Agrippa agreed: “This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment” (Acts 26:21).

The Roman authorities demanded absolute allegiance to Rome first and foremost. Because of the Jews’ longstanding “tradition” of monotheism, they were exempted from offering sacrifices to the emperor. Initially, Christians were considered members of a sect of Judaism and were given the same exemption. However, Jews began to more forcefully distance themselves from Christians, and Rome started to take a harder look at Christians. By the second century, Christians were persecuted as enemies of the state because of their refusal to honour the emperor as a deity. However, this persecution is not evident within the pages of the New Testament.

In AD 70, the Roman general Titus (son of Emperor Vespasian) laid waste to Jerusalem and destroyed the temple in fulfilment of Jesus’ pronouncement in Luke 21:6.

Three Roman emperors are mentioned by name in the New Testament. Augustus, already mentioned above in connection with the census that moved Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem for Jesus’ birth. Tiberius, who was emperor when John the Baptist started his public ministry (Luke 3:1). And Claudius is mentioned as the emperor who expelled all Jews from Rome (Acts 18:1). The Roman historian Seutonius is his work The Lives of the Twelve Caesars says that the expulsion was the result of Jewish disputes over someone called Chrestus. Many scholars believe that this may be a reference to Christ. Most Roman authorities were uninterested and uninformed with the particulars of Jewish disputes (see Acts 25:18–20), so it is understandable that they might get the name wrong. Within a few years, the Jews had returned to Rome.

In summary, the Roman Empire had a tremendous wicked impact in the circumstances regarding Jesus’ birth and crucifixion, and unintentionally provided the necessary infrastructure to allow the apostles to spread the gospel throughout the Mediterranean world

The persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire was carried out by the state and also by local authorities on a sporadic, ad hocbasis, often at the whims of local communities. Starting in 250 AD, empire-wide persecution took place as an indirect consequence of an edict by the emperor Decius. This edict was in force for eighteen months, during which time some Christians were killed while others apostatised to escape execution.

Romans, for the most part, were tolerant in matters of religious belief and allowed countless religious sects, cults, saviours, and redeemers to proselytize without restrictions. Loyal and submissive members of society could believe in any Deity they wanted, including Jesus. The belief was a private matter of no interest to the Roman authorities. Roman cohesion was based on obedience to authority and on public pledges of loyalty to the state – epitomized by symbolical sacrifices to the Roman gods.^[1]Contrary to later misperceptions, at first, Romans did not oppose belief in Jesus. Rather, Romans persecuted whoever refused to pledge loyalty to Roman authority, to the inclusion of those believers in Jesus that refused to sacrifice to the Roman Gods (the equivalent of an oath of allegiance). Roman persecution of Gentile believers in Jesus lasted more than two centuries and included harassment at the local level, and officially sanctioned or decreed persecution. Officially sanctioned Roman persecution was most intense during the reigns of Marcus Aurelius (161–180), Decius (249–251), Diocletian (284–305) and Galerius (305–311).

All individuals living in the Roman Empire were free to believe whatever their souls desired, as long as the traditional protocol of symbolic submission and allegiance to imperial authority was performed. Christianity was outlawed after two centuries of persistent behaviour that the Romans interpreted as defiant and subversive, and after three official persecutions failed to quell what the Romans considered to be seditious behaviour. Pagans could not but interpret the refusal to sacrifice to the Roman Gods (by some, not all Gentile believers in Jesus) as an act of political defiance. ^[2] The point of contention, as seen from the Roman side, was not belief in Jesus. It was the refusal to acknowledge imperial authority. ‘The polytheistic worldview of the Romans did not incline them to understand a refusal to worship, even symbolically, the state gods.’ ^[3]Wilson concluded that eventually, ‘Christians’ (i.e. Pauline believers) would have been suspected of conspiracy and disloyalty. Per Wilson, Christianity appeared as a movement that promoted disruption of the established order and dangerous social tendencies. The prejudice became so instinctive that eventually, mere confession of the name Christian could be sufficient grounds for execution.^[4]Per Zetterholm, the Jesus-believing Gentiles of Antioch found themselves in the peculiar position of having to publicly identify themselves as Jews subject to the tax to avoid prosecution for neglect of the cult. ^[5]

These persecutions heavily influenced the development of Christianity, shaping Christian theology and the structure of the Church. The effects of the persecutions included the writing of explanations and defences of the Christian religion.

Persecution of the early church had occurred sporadically and in localised areas since its beginning. The first persecution of Christians organised by the Roman government took place under the emperor Nero in 64 AD after the Great Fire of Rome. The Edict of Serdica was issued in 311 by the Roman emperor Galerius, officially ending the Diocletianic persecution of Christianity in the East. With the passage in 313 AD of the Edict of Milan, persecution of Christians by the Roman state ceased.^[6] The total number of Christians who lost their lives because of these persecutions is unknown; although early church historian Eusebius, whose works are the only source for many of these events, speaks of “great multitudes” having perished, he is thought by many scholars today to have exaggerated their numbers.^[6][7]

There was no empire-wide persecution of Christians until the reign of Decius in the third century.^[8] Provincial governors had a great deal of personal discretion in their jurisdictions and could choose themselves how to deal with local incidents of persecution and mob violence against Christians. For most of the first three hundred years of Christian history, Christians were able to live in peace, practise their professions, and rise to positions of responsibility. Only for approximately ten out of the first three hundred years of the church’s history were Christians executed due to orders from a Roman emperor.^[7]:129 Attempts at estimating the numbers involved are inevitably based on inadequate sources, but one historian of the persecutions estimates the overall numbers as between 5,500 and 6,500,^[9]:536-537 a number also adopted by later writers including Yuval Noah Harari^[10]: 

In the 300 years from the crucifixion of Christ to the conversion of Emperor Constantine, polytheistic Roman emperors initiated no more than four general persecutions of Christians. Local administrators and governors incited some anti-Christian violence of their own. Still, if we combine all the victims of all these persecutions, it turns out that in these three centuries, the polytheistic Romans killed no more than a few thousand Christians.

Reasons

See also: Religio licita and Religion in ancient Rome“Roman Hall of Justice”, Young Folks’ History of Rome, 1878

SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS CAUSES[EDIT]

Martyrdom of Calepodius (intaglio print)

Before 250 AD, persecution was not empire-wide; it was localized, sporadic, often mob-led, with occasional actions from local authorities.^[11]:86[12] Reasons for persecution can be understood by looking at a few main areas of conflict.

“The exclusive sovereignty of Christ clashed with Caesar’s claims to his own exclusive sovereignty.”^[11]:87 The Roman empire practised religious Syncretism and did not demand loyalty to one god, but they did demand preeminent loyalty to the state, and this was expected to be demonstrated through the practices of the state religion with numerous feast and festival days throughout the year.^{[13]:84–90[14]}The nature of Christian monotheism prevented Christians from participating in anything involving ‘other gods’.^[15]:60 Christians did not participate in feast days or processionals or offer sacrifices or light incense to the gods; this produced hostility.^[12] They refused to offer incense to the Roman emperor, and in the minds of the people, the “emperor, when viewed as a god, was … the embodiment of the Roman empire”,^[16] so Christians were seen as disloyal to both.^{[11]:87[17]:23} In Rome, “religion could be tolerated only as long as it contributed to the stability of the state” which would “brook no rival for the allegiance of its subjects. The state was the highest good in a union of state and religion.”^[11]:87 In Christian monotheism the state was not the highest good.^{[11]:87[15]:60}

“Christians moved their activities from the streets to the more secluded domains of houses, shops and women’s apartments…severing the normal ties between religion, tradition and public institutions like cities and nations”.^[18]:119 This ‘privatizing of religion’ was another primary factor in persecution.^{[19]:3[18]:112,116,119} They sometimes met at night, in secret, and this aroused suspicion among the pagan population accustomed to religion as a public event; rumors abounded^[18]:120,121 that Christians committed flagitia, scelera, and maleficia— “outrageous crimes”, “wickedness”, and “evil deeds”, specifically, cannibalism and incest(referred to as “Thyestian banquets” and “Oedipodean intercourse“)— due to their rumored practices of eating the “blood and body” of Christ and referring to each other as “brothers” and “sisters”.^[20][21]:128

Edward Gibbon wrote:

By embracing the faith of the Gospel the Christians incurred the supposed guilt of an unnatural and unpardonable offence. They dissolved the sacred ties of custom and education, violated the religious institutions of their country, and presumptuously despised whatever their fathers had believed as true, or had reverenced as sacred.^[22]

Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence(Christian heroes and martyrs, 1895)

Christianity practised inclusivity not found in the social caste system of the Roman empire and was therefore perceived by its opponents as a “disruptive and, most significantly, a competitive menace to the traditional class/gender-based order of Roman society”.^{[18]:120–126} Gibbon argued that the seeming tendency of Christian converts to renounce their family and country and their frequent predictions of impending disasters instilled a feeling of apprehension in their pagan neighbours.^[23]

Much of the pagan populace believed that bad things would happen if the established pagan gods were not properly worshipped and reverenced.^[24][25] By the end of the second century, the Christian apologist Tertullian complained about the widespread perception that Christians were the source of all disasters brought against the human race by the gods. ‘They think the Christians the cause of every public disaster, of every affliction with which the people are visited. If the Tiber rises as high as the city walls, if the Nile does not send its waters up over the fields, if the heavens give no rain, if there is an earthquake, if there is famine or pestilence, straightway the cry is, “Away with the Christians to the lions!”‘^[26]

Roman Legal System

The Condemnation of Saint Lawrence by the emperor Valerian (Fra Angelico, c. 1450)

Due to the informal and personality-driven nature of the Roman legal system, nothing “other than a prosecutor” (an accuser, including a member of the public, not only a holder of an official position), “a charge of Christianity, and a governor willing to punish on that charge”^[21]:123 was required to bring a legal case against a Christian. Roman law was largely concerned with property rights, leaving many gaps in criminal and public law. Thus the process cognitio extra ordinem (“special investigation”) filled the legal void left by both code and court. All provincial governors had the right to run trials in this way as part of their imperium in the province.^[21]:114f

In cognitio extra ordinem, an accuser called a delator brought before the governor an individual to be charged with a certain offence—in this case, that of being a Christian. This delator was prepared to act as the prosecutor for the trial, and could be rewarded with some of the accused’s property if he made an adequate case or charged with calumnia(malicious prosecution) if his case was insufficient. If the governor agreed to hear the case—and he was free not to—he oversaw the trial from start to finish: he heard the arguments, decided on the verdict, and passed the sentence.^[21]:116 Christians sometimes offered themselves up for punishment, and the hearings of such voluntary martyrs were conducted in the same way.

More often than not, the outcome of the case was wholly subject to the governor’s personal opinion. While some tried to rely on precedent or imperial opinion where they could, as evidenced by Pliny the Younger’s letter to Trajan concerning the Christians,^[27] such guidance was often unavailable.^[28]:35 In many cases months’ and weeks’ travel away from Rome, these governors had to make decisions about running their provinces according to their own instincts and knowledge.

Even if these governors had easy access to the city, they would not have found much official legal guidance on the matter of the Christians. Before the anti-Christian policies under Decius beginning in 250, there was no empire-wide edict against the Christians, and the only solid precedent was that set by Trajan in his reply to Pliny: the name of “Christian” alone was sufficient grounds for punishment and Christians were not to be sought out by the government. There is speculation that Christians were also condemned for contumacia—disobedience toward the magistrate, akin to the modern “contempt of court”—but the evidence on this matter is mixed.^[21]:124 Melito of Sardis later asserted that Antoninus Pius ordered that Christians were not to be executed without proper trial.^[28]:37

Given the lack of guidance and distance of imperial supervision, the outcomes of the trials of Christians varied widely. Many followed Pliny’s formula: they asked if the accused individuals were Christians, gave those who answered in the affirmative a chance to recant, and offered those who denied or recanted a chance to prove their sincerity by making a sacrifice to the Roman gods and swearing by the emperor’s genius. Those who persisted were executed.

According to the Christian apologist Tertullian, some governors in Africa helped accused Christians secure acquittals or refused to bring them to trial.^[21]:117 Overall, Roman governors were more interested in making apostates than martyrs: one proconsul of Asia, Arrius Antoninus, when confronted with a group of voluntary martyrs during one of his assize tours, sent a few to be executed and snapped at the rest, “If you want to die, you wretches, you can use ropes or precipices.”^[21]:137

During the Great Persecution which lasted from 303 to 312/313, governors were given direct edicts from the emperor. Christian churches and texts were to be destroyed, meeting for Christian worship was forbidden, and those Christians who refused to recant lost their legal rights. Later, it was ordered that Christian clergy be arrested and that all inhabitants of the empire sacrifice to the gods. Still, no specific punishment was prescribed by these edicts and governors retained the leeway afforded to them by distance.^[29] Lactantius reported that some governors claimed to have shed no Christian blood,^[30] and there is evidence that others turned a blind eye to evasions of the edict or only enforced it when absolutely necessary.

Government motivation

When a governor was sent to a province, he was charged with the task of keeping it pacata atque quieta—settled and orderly.^[21]:121 His primary interest would be to keep the populace happy; thus when unrest against the Christians arose in his jurisdiction, he would be inclined to placate it with appeasement lest the populace “vent itself in riots and lynching.”^[21]:122

Political leaders in the Roman Empire were also public cult leaders. Roman religion revolved around public ceremonies and sacrifices to their gods and goddesses personal belief was not as central an element as it is in many modern faiths. Thus while the private beliefs of Christians may have been largely immaterial to many Roman elites, this public religious practise was in their estimation critical to the social and political well-being of both the local community and the empire as a whole. Honouring tradition in the right way – pietas – was key to stability and success.^[31] Hence the Romans protected the integrity of cults practised by communities under their rule, seeing it as inherently correct to honour one’s ancestral traditions; for this reason the Romans for a long time tolerated the highly exclusive Jewish sect, even though some Romans despised it.^[21]:135 Historian H. H. Ben-Sasson has proposed that the “Crisis under Caligula” (37-41) was the “first open break” between Rome and the Jews.^[32] After the First Jewish–Roman War (66-73), Jews were officially allowed to practice their religion as long as they paid the Jewish tax. There is debate among historians over whether the Roman government simply saw Christians as a sect of Judaism prior to Nerva‘s modification of the tax in 96. From then on, practising Jews paid the tax while Christians did not, providing hard evidence of an official distinction.^[33] Part of the Roman disdain for Christianity, then, arose in large part from the sense that it was bad for society. In the 3rd century, the Neoplatonist philosopher Porphyry wrote:

How can people not be in every way impious and atheistic who have apostatized from the customs of our ancestors through which every nation and city is sustained? … What else are they than fighters against God?^[34]

Once distinguished from Judaism, Christianity was no longer seen as simply a bizarre sect of an old and venerable religion; it was a superstitio.^[21]:135 Superstition had for the Romans a much more powerful and dangerous connotation than it does for much of the Western world today: to them, this term meant a set of religious practices that were not only different but corrosive to society, “disturbing a man’s mind in such a way that he is really going insane” and causing him to lose Humanitas (humanity).^[35] The persecution of “superstitious” sects was hardly unheard of in Roman history: an unnamed foreign cult was persecuted during a drought in 428 BC, some initiates of the Bacchic cult were executed when deemed out-of-hand in 186 BC, and measures were taken against the Celtic Druids during the early Principate.^[36]

Even so, the level of persecution experienced by any given community of Christians still depended upon how threatening the local official deemed this new superstitio to be. Christians’ beliefs would not have endeared them to many government officials: they worshipped a convicted criminal, refused to swear by the emperor’s genius, harshly criticized Rome in their holy books, and suspiciously conducted their rites in private. In the early third century, one magistrate told Christians “I cannot bring myself so much as to listen to people who speak ill of the Roman way of religion.”^[37]

History

Saint Blaise on trial before the Roman governor, Louvre

Prior to the reign of Decius (249-251 AD), the only known incident of persecution by the Roman state occurred under Nero in 64 AD. By the mid-2nd century, mobs were willing to throw stones at Christians, perhaps motivated by rival sects. The Persecution in Lyon (177 AD) was preceded by mob violence, including assaults, robberies and stonings.^[38] Lucian tells of an elaborate and successful hoax perpetrated by a “prophet” of Asclepius, using a tame snake, in Pontus and Paphlagonia. When rumour seemed about to expose his fraud, the witty essayist reports in his scathing essay

… he issued promulgation designed to scare them, saying that Pontus was full of atheists and Christians who had the hardihood to utter the vilest abuse of him; these he bade them drive away with stones if they wanted to have the god gracious.

Tertullian‘s Apologeticus of 197 was ostensibly written in defence of persecuted Christians and addressed to Roman governors.^[39]Reconstruction of the Roman governor’s palace in Aquincum, Hungary

In 250 AD, the emperor Decius issued a decree requiring public sacrifice, a formality equivalent to a testimonial of allegiance to the emperor and the established order. There is no evidence that the decree was intended to target Christians but was intended as a form of loyalty oath. Decius authorized roving commissions visiting the cities and villages to supervise the execution of the sacrifices and to deliver written certificates to all citizens who performed them. Christians were often given opportunities to avoid further punishment by publicly offering sacrifices or burning incense to Roman gods, and were accused by the Romans of impiety when they refused. Refusal was punished by arrest, imprisonment, torture, and executions. Christians fled to safe havens in the countryside and some purchased their certificates, called libelli. Several councils held at Carthage debated the extent to which the community should accept these lapsed Christians.

The persecutions culminated with Diocletian and Galerius at the end of the third and beginning of the 4th century. Their anti-Christian actions, considered the largest, were to be the last major Roman pagan action. The Edict of Serdica, also called Edict of Toleration by Galerius, was issued in 311 in Serdica (today Sofia, Bulgaria) by the Roman emperor Galerius, officially ending the Diocletianic persecution of Christianity in the East. Constantine the Great soon came into power and in 313 completely legalized Christianity through the information that he got from the Bishop of Rome at this time in the history of the ROMAN empires, there were there sects of religion or Christianity, the true church of Jesus Christ, the apostasy Roman Catholic church and the Judaism. It was not until Theodosius I in the latter 4th century, however, that Christianity would become the official religion of the Roman Empire. The Bishop of Rome had an agender to fall away from the true church of Jesus Christ, bu he could not do it without the authority ofConstantine the then Emperor. So the Bishop found a deceitful plan by telling the Emperor that the Romans should set aside Sunday worship for all the Romans so that they can dedicate it to their godess od the ” SUN” to this the Emperor agreed not knowing the Bishops deceit behind, which the Bishop had planned in his heart to fall away from the true church of Jesus Christ. Knowing fully well that the Romans loves idols worshipping

“Persecution of the Christians”, Young Folks’ History of Rome (1878).

Prior to Nero’s accusation of arson and subsequent anti-Christian actions in 64, all animosity was apparently limited to intramural Jewish hostility. In the New Testament (Acts 18:2-3), a Jew named Aquila is introduced who, with his wife Priscilla, had recently come from Italy because emperor Claudius “had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome”. It is generally agreed that from Nero’s reign until Decius‘s widespread measures in 250, Christian persecution was isolated and localized.^{[21]:105–152} Although it is often claimed that Christians were persecuted for their refusal to worship the emperor, general dislike for Christians likely arose from their refusal to worship the gods or take part in the sacrifice, which was expected of those living in the Roman Empire.^{[21]:105–152} Although the Jews also refused to partake in these actions, they were tolerated because they followed their own Jewish ceremonial law, and their religion was legitimized by its ancestral nature.^[40]:130 On the other hand, they believed Christians, who were thought to take part in strange rituals and nocturnal rites, cultivated a dangerous and superstitious sect.^[40]:125

During this period, anti-Christian activities were accusatory and not inquisitive.^{[21]:105–152} Governors played a larger role in the actions than did Emperors, but Christians were not sought out by governors, and instead were accused and prosecuted through a process termed cognitio extra ordinem. No reliable, extant description of a Christian trial exists, but evidence shows that trials and punishments varied greatly, and sentences ranged from an acquittal to death.^[4]

Main article: Great Fire of RomeSee also: Early centres of Christianity § RomeThe Torches of Nero, by Henryk Siemiradzki (1878). According to Tacitus, Nero used Christians as human torches

There are no references to the persecution of Christians by the Roman state prior to Nero, who according to Tacitus and later Christian tradition, blamed Christians for the Great Fire of Rome in 64,^{[21]:105–152} which destroyed portions of the city and economically devastated the Roman population. In the Annals of Tacitus, we read:

…To get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Chrestians^[42] by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judæa, the first source of the evil but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular.— Tacitus’ Annals 15.44, see Tacitus on Christ

This passage in Tacitus constitutes the only independent attestation that Nero blamed Christians for the Great Fire of Rome, and while it is generally believed to be authentic and reliable, some modern scholars have cast doubt on this view, largely because there is no further reference to Nero’s blaming of Christians for the fire until the late 4th century.^[43][44]Suetonius, later to the period, does not mention any persecution after the fire, but in a previous paragraph unrelated to the fire, mentions punishments inflicted on Christians, who are described as “men following a new and malefic superstition.” Suetonius, however, does not specify the reasons for the punishment; he simply lists the fact together with other abuses put down by Nero.^{[44]:269[28]:34}

It is unclear whether Christians were persecuted solely under the charge of organized arson or for other general crimes associated with Christianity.^{[21]:105–152[28]:32–50} Because Tertullian mentions an institutum Neronianum in his apology “To the Nations”, scholars also debate the possibility of a creation of a law or decree against the Christians under Nero. However, it has been argued that in context, the institutum Neronianum merely describes the anti-Christian activities; it does not provide a legal basis for them. Furthermore, no known writers show knowledge of law against Christians.^[28:35

According to some historians, Jews and Christians were heavily persecuted toward the end of Domitian‘s reign (89-96).^[45] The Book of Revelation, which mentions at least one instance of martyrdom (Rev 2:13; cf. 6:9), is thought by many scholars to have been written during Domitian’s reign.^[46] Early church historian Eusebius wrote that the social conflict described by Revelation reflects Domitian’s organization of excessive and cruel banishments and executions of Christians, but these claims may be exaggerated or false.^[47] Some historians, however, have maintained that there was little or no anti-Christian activity during Domitian’s time.^[48][49][50] The lack of consensus by historians about the extent of persecution during the reign of Domitian derives from the fact that while accounts of persecution exist, these accounts are very cursory or their reliability is debated.^[28]:35

Often, reference is made to the execution of Flavius Clemens, a Roman consul and cousin of the Emperor, and the banishment of his wife, Flavia Domitilla, to the island of Pandateria. Eusebius wrote that Flavia Domitilla was banished because she was a Christian. However, in Cassius Dio‘s account (67.14.1-2), he only reports that she, along with many others, was guilty of sympathy for Judaism.^[28]:36 Suetonius does not mention the exile at all.^[28]:37 According to Keresztes, it is more probable that they were converts to Judaism who attempted to evade payment of the Fiscus Judaicus – the tax imposed on all persons who practised Judaism (262-265).^[46] In any case, no stories of anti-Christian activities during Domitian’s reign reference any sort of legal ordinances.^[28]:35

As a civilian emperor, Trajan corresponded with Pliny the Younger on the subject of how to deal with the Christians of Pontus, telling Pliny to continue to persecute Christians but not to accept anonymous denunciations in the interests of justice as well as of “the spirit of the age”. Non-citizens who admitted to being Christians and refused to recant, however, were to be executed “for obstinacy”. Citizens were sent to Rome for trial.[153]

Despite this, medieval Christian theologians considered Trajan to be a virtuous pagan.[5]

Hadrian

The emperor Hadrian (r. 117-138) also responding to a request for advice from a provincial governor about how to deal with Christians, granted Christians more leniency. Hadrian stated that merely being a Christian was not enough for action against them to be taken, they must also have committed some illegal act. In addition, “slanderous attacks” against Christians were not to be tolerated, meaning that anyone who brought an action against Christians but failed would face punishment themselves.

Marcus Aurelius to Maximinus the Thracian[edit]

Amphithéâtre des Trois-Gaules, in Lyon. The pole in the arena is a memorial to the people killed during this persecution.

Sporadic bouts of anti-Christian activity occurred during the period from the reign of Marcus Aurelius to that of Maximinus. Governors continued to play a more important role than emperors in persecutions during this period.^[28]:35

In the first half of the third century, the relation of Imperial policy and ground-level actions against Christians remained much the same:

It was pressure from below, rather than imperial initiative, that gave rise to troubles, breaching the generally prevailing but nevertheless fragile, limits of Roman tolerance: the official attitude was passive until activated to confront particular cases and this activation normally was confined to the local and provincial level.^[51]:616

Apostasy in the form of symbolic sacrifice continued to be enough to set a Christian free.^[28]:35 It was standard practice to imprison a Christian after an initial trial, with pressure and an opportunity to recant.^[51]:617

The number and severity of persecutions in various locations of the empire seemingly increased during the reign of Marcus Aurelius,161-180. The extent to which Marcus Aurelius himself directed, encouraged, or was aware of these persecutions is unclear and much debated by historians.^[52] One of the most notable instances of persecution during the reign of Aurelius occurred in 177 at Lugdunum (present-day Lyons, France), where the Sanctuary of the Three Gauls had been established by Augustus in the late 1st century BC. The sole account is preserved by Eusebius. The persecution in Lyons started as an unofficial movement to ostracize Christians from public spaces such as the market and the baths, but eventually resulted in official action. Christians were arrested, tried in the forum, and subsequently imprisoned.^[53] They were condemned to various punishments: being fed to the beasts, torture, and the poor living conditions of imprisonment. Slaves belonging to Christians testified that their masters participated in incest and cannibalism. Barnes cites this persecution as “one example of suspected Christians being punished even after apostasy.”^[28]:154 Eusebius, however, wrote his Ecclesiastical History in roughly 300 AD or 120 years after the events that he referenced and it is unclear if this event ever occurred. Moreover, the church father Irenaeus, the Christian Bishop of Lyon, where this incident allegedly took place, wrote his five-volume Adversus Haereses in 180, just three years after the alleged persecution but makes no mention whatsoever of any persecution which happened in his city. Instead, Irenaus writes: “The Romans have given the world peace, and we [Christians] travel without fear along the roads and across the sea wherever we will.” (Against Heresies, Book IV, Chapter 30, Sentence 3). Martyrdom of Saint Blandina, one of the martyrs of Lyons, stained glass window by Alexandre Mauvernay

A number of persecutions of Christians occurred in the Roman empire during the reign of Septimius Severus (193-211).The traditional view has been that Severus was responsible. This is based on a reference to a decree he is said to have issued forbidding conversions to Judaism and Christianity but this decree is known only from one source, the Augustan History, an unreliable mix of fact and fiction.^[54]:184 Early church historian Eusebiusdescribes Severus as a persecutor, but the Christian apologist Tertullian states that Severus was well disposed towards Christians, employed a Christian as his personal physician and had personally intervened to save from “the mob” several high-born Christians whom he knew.^[54]:184 Eusebius’ description of Severus as a persecutor likely derives merely from the fact that numerous persecutions occurred during his reign, including those known in the Roman martyrology as the martyrs of Madaura and Perpetua and Felicity in the Roman province of Africa, but these were probably as the result of local persecutions rather than empire-wide actions or decrees by Severus.^[54]:185

Other instances of persecution occurred before the reign of Decius, but there are fewer accounts of them from 215 onward. This may reflect a decrease in hostility toward Christianity or gaps in the available sources.^[28]:35 Perhaps the most famous of these post-Severan persecutions are those attributed to Maximinus the Thracian (r. 235-238). According to Eusebius, a persecution undertaken by Maximinus against heads of the church in 235 sent both Hippolytus and Pope Pontian into exile on Sardinia. Other evidence suggests the persecution of 235 was local to Cappadocia and Pontus, and not set in motion by the emperor.^[51]:623

PUNISHMENTS of christians

Christians who refused to recant by performing ceremonies to honour the gods would meet with severe penalties; Roman citizens were exiled or condemned to a swift death by beheading. Slaves, foreign-born residents, and lower classes were liable to be put to death by wild beasts as a public spectacle.^[55] A variety of animals were used for those condemned to die in this way. There is no evidence for Christians being executed at the Colosseum in Rome.

Main article: Decian persecutions libellous from the Decian persecution 250 AD

In 250 the emperor Decius issued an edict, the text of which has been lost, requiring everyone in the Empire (except Jews, who were exempted) to perform a sacrifice to the gods in the presence of a Roman magistrate and obtain a signed and witnessed certificate, called a libellous, to this effect.^[9]:319 The decree was part of Decius’ drive to restore traditional Roman values and there is no evidence that Christians were specifically being targeted.^[57] A number of these certificates still exist and one discovered in Egypt (text of papyrus in illustration) reads:^{[7]:145–151}

To those in charge of the sacrifices of the village Theadelphia, from Aurelia Bellias, daughter of Peteres, and her daughter Kapinis. We have always been constant in sacrificing to the gods, and now too, in your presence, in accordance with the regulations, I have poured libations and sacrificed and tasted the offerings, and I ask you to certify this for us below. May you continue to prosper. (Second person’s handwriting) We, Aurelius Serenus and Aurelius Hermas saw you sacrificing. (Third person’s handwriting) I, Hermas, certify. The first year of the Emperor Caesar Gaius Messias Quintus Traianus Decius Pius Felix Augustus, Pauni 27.

When the provincial governor Pliny had written to the emperor Trajan in 112, he said he required suspected Christians to curse Christ, but there is no mention of Christ or Christians in the certificates from Decius’ reign.^[58]Nevertheless, this was the first time that Christians throughout the Empire had been forced by imperial edict to choose between their religion and their lives^[7] and a number of prominent Christians, including Pope Fabian, Babylas of Antioch, and Alexander of Jerusalem died as a result of their refusal to perform the sacrifices.^[9]:319 The number of Christians who were executed as a result of their refusal to obtain a certificate is not known, nor how much of an effort was made by the authorities to check who had received a certificate and who had not, but it is known that large numbers of Christians apostatized and performed the ceremonies while others, including Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, went into hiding.^[7]Although the period of enforcement of the edict was only about eighteen months, it was severely traumatic to many Christian communities which had until then lived undisturbed, and left bitter memories of monstrous tyranny.^[59]

In most churches, those who had lapsed were accepted into communion. Some African dioceses, however, refused to re-admit them. Indirectly, the Decian persecution led to the Donatist schism, because the Donatists refused to embrace those who had obtained the certificates.

Valerian[edit]

Martyrdom of Sixtus II under Valerian, 14c.

The emperor Valerian took the throne in 253 but from the following year, he was away from Rome fighting the Persians who had conquered Antioch. He never returned as he was taken captive and died a prisoner. However, he sent two letters regarding Christians to the Senate. The first, in 257, ordered all Christian clergy to perform sacrifices to the Roman gods and forbade Christians from holding meetings in cemeteries.^[7]:151 A second letter the following year ordered that bishops and other high-ranking church officials were to be put to death and that senators and equities who were Christians were to be stripped of their titles and lose their property. If they would not perform sacrifices to the gods they also were to be executed. Roman matrons who would not apostatize were to lose their property and be banished, while civil servants and members of the Emperor’s staff and household who refused to sacrifice would be reduced to slavery and sent to work on the Imperial estates.^[40]:325 The fact that there were such high ranking Christians at the very heart of the Roman imperial establishment shows both that the actions taken by Decius less than a decade before had not had a lasting effect and that Christians did not face constant persecution or hide from public view.^[40]:326

Among those executed under Valerian were Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, and Sixtus II, Bishop of Rome with his deacons including Saint Lawrence. The public examination of Cyprian by the proconsul in Carthage, Galerius Maximus, on 14 September 258 has been preserved:^[40]:327

Galerius Maximus: “Are you Thascius Cyprianus?” Cyprian: “I am.” Galerius: “The most sacred Emperors have commanded you to conform to the Roman rites.” Cyprian: “I refuse.” Galerius: “Take heed for yourself.” Cyprian: “Do as you are bid; in so clear a case I may not take heed.” Galerius, after briefly conferring with his judicial council, with much reluctance pronounced the following sentence: “You have long lived an irreligious life, and have drawn together a number of men bound by an unlawful association, and professed yourself an open enemy to the gods and the religion of Rome; and the pious, most sacred and august Emperors … have endeavoured in vain to bring you back to conformity with their religious observances; whereas therefore you have been apprehended as principal and ringleader in these infamous crimes, you shall be made an example to those whom you have wickedly associated with you; the authority of law shall be ratified in your blood.” He then read the sentence of the court from a written tablet: “It is the sentence of this court that Thascius Cyprianus be executed with the sword.” Cyprian: “Thanks be to God.”

Taken directly to the place of execution, Cyprian was decapitated. The words of the sentence show that in the eyes of the Roman state, Christianity was not a religion at all, and the church was a criminal organisation. When Valerian’s son Gallienus became Emperor in 260, the legislation was revoked, and this brief period of persecution came to an end; this period of relative toleration between his accession to the next mass persecution is known as the Little Peace of the Church.

A warrant to arrest a Christian, dated 28 February 256, was found among the Oxyrhynchus Papyri (P. Oxy 3035). The grounds for the arrest are not given in the document. Valerian’s first act as emperor on 22 October 253 was to make his son Gallienus his Caesar and colleague. Early in his reign, affairs in Europe went from bad to worse, and the whole West fell into disorder. In the East, Antioch had fallen into the hands of a Sassanid vassal and Armenia was occupied by Shapur I (Sapor). Valerian and Gallienus split the problems of the empire between them, with the son taking the West, and the father heading East to face the Persian threat.

Diocletian and Galerius[edit]

Statue of a martyr, Milan CathedralMain article: Diocletianic Persecution

Diocletian’s accession in 284 did not mark an immediate reversal of disregard to Christianity, but it did herald a gradual shift in official attitudes toward religious minorities. In the first fifteen years of his rule, Diocletian purged the army of Christians, condemned Manicheans to death, and surrounded himself with public opponents of Christianity. Diocletian’s preference for autocratic government, combined with his self-image as a restorer of past Roman glory, presaged the most pervasive persecution in Roman history. In the winter of 302, Galerius urged Diocletian to begin a general persecution of the Christians. Diocletian was wary, and asked the oracle of Apollo for guidance. The oracle’s reply was read as an endorsement of Galerius’s position, and a general persecution was called on 24 February 303.

Support for persecution within the Roman ruling class was not universal. Where Galerius and Diocletian were avid persecutors, Constantius was unenthusiastic. Later persecutory edicts, including the calls for all inhabitants to sacrifice to the Roman gods, were not applied in his domain. His son, Constantine, on taking the imperial office in 306, restored Christians to full legal equality through the help of the Bishop of Rome who founded the apostasy Roman catholic church just to fall away from the true church of Jesus Christ and returned property that had been confiscated during the persecution. Who were these christians, the Roman catholic churches, the true chtians of Jesus Christ and the Jews. In Italy in 306, the usurper Maxentius ousted Maximian’s successor Severus, promising full religious toleration. Galerius ended the persecution in the East in 311, but it was resumed in Egypt, Palestine, and Asia Minor by his successor, Maximinus. Constantine and Licinius, Severus’s successor, signed the “Edict of Milan” in 313, which offered a more comprehensive acceptance of Christianity than Galerius’s edict had provided. Licinius ousted Maximinus in 313, bringing an end to the persecution in the East.

The persecution failed to check the rise of the church. By 324, Constantine was the sole ruler of the empire, and Catholic religion had become his favoured religion. Although the persecution resulted in death, torture, imprisonment, or dislocation for many Christians, the majority of the empire’s Christians avoided punishment. The persecution did, however, cause many churches to split between those who had complied with imperial authority (the lapsi) and those who had held firm. Certain schisms, like those of the Donatists in North Africa and the Melitians in Egypt, persisted long after the persecutions: only after 411 would the Donatists be reconciled to the church to which in 380 Emperor Theodosius I reserved the title of “catholic”. The cult of the martyrs in the centuries that followed the end of the persecutions gave rise to accounts that exaggerated the barbarity of that era. These accounts were criticized during the Enlightenment and after, most notably by Edward Gibbon. Modern historians like G. E. M. de Ste. Croix have attempted to determine whether Christian sources exaggerated the scope of the persecution by Diocletian.

See also: Christian martyrs“Faithful Unto Death” by Herbert Schmalz

The earliest Christian martyrs, tortured and killed by Roman officials enforcing worship of the gods, won so much fame among their co-religionists that others wished to imitate them to such an extent that a group presented themselves to the governor of Asia, declaring themselves to be Christians, and calling on him to do his duty and put them to death. He executed a few, but as the rest demanded it as well, he responded, exasperated, “You wretches, if you want to die, you have cliffs to leap from and ropes to hang by.” This attitude was sufficiently widespread for Church authorities to begin to distinguish sharply “between solicited martyrdom and the more traditional kind that came as a result of persecution.”^[60] At a Spanish council held at the turn of the 3rd and 4th centuries, the bishops denied the crown of martyrdom to those who died while attacking pagan temples. According to Ramsey MacMullen, the provocation was just “too blatant”. Drake cites this as evidence that Christians resorted to violence, including physical, at times.^[61] Estimates for total martyred dead for the Great Persecution depend on the report of Eusebius of Caesarea in the Martyrs of Palestine. There are no other viable sources for the total number of martyrdoms in a province.^{[62][40]:535f}Ancient writers did not think statistically. When the size of a Christian population is described, whether by a pagan, Jewish, or Christian source, it is opinion or metaphor, not accurate reportage.^[63]

During the Great Persecution, Eusebius was the bishop of Caesarea Maritima, the capital of Roman Palestine. Since, under Roman law, capital punishment could only be enforced by provincial governors, and because, most of the time, these governors would be in residence at the capital, most martyrdoms would take place within Eusebius’ jurisdiction. When they did not, as when the provincial governor travelled to other cities to perform assizes, their activities would be publicized throughout the province. Thus, if Eusebius were an assiduous reporter of the persecutions in his province, he could easily have acquired a full tally of all martyred dead.^[64]

Edward Gibbon, after lamenting the vagueness of Eusebius’ phrasing, made the first estimate of number martyred as follows: by counting the total number of persons listed in the Martyrs, dividing it by the years covered by Eusebius’ text, multiplying it by the fraction of the Roman world the province of Palestine represents, and multiplying that figure by the total period of the persecution.^[65] Subsequent estimates have followed the same basic methodology.^[66]

Eusebius’ aims in the Martyrs of Palestine have been disputed. Geoffrey de Ste Croix, historian and author of a pair of seminal articles on the persecution of Christians in the Roman world, argued, after Gibbon, that Eusebius aimed at producing a full account of the martyrs in his province. Eusebius’ aims, Ste Croix argued, were clear from the text of the Martyrs: after describing Caesarea’s martyrdoms for 310, the last to have taken place in the city, Eusebius writes, “Such was the martyrdoms which took place at Cæsarea during the entire period of the persecution”; after describing the later mass executions at Phaeno, Eusebius writes, “These martyrdoms were accomplished in Palestine during eight complete years, and this was a description of the persecution in our time.”^[67] Timothy Barnes, however, argues that Eusebius’ intent was not as broad as the text cited by Ste Croix implies: “Eusebius himself entitled the work ‘About those who suffered martyrdom in Palestine’ and his intention was to preserve the memories of the martyrs whom he knew, rather than to give a comprehensive account of how persecution affected the Roman province in which he lived.”^[28]:154 The preface to the long recension of the Martyrs is cited:

It is meet, then, that the conflicts which were illustrious in various districts should be committed to writing by those who dwelt with the combatants in their districts. But for me, I pray that I may be able to speak of those with whom I was personally conversant and that they may associate me with them – those in whom the whole people of Palestine glories because even in the midst of our land the Saviour of all men arose like a thirst-quenching spring. The contests, then, of those illustrious champions I shall relate for the general instruction and profit.— Martyrs of Palestine (L) pr. 8, tr. Graeme Clark^[68]

The text discloses unnamed companions of the martyrs and confessors who are the focus of Eusebius’ text; these men are not included in the tallies based on the Martyrs.^[69]

• More of the characteristics of Rome

The culture of ancient Rome can be described as covering a 1,000 year period, and developed from a small agricultural community defined by narrow ethnicity to a multilingual and multicultural empire covering an area now occupied by 13 modern nations.

According to the above, Rome came from  a very small beginning, out of the earth as the bible described her

It was Emperor Justinian that elevated the Pope or the Papacy to be the head of all churches

More of the characteristics of the Roman Empire?

The Roman Empire emerged after the assassination of Caesar in 44 BC. After Caesar’s, death, there were years of civil war. Finally, in 27 BC, Augustus became Caesar’s successor and the emperor of Rome.

Augustus (63 BC–14 AD) enjoyed a long and prosperous reign. His rule marked the beginning of the Pax Romana—two hundred years of peace. He was a capable organizer and reformer, but his power was absolute. He suffered only one setback as emperor: the Germans wiped out a Roman force at Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD.

One characteristic of the Roman Empire was its vastness. It stretched from Scotland to the Arabian desert and from Morocco to the Black Sea. The Mediterranean Sea was a de facto Roman lake. Roman territory was so extensive that Augustus decided not to enlarge it any further.

The huge empire was held together by a first-rate system of roads. A postal service was run by the military. Industry and commerce thrived, and goods were efficiently carried by ship. Literature and art—usually inspired by Greece—flourished.

After the Pax Romana, the empire began to decline. The rise of Christianity vexed Rome. Some of the subsequent Roman emperors, such as Commodus, were unusually cruel and inept. Barbarian tribes pressed against the Roman frontiers.

Rome finally collapsed in 476.

11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,

14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Rome was from  the earth, that is is from inside  the country of Italy. That is why is called the Capital of Italy geographically up till now

According to Daniel chapter 2:41-43

Rome was built on seven hills or mountains counterfeit of Jerusalem that was built on seven hills

The seven hill of Jerusalem

1. Mount Scopus
2. Mount Olivet
3. Mount of corruption
4. Mount ophel
5. Mount Zion
6. the middle summit hill or nob hill two
7. to the north of that rock “fort Antônia” was built

Rome is the City of Seven Hills: A counterfeit of Jerusalem of God

 

1. Aventine,

 2. Caelian,

3.  Capitoline,

4.  Esquiline, 

5. Palatine, 

6. Quirinal, 

 7. Vimina. 

Jerusalem stood on seven hills

Jerusalem’s seven hills are Mount Scopus, Mount Olivet and the Mount of Corruption (all three are peaks in a mountain ridge that lies east of the Old City), Mount Ophel, the original Mount Zion, the New Mount Zion and the hill on which the Antonia Fortress was built.

Rome gave power to the beast the Papacy when Justin’s elevated the Pope to the position of head of  all the churches in 538 AD

Rome suffered a deadly wound when Roman Empire was destroyed AD 476

The two legs of the image with head of gold in Daniel 2 are the division of Roman Empire, Wester Empire and Easter Empire. Both these Empires were defeated but not completely destroyed. This the wound that Rome received. Even though there is now the revival of this Empires now known as EUROPE who have not yet got her full power to rule.Yet as time unfolds, this revival will happen.

The ten toes that the Lord Jesus Christ destroyed of the image of Daniel are the Roman Empire which weakened the power of the Empire to like ur man mixed with clay. I am not giving a vivid description of the Roman Empire but to let the readers know some of the characteristics of Rome as the false prophet as revealed to me by God. Roman Emperors also persecuted Christians. 

The Italian painter Giotto di Bondone (1267–1377) perhaps said it best when he described Rome as “the city of echoes, the city of illusions, and the city of yearning.”

First we have to let the bible interpret itself 

The symbols that Daniel saw

1. The sea which symbolises multitude of people 
2. Revelation 18:12-13 12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.

8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.

42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.

43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.

 In the these three verses, it tell us how Rome was more fierce in character, had iron teeth, and sting destructive nails, more wicked than her fellow world rulers, Babylon, Medo-Persia and Greece or Grecia. 

Rome, from the smallest town became and Empire with ten divisions known as the Roman Empires up till this present time even though they were crushed or defeated but not totally killed, by another world ruler called the European Union which represent the revived Roman Empires 

KINGDOMS OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S IMAGE

The two legs of this image, represent the two divided Empires of Rome known as Western and Eastern Empires Constantinople and Rome The ten toes represent the ten Empires of Rome

Alemani now known as Gemany

This is a chronologically ordered list of Roman emperors. See also Roman Empire and ancient Rome.

1st century CE

• Augustus (27 BCE–14 CE)
• Tiberius (14–37 CE)
• Caligula (37–41 CE)
• Claudius (41–54 CE)
• Nero (54–68 CE)
• Galba (68–69 CE)
• Otho (January–April 69 CE)
• Aulus Vitellius (July–December 69 CE)
• Vespasian (69–79 CE)
• Titus (79–81 CE)
• Domitian (81–96 CE)
• Nerva (96–98 CE)

2nd century CE

• Trajan (98–117 CE)
• Hadrian (117–138 CE)
• Antoninus Pius (138–161 CE)
• Marcus Aurelius (161–180 CE)
• Lucius Verus (161–169 CE)
• Commodus (177–192 CE)
• Publius Helvius Pertinax (January–March 193 CE)
• Marcus Didius Severus Julianus (March–June 193 CE)
• Septimius Severus (193–211 CE)

3rd century CE

• Caracalla (198–217 CE)
• Publius Septimius Geta (209–211 CE)
• Macrinus (217–218 CE)
• Elagabalus (218–222 CE)
• Severus Alexander (222–235 CE)
• Maximinus (235–238 CE)
• Gordian I (March–April 238 CE)
• Gordian II (March–April 238 CE)
• Pupienus Maximus (April 22–July 29, 238 CE)
• Balbinus (April 22–July 29, 238 CE)
• Gordian III (238–244 CE)
• Philip (244–249 CE)
• Decius (249–251 CE)
• Hostilian (251 CE)
• Gallus (251–253 CE)
• Aemilian (253 CE)
• Valerian (253–260 CE)
• Gallienus (253–268 CE)
• Claudius II Gothicus (268–270 CE)
• Quintillus (270 CE)
• Aurelian (270–275 CE)
• Tacitus (275–276 CE)
• Florian (June–September 276 CE)
• Probus (276–282 CE)
• Carus (282–283 CE)
• Numerian (283–284 CE)
• Carinus (283–285 CE)
• Diocletian (east, 284–305 CE; divided the empire into east and west)
• Maximian (west, 286–305 CE)

4th century CE

• Constantius I (west, 305–306 CE)
• Galerius (east, 305–311 CE)
• Severus (west, 306–307 CE)
• Maxentius (west, 306–312 CE)
• Constantine I (306–337 CE; reunified the empire)
• Galerius Valerius Maximinus (310–313 CE)
• Licinius (308–324 CE)
• Constantine II (337–340 CE)
• Constantius II (337–361 CE)
• Constans I (337–350 CE)
• Gallus Caesar (351–354 CE)
• Julian (361–363 CE)
• Jovian (363–364 CE)
• Valentinian I (west, 364–375 CE)
• Valens (east, 364–378 CE)
• Gratian (west, 367–383 CE; coemperor with Valentinian I)
• Valentinian II (375–392 CE; crowned as child)
• Theodosius I (east, 379–392 CE; east and west, 392–395 CE)
• Arcadius (east, 383–395 CE, coemperor; 395–402 CE, sole emperor)
• Magnus Maximus (west, 383–388 CE)
• Honorius (west, 393–395 CE, coemperor; 395–423 CE, sole emperor)

5th century CE

• Theodosius II (east, 408–450 CE)
• Constantius III (west, 421 CE, coemperor)
• Valentinian III (west, 425–455 CE)
• Marcian (east, 450–457 CE)
• Petronius Maximus (west, March 17–May 31, 455 CE)
• Avitus (west, 455–456 CE)
• Majorian (west, 457–461 CE)
• Libius Severus (west, 461–465 CE)
• Anthemius (west, 467–472 CE)
• Olybrius (west, April–November 472 CE)
• Glycerius (west, 473–474 CE)
• Julius Nepos (west, 474–475 CE)
• Romulus Augustulus (west, 475–476 CE)
• Leo I (east, 457–474 CE)
• Leo II (east, 474 CE)
• Zeno (east, 474–491 CE)

This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.

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Roman expansion in Italy from 298 to 201 BCE

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Roman Republic, (509–27 BCE), the ancient state centred on the city of Rome that began in 509 BCE, when the Romans replaced their monarchy with elected magistrates, and lasted until 27 BCE, when the Roman Empire was established. A brief treatment of the Roman Republic follows. For full treatment, seeancient Rome.

The early historical record

Date: 

509 BCE – 27

Major Events: 

Battle of Carrhae

Third Servile War

Key People: 

Titus Quinctius Flamininus

Marcus Aemilius Lepidus

Livia Drusilla

Marcus Aemilius Lepidus

Marcus Aemilius Lepidus

(Show more)

Related Places: 

Italy

ancient Rome

Baiae

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The early Roman Republic (509–264 BCE) and the preceding regal period (753–509 BCE) are the most poorly documented periods of Roman history. Historical writing in Rome did not begin until the late 3rd century BCE, when Rome had already completed its conquest of Italy, established itself as a major power of the ancient world, and become involved in a gigantic struggle with Carthage for control of the western Mediterranean. The earliest Roman histories were brief résumés of facts and stories, but gradually historians embellished the sparse but lfactual material (such as the list of annual magistrates from the beginning of the republic onward, religious records, and the texts of some laws and treaties) with both native and Greek folklore. Consequently, over time, historical facts about early Rome suffered from patriotic reinterpretation involving exaggerations of the truth, the suppression of embarrassing facts, and invention.

Ancient Roman historians initially differed over the precise date of Rome’s foundation. By the end of the republic, however, it was generally accepted that Rome had been founded in 753 BCE and that the republic had begun in 509 BCE, following the overthrow of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the last of Rome’s seven kings. According to tradition, the first six kings had been benevolent rulers, but the last was a cruel tyrant who was overthrown by a popular uprising.

The prevalent modern view is that the monarchy at Rome was incidentally terminated through military defeat and foreign intervention. This theory sees Rome as a site highly prized by the Etruscans (the people of the central Italian region of Etruria) in the 6th century BCE. Porsenna, the Etruscanking of Clusium, defeated the Romans and expelled Tarquinius Superbus. Yet before Porsenna could establish himself as monarch, he was forced to withdraw, leaving Rome without a king. Rather than restoring their king, the Romans replaced the kingship with two annually elected magistrates called consuls.

During the early Roman Republic, important new political offices and institutions were created, and old ones were adapted to cope with the changing needs of the state. According to the ancient historians, these changes and innovations resulted from a political struggle between two social orders, the patricians and the plebeians, that began during the first years of the republic and lasted for more than 200 years. The discrepancies, inconsistencies, and logical fallacies in the account of Livy, one of Rome’s greatest historians, make it evident that this thesis of a struggle of the orders is a gross oversimplification of a highly complex series of events that had no single cause.

Early government

 

Roman RepublicConsul Titus Manlius Torquatus Orders the Beheading of His Son, oil on canvas by Ferdinand Bol, 1661–64. The painting depicts the execution of the consul’s son for disobeying a standing order while in combat against the Latins.(more)

The two consuls (who had come to replace the king) were primarily generals whose task it was to lead Rome’s armies in war. In times of military emergency, when unity of command was sometimes necessary, Rome appointed a dictator in place of the consuls, who, however, could not hold supreme military command for longer than six months.

 

Cincinnatus, Lucius QuinctiusLucius Quinctius Cincinnatus (left) accepting the position of dictator of Rome from the Senate, undated woodcut.

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The Senate, which may have existed under the monarchy and served as an advisory council for the king, now advised both magistrates and the Roman people. Although in theory the people were sovereign and the Senate only offered advice, in actual practice the Senate wielded enormous power because of the collective prestige of its members.

During the republic there were two different popular assemblies, the centuriate assemblyand the tribal assembly. The centuriate assembly was military in nature; it voted on war and peace and elected all those magistrates who exercised imperium (military power). The tribal assembly was a nonmilitary civilian assembly that elected those magistrates who did not exercise imperium. It did most of the legislating and sat as a court for serious public offenses.

In 451 BCE Rome received its first written law code, inscribed upon 12 bronze tablets and publicly displayed in the forum. Its provisions concerned such matters as legal procedure, debt foreclosure, paternal authority over children, property rights, inheritance, and funerary regulations. This so-called Law of the Twelve Tables was to form the basis of all subsequent Roman private law.

The expansion of Rome

 

ancient Italic peoplesDistribution of peoples of ancient Italy c. 500 BCE.

During the 6th century BCE, Rome became one of the more important states in Latium—owing to the achievements of its Etruscan overlords—but Tibur (Tivoli), Praeneste, and Tusculum were equally important Latin states. Although the Latins dwelled in politically independent towns, their common language and culture produced cooperation in religion, law, and warfare. (This cooperation has come to be known as the Latin League.) The Latin states occasionally waged war among themselves, but in times of common danger they banded together for mutual defense.

Toward the end of the 5th century BCE, the Romans began to expand at the expense of the Etruscan states, possibly propelled by population growth. Rome’s first two major wars against organized states were fought with Fidenae (437–426 BCE), a town near Rome, and against Veii, an important Etruscan city. Before Roman strength increased further, a marauding Gallic tribe swept down the Po River valley and sacked Rome in 390 BCE; the invaders departed, however, after they received a ransom in gold. Forty years of hard fighting in Latium and Etruria were required to restore Rome’s power. When Rome became increasingly dominant in the Latin League, the Latins took up arms against Rome to maintain their independence. The ensuing Latin War (340–338 BCE) was quickly decided in Rome’s favour.

Rome was now the master of central Italy and spent the next decade pushing forward its frontier through conquest and colonization. After three wars against the Samnites in the north (the third in 298–290 BCE) and the Pyrrhic War (280–275 BCE) against Greek towns in the south, Rome was the unquestioned master of Italy.

 

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The western Mediterranean during the Punic Wars

 

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How Hannibal’s conquests led to the fall of CarthageOverview of the rise and fall of Carthage, with a detailed discussion of Hannibal’s victories against Rome, including the Battle of Cannae, and his later defeat at the Battle of Zama.(more)

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Soon, Rome’s success led it into conflict with Carthage, an established commercial power in northern Africa, for control of the Mediterranean. The ensuing battles, known as the Punic Wars, spanned the years 264–146 BCE. Two great military geniuses were among the leaders in these wars. Hannibal led the Carthaginian forces from about 220 to 200, when he was defeated by the Roman commander Scipio Africanus the Elder. The Romans occupied Carthage and eventually destroyed it completely in 146.

The defeat of this powerful rival sustained the Romans’ acquisitive momentum, and they set their sights on the entire Mediterranean area. To the east, the Romans defeated Syria, Macedonia, Greece, and Egypt, all of which had until then been part of the decaying Hellenistic empire. The Romans also destroyed the Achaean League and burned Corinth (146 BCE). Won through massive effort and with inevitable losses, the newly acquired lands and diverse peoples populating them proved a challenge to govern effectively. The Romans organized the conquered peoples into provinces—under the control of appointed governors with absolute power over all non-Roman citizens—and stationed troops in each, ready to exercise appropriate force if necessary.

In Rome proper, the majority of citizens suffered the consequences of living in a nation that had its eyes invariably trained on the far horizon. Roman farmers were unable to raise crops to compete economically with produce from the provinces, and many migrated to the city. For a time the common people were placated with bread and circuses, as the authorities attempted to divert their attention from the gap between their standard of livingand that of the aristocracy. Slavery fueled the Roman economy, and its rewards for the wealthy turned out to be disastrous for the working classes. Tensions grew and civil warserupted. The ensuing period of unrest and revolution marked the transition of Rome from a republic to an empire.

 

Cesare Maccari: Cicero Denounces CatilineCicero Denounces Catiline, painting by Cesare Maccari, 1888, depicting the Roman consul Cicero charging the aristocrat Catiline with plotting to overthrow the government.(more)

Notable figures in the civil wars included Gaius Marius, a military leader who was elected consul seven times, and Sulla, an army officer. The later stages of the civil wars encompassed the careers of Pompey, the orator Cicero, and Julius Caesar, who eventually took full power over Rome as its dictator. After his assassination in 44 BCE, the triumvirate of Mark Antony, Lepidus, and Octavian, Caesar’s nephew, ruled. It was not long before Octavian went to war against Antony in northern Africa, and after his victory at Actium (31 BCE) he was crowned Rome’s first emperor, Augustus.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica