The Greco-Roman World of the New Testament Era: Exploring the Background of Early Christianity

by James S. Jeffers

The Romans first took control of most of the Italian peninsula. After a series of bloody battles, many of which they lost, the Romans conquered their great rival in the West, Carthage in North Africa. This allowed them to dominate the western Mediterranean and freed them to pursue conquests in western Europe to their north. It also demonstrated an important lesson, your host says, which some of his countrymen tend to ignore to their grave peril: the Romans never give up. They can be bested in battle, even lose whole armies, but they are never beaten, for they refuse to admit defeat. Then Rome turned its attention in a serious way to the east. They first defeated the kingdom of Macedonia and took control of Greece as well. Then they handed the Seleucids a series of defeats, which weakened them enough so that they could not prevent the establishment of an independent temple-state in Judea, under the rule of the high priest. By 143 B.C., Judea had voluntarily allied itself with Rome and thereby gained a number of important rights. To begin with, its religion was officially recognized by Rome. Later, when the odious cult of emperor worship was instituted, Jews were not required to participate, and Jews across Rome were allowed the unprecedented right to pay their annual tax to support the Jewish temple.