The Beliefs of the Roman Empire

By: Terrence Thompson

Augustus was a leader in many ways when it came to controlling the Roman Empire. He was innovative in his approach to beautify the city, and in his method to unite the people. He believed by practicing the same religion, he could bring all of the Romans together as a people.

The Romans worshipped various Gods including Mars, Ceres, and Jupiter who was believed to be the most powerful. Many of their Gods were somewhat taken and manipulated from Greek culture, the Romans changed the names, and also borrowed myths from the Greek religion.

Roman culture began to emphasize religion heavily under Augustus’ rule. Many Romans believed that if people did not respect the Gods bad things would happen to the empire. Soon it became law to punish those who did not worship them.

Religion became a crucial part of Rome’s political agenda. This was ultimately bad for the empire. It became law to worship emperors as if they were God, and many political agendas had to be cleared by religious practices.

The Roman empire included the region of Judaea. Here is where Jesus Christ was born and began spreading his beliefs. Roman leaders became concerned with his conflicting views on religion and around A.D. 30, the Roman governor of Judaea ordered Jesus to be crucified.

Jesus’ word still prevailed and Christianity spread throughout Rome. They began persecuting Christians in Rome and other regions across Europe for centuries, but the power of the religion seemed to weaken the Roman government.

In A.D. 312 Constantine faced off against another Roman general to become the next emperor. Before the battle started, Constantine who was not Christian believed he saw the word Christ in the sky before the battle, he told his army to paint crosses on their shields to symbolize fighting for God, and they were victorious.

Constantine later made Christianity the official Roman religion by signing the “Edict of Milan”. This allowed Christians to freely worship in Rome without fear of persecution.