Change and Continuity Essay

The Roman Empire was the centermost area of Western civilization, it experienced many changes involving change in religion to Christianity, political power, and change in customs, but overtime Christian persecution remained present.
In 31 BCE, before the birth of Jesus, the Roman Empire was dominated by Jewish radicalism, as it was under control by Emperor Augustus. Once Jesus was born, he clearly knew the Law and the Scriptures sacred to the Jews. Jesus rooted his teachings in the scriptural laws of the Jews, all the while, strengthening and ultimately, affirming them. By 29 CE, Jesus becomes a distinctive preacher for the peasants living around the Sea of Galilee. Christianity has done a tremendous amount of outreach telling Jewish people how much they are loved and cared for, and that the things that have happened in the past were not representative of Jesus. People have twisted and distorted Christianity and how it should be taken upon, creating an unacceptable representation towards Jesus. This led to Jesus’ execution, as he was crucified by the Romans during the reign of the Roman Emperor, Tiberius. This shows how Christian persecution was in progress as people were hurt and had to pay a heavy price for their faith throughout the area. Paul the Apostle then made the change to begin his missionary journeys throughout the Roman Empire, preaching the Gospel, creating Churches and giving strength and encouragement to Early Christians as his letters were in circulation. By 53CE, the Jesus movement becomes regional as it spreads to Turkey, the Greek Islands, and eventually Rome by the help of Paul.
In 64 CE the Great Fire of Rome caused a major change as persecution in Rome began and the Christians were claimed to be at fault of why their city was ruined. At the time the Emperor of Rome, Nero, had this plan to tear down a third of Rome to replace it with an elaborate series of palaces that would be known as Neropolis. Seeing how it was not accomplished, the people began to believe the Great Fire was created by Nero as the start of changing Rome to his liking. From 69 to 73 CE, the Judean Revolt takes place as gospels were written down to keep their tradition alive; Christians became their own, breaking away into a separate group, but Christian executions continued to cause conflict within the people. The last revolt against Roman rule was around 122 CE as the mass exodus of Jews leaving Judea began.
Rome came to the height of its expansion or the end of Traigen’s rule. The appeal to Christianity marks a long period of Christian persecution in 180 CE. Vibia Perpetua was a young woman of noble birth and was led to the arena where her and her four companions were demanded to be scourged by the crowd. She was put to death for her religious convictions, and then the courage of these sacrifices began to be acknowledged, which led to more growth in the number of Christians. By 284 CE, Emperor Diocletian begins a