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Roman Empire

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The Roman Empire

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The Roman Empire The Roman Empire / Римская империя The Roman Empire had a huge task in front of them while it was first starting out and while it was becoming a dominant dynasty in the early civilizations. The main problem that the book "Discovering the Global Past" points out is how the Roman Empire found itself growing a little too quickly. The Roman Empire started out very small.

U.S. Financial System U.S. Financial System / Финансовая система США Corporations have the need to raise capital for a number of reasons. Smaller firms need capital to start up operations. Larger firms need capital to expand operations and to finance inventory. There are various ways in which a firm can raise capital through the financial system and numerous individuals and entities.

The Roman Empire

Топик на английском по теме: History / История

The Roman Empire / Римская империя

The Roman Empire had a huge task in front of them while it was first starting out and while it was becoming a dominant dynasty in the early civilizations. The main problem that the book «Discovering the Global Past» points out is how the Roman Empire found itself growing a little too quickly. The Roman Empire started out very small on the Tiber River and grew abruptly without warning. Before they knew it, they were not a small power but now one with a great number of people with a great number of cultures intertwined within the Roman Empire. They were now spread over an immense portion of land with much power coming with it. The question now is how they are going to be able to handle all of this power and continue to dominate the world without any blueprints to help them out from previous dynasties because it had never been done before. We now have some evidence to help understand this and to show how it did happen. So courtesy of the «Discovering the Global Past» they have seven pieces of evidence that will help prove that the Roman Empire could handle the challenge of taking on the mastery of world power.

The first piece of evidence that I have is The Achievements of the Divine Augustus, which states all of the achievements and accomplishments that helped him conquer the world under the Roman Empire. In this piece of evidence it shows all of Caesar Augustus’ tactics he used to help him conquer the world. Many of which were war related. He gained most of his power by going to war and overthrowing that particular ruler. Thus this helped him gain respect which was also a key factor in his dominance. Once gaining the respect of the Roman Senate and also the republic he became the top runner to be «elected sole guardian of the laws and moral with supreme authority». But Augustus refused to take that role of leadership in the Empire. He did many things in which the people love such as repairing the capitol and the theater of Pompey which cost a great amount and he did it without any public recognition. He did a number of things to help out the ruins and made the cities better by rebuilding them and making them nice again. Also what he wasn’t going to finish by his death he would make sure his heirs would complete it. This list goes on and on of things that Augustus had done to help out the lives of people under the Roman Empire. This piece of evidence showed the strength that Roman Empire would soon have because they were still on the rise. The second piece of evidence that I have is Powers and Titles of the Emperor. This was a key part of having a successful empire. Once the Roman Empire was established they thought up a hierarchy to help control the empire. The good thing that came out of this was that the senate and the republic agreed to pass all the power entirely to Augustus. Now that they had a good ruler, it showed that their empire was growing and was a very strong for to be reckoned with. With such a high status Augustus and his successors expected a lot of support from the people and from the Roman senate.

The third piece of evidence that was available was the Roman Coin of the Reign of Emperor Nero. This was a coin that was minted during the Emperor Nero which had his portrait on it along with his name, his relationship to Caesar Augustus, and the four most prized titles that he had been awarded. They do this to help show and advertise their public image. But this wasn’t the only way that Emperor’s helped their public image and helps make them well known. They would make statues of themselves like the one the Emperor Trajan had made which is our fourth piece of evidence called Trajan’s Column, which was located in Rome. This was made with him in a military outfit to show that he was a military commander. According to Discovering The Global Past, it had to say this about Trajan’s Column: «Although built primarily to hold aloft a huge statue of Trajan in military dress, the column also publicizes his most famous campaign, a war fought against the Dacians on the Balkan peninsula». So this went to show that they would build statues and make coins to make themselves they would also use them as campaigns to help recruit and make wars successful which is key to build up an empire.

Now leading us to our sixth piece of evidence the Roman Temple Inscription in Myra, Lycia, which was the inscription that Caesar Augustus had written on the wall. They do this to show the emperor’s divine status while in rule. This was a trend that was just beginning which helped sort out whom they were and whom they wanted to be remembered as by letting them write this in their own words for all the people to see. The last piece of evidence is the Edict and Speech of Nero to the Greeks, which is the speech where the Emperor Nero gives the Greek people a reward for good will and not out of pity on the people. This is exactly how an emperor can make the people happy by giving them rewards. When trying to control a whole nation one must try to make the people happy and this was a key thing to do to help the reign of the Roman Empire continue.

In conclusion I found it quite remarkable how the Roman Empire had redefined political authority to suit a new level of world mastery. The main question that we had was how was the Roman Empire going to continue to be successful while it was on the rise so fast? Well the answer is quite easy and that is by using tactics that had never been used before which we found out were very successful. The Roman Empire was good to its people which made it possible for them to stay under control of the current emperor. For an emperor to go out rebuild cities and start new cities for people to live in was amazing, and that is how these great officials were elected by both the senate and the republic which was the backbone of the Roman Empire. Now it is considered one of the greatest empires ever.

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Roman Empire - Uncyclopedia

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The Roman Empire was the most powerful and technologically advanced empire in the classical ages. After founding the republic in 500 BC and until the fall of the empire in 476 AD, they went on to become masters of nearly all of Europe. "Western" culture claims its roots in the combined "Greco-Roman" culture. Rome was the glory and light of Europe, having built the most magnificent structures, temples and buildings. Romans invented concrete and the government ideology that democratic processes are used to elect the people who control the empire or country at question.

edit How Rome was built (in a day) by the Romans

For a totally biased opposing view on how Rome was built by the Romans, see Ancient Rome .

The Roman Empire took it's name from the city of Rome. It was said it's site was chosen by Romulus, the wolf brought up son of the god Mars and Princess Bar of Alba Longo. Bar's father Confectionarius disowned paternity of Romulus and his jazzier twin brother Remus and sent the boys to a Lupine adoption agency. The boys eventually returned home some years later with their four legged friends and tore Confectionarius apart.

Deciding they needed a new start, Romulus and Remus looked elsewhere to set up shop in Italy. They chose the site of Seven Hills for Seven Valleys and called it Oregon. Remus objected and was killed for dissent. Romulus's companions agreed to call the new city Romulusville until it was shortened to Rome. This was supposed to have happened in 753 BC from which the Romans then based their calendar. Rome was then ruled by a series of kings until the last one Tarquin Finbintin-Super-Dufurus was deposed in 509. Those Romans with clean togas declared their city a Republic and rewarded themselves with sinecures, young secretaries and pork barrels.

edit The Republic Expands

Roman historians like Livy claimed that Rome and its people were quite happy to stay at home and watch gladiator games but it was their jealous neighbours that forced them to take action. Growth was slow for the first couple of centuries with Romans more often killing each other over status and toga length than being bothered with other people.

But like a pot of purple red paint, Rome's frontiers moved north, south, earth, wind and fire. Rome's armies saw and conquered. All the time Rome was developing its constitutional set up with a Senate, A House of Plebians and two Consuls who were supposed to represent the Republic at garden parties and forum opening events. If for some reason Rome's enemies were impolite and invaded during the election timetable, a dictator would be appointed.

By about 330 BC, the Romans had successfully destroyed the Cisalpine Gauls (Asterix-Italians in Lombardy) and the Etruscans. They then looked south to where the Greeks had been coming to Italy to set up their own colonies and restaurant chains. Rome also came across another rival, the city of Carthage. This eventually led to wars with the Greeks, Macedonians and Carthaginians - during which by design or accident, Rome successfully crushed them all and placed their Italian feet all around the Mediterranean Sea. Those who weren't initially conquered (like Egypt) were reduced to client kingdom status which meant essentially a long period of self abasement before formal conquest.

One aspect of all this expansion was the growth of the Romano-Army-Slave complex where a successful politician would become a general and take a generous backhanders. Initially the republic took a very dim view of this and extolled traditional Roman values of stoicism and 'taking it on the chin'. But greed got the better of everyone with the power.

edit The Legions

The sharp end of Roman expansion came via their famous legions. A legion was divided into three lines: Hastatii, or as the legion called them "the new guys". They were generally the first to get stabbed by the hordes of Gauls, Carthaginians and Celtics the standard roman legion came up against. Next in the meat grinder is the Principes. These are the men who the reeking barbarians missed on the first time though and so as a reward get to die slightly later on compered to the other poor bastards. The last line is the Trarii, they consisted of all the cretins, wealthy men who usually let the good soldiers die in their place, this attitude was highly valued and the Trarii could look forward to a large pension and long life, excluding those who traditionally got fed to lions after being made to dig the newest grand roman sewers whist being whipped by an angry mob because of their tyranny.

Roman politicians were adept at career switching between life on wheeler-dealing to leading the armies of the republic against enemies (real ones or imagined). Generals like Pompey and Julius Caesar happily switched between the two. It could make you very wealthy if you were careful not to 'flash the cash' too easily.

edit Caesar gets greedy

Get off your couch and join The Romans.

So anyhow, these ancient Romans in Rome, after 700-odd years of deliberating, decided to pick an emperor so they could have an empire already. Well the first rulers of the area were dumbasses. There was Julius Caesar. but he doesn't really count because he wasn't really an emperor, but was, in fact, a dictator because he crossed the Rubicon when nobody was looking to play some dice, and the citizens of Rome were really pissed off about that saying, "Who the heck does Caesar think he is, dictator or something?" He had epilepsy. on the other hand. He is best remembered for his delicious salad and for the famous saying I saw, I conquered, and I came. Although less remembered by historians today, since the texts were partially lost under some big fire or something. It was promptly cut off to I came.

Caesar then invaded all of Gaul and killed 4 billion Gauls all by himself and all 100 of his Centurions killed another 6 billion Gauls and enslaved 5 billion other Gauls, but the rest of them (at least 3 zillion Gauls) were hiding in a big tree and eventually grew within the tree. Caesar then returned home to Rome, being extra careful not to cross the Rubicon this time, because he had already crossed it once already, as historical records will attest. Caesar then proceeded to annoy everybody in Rome about how amazingly l33t he was, so a bunch of annoyed Romans held a big conspiracy theory in a toilet behind a theatre, and they decided right then and there to kill Caesar after pledging eternal allegiance at each other. After those odd rulers the imfamouse Mellon came to rule. Mellon was known for his ability to suck a cock from 40 miles away. He thought he was a great ruler but he was only good at sucking cock and taking it up the butt. His most famous saying was "Give me cock and ill suck it, Give me cock and ill take it, but give me pussie and ill run away".

edit The Triumvirate is born

Now, these Roman guys were so upset that they paid hired goons to shoot Caesar, and his last words were "Et tu, Brute? ", which is Italian (or maybe Latin ) for "Idiots, I told you like 5 times already that I didn't want mayonnaise on my salad. Now, make it again! Oh crap. I believe I've just been shot through the lungs like, say, 47 times, or something". Instead of using the accustive third person singular, he made the grandiose mistake of using the laxative case, which also made him prone to diarrhea.

Roman Empire

Roman legionaries practicing for battle. The Roman Legion conquered and maintained large territorial holdings around the Mediterranean in Europe, Africa, and Asia. [1]

The Latin term Imperium Romanum (Roman Empire), probably the best-known Latin expression where the word "imperium " denotes a territory, indicates the part of the world under Roman rule. From the time of Augustus to the Fall of the Western Empire, Rome's dominion covered all of the following: England and Wales ; most of Europe (west of the Rhine and south of the Alps ); coastal northern Africa. together with the adjacent province of Egypt ; the Balkans. the Black Sea. and Asia Minor ; and also much of the Levant. Hence the Imperium Romanum subsumed, west-to-east, modern day Portugal. Spain. England and France. Italy. Albania and Greece. the Balkans, and Turkey ; southward it embraced parts of the Middle East. present day Syria. Lebanon. and more; thence southwestward it included the whole of ancient Egypt. then swept westward to contain the coastal regions of what are today Libya. Tunisia. Algeria. and Morocco. out to the longitudes just west of Gibraltar. Most of the people living there called themselves Romans, and lived under Roman law. Roman expansion began long before the state was changed into a monarchy and reached its zenith under Emperor Trajan with the conquest of Dacia (i.e. modern Romania and Moldova. as well as parts of Hungary. Bulgaria and Ukraine ), in AD 106, and Mesopotamia in 116 (subsequently returned by Hadrian ). At this territorial peak, the Roman Empire controlled approximately 5 900 000 km? (2,300,000 sq.mi.) of land surface, and so encompassed the Mediterranean Sea that the Romans called it "mare nostrum " - Latin for "our sea". Rome's influence upon the culture, law, technology, arts, language, religion, government, military, and architecture of the civilizations that arose from this ancient ancestor continues to this day.

The end of the Roman Empire is traditionally, if not strictly accurately, placed at 4 September AD 476, when the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire. Romulus Augustus. was deposed of by the Germanic chieftan Odoacer. the leader of the Germanic soldiers in the Roman army, and therefore terminating the western Roman Empire. However, Diocletian, who retired in AD 305, was the last sole Emperor of an undivided Empire whose capital was the City of Rome.

After the division of the Empire by Diocletian into East and West, each branch continued to style itself as "The Roman Empire." The Western Roman Empire declined and fell apart in the course of the 5th century. The Eastern Roman Empire. centered on Nova Roma (founded by Constantine I on the Greek city of Byzantion ), which would later adopt Greek as its main language, and is known today as the Byzantine Empire. preserved Greco-Roman legal and cultural traditions along with Hellenic and Orthodox Christian elements for another millennium, until its eventual collapse with the conquest of Constantinople. as Constantine's city become known, at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in 1453.

"The older generations, trained for centuries in the statesmanship and sense of moral responsibility that had given Rome its position as a world power, were to a large extent exterminated. The Roman Sertorius attempted to found a rival state in Spain with the aid of the barbarous races there, and Spartacus roused the slaves of Italy to wipe out all that Rome meant. The war against Jugurtha and the Catilinarian Conspiracy revealed the deterioration of the ruling classes themselves, whose uprooted elements were prepared at any moment to appeal to the country's enemy and the mob of the Forum in support of their sordid financial interests. Sallust was perfectly right - it was for the sake of cash, whereof the mob and the rich speculators were equally greedy, that the honour and greatness of Rome, its race and its idea, went down in ruin." – Oswald Spengler in The Hour Of Decision

Decline and fall of the Roman Empire

Map of the Roman Empire and Magna Germania in the early 2nd century

The Roman Empire

The Philosophies and Religions of the Roman Empire

Dr. C. George Boeree

Rome was founded c. 500 bc. By 200 bc, it ruled most Italy, and in 150 bc, it conquered Carthage, the greatest power of the western Mediterranean at the time. By 150 bc, only three cities had over 100,000 people: Antioch, Alexandria, and Rome. By 44 bc, Rome would rule them all.

When Julius Caeser was assassinated in 44 bc (pretty much as Shakespeare described it!), that ended the vigorous Roman Republic. His adopted heir, calling himself Augustus Caesar, became first emperor. The Roman Empire would reach its greatest extent in 116 ad under the Emperor Trajan.

As you can imagine, the best minds of Rome were absorbed into politics, war, and economics. Few had the luxury of abstract philosophizing. Besides which, the Greeks had done that already, and look how far it got them: Quite a number of Greek philosophers wound up as Roman slaves, tutoring the youth of Roman aristocracy!

In this atmosphere, we find a powerful renewed interest, among the rich and poor alike, in religion. The old religion of Rome was given lip service, to be sure. But most saw the gods as little more than stories to scare naughty children (except when the adults themselves got frightened!). They were looking for comfort in uncertain times, and they found philosophy too dry. Many different cults -- of the Great Mother, of Dionysus, of Isis from Egypt, Mithra from Persia, Baal from Syria, Yahweh from Palestine -- became popular. Eventually, the Judaic sect we now call Christianity would prevail.

(To find out more about the early Jews and their beliefs, click here !)

Why talk about religions and religious philosophies in a book on the history of psychology? There are actually a number of reasons. First, religion, philosophy, science, and psychology all come from the same human roots: We have a strong desire, even need, to understand the nature of the universe, our place in that universe, and the meaning of our lives. Religion included answers to these issues that have been psychologically satisfying as well as socially and politically powerful. Philosophy began separating from religion in the Greek and Roman times, and yet the great majority of people stuck with religion for their answers. In the renaissance and enlightenment, science began to separate from both religion and philosophy, and still the great majority remained loyal to religious dogma. And throughout much of history, religions have often taken a strongly anti-philosophical and anti-scientific position. Psychology inherits some of these issues, even into the modern era. It is valuable to any student of the history of philosophy, science, and psychology to understand the roots of religious belief and the power of those beliefs.

Neo-Platonism

Roman Philosophy was rarely more than a pale reflection of the Greek, with occasional flares of literary brilliance, but with few innovative ideas. On the one hand, there was the continuation of a sensible, if somewhat plodding, stoic philosophy, bolstered to some extent by the tendency to eclecticism (e.g. Cicero). On the other hand, there was the growing movement towards a somewhat mystical philosophy, an outgrowth of Stoicism usually referred to as Neo-Platonism. It’s best known proponent was Plotinus .

Plotinus (204-269) was born in Lycopolis in Egypt. He studied with Ammonius Saccus, a philosopher and dock worker and teacher of the church father Origen, in Alexandria. Plotinus left for Rome in 244, where he would teach until his death. He would have considerable influence on the Emperor Julian "the Apostate," who tried unsuccessfully to return the Roman Empire to a philosophical version of Paganism, against the tide of Christianity.

On a military campaign to Persia, he encountered a variety of Persian and Indian ideas that he blended with Plato's philosophy:

God is the supreme being, the absolute unity, and is indescribable. Any words (even the ones I just used) imply some limitation. God is best referred to as “the One ,” eternal and infinite. Creation, Plotinus believed, is a continuous outflow from the One, with each “spasm” of creation a little less perfect than the one before.

The first outflow is called Nous (Divine Intelligence or Divine Mind, also referred to as Logos ), and is second only to the One -- it contemplates the One, but is itself no longer unitary. It is Nous that contains the Forms or Ideas that the earlier Greeks talked about. Then comes Psyche (the World Soul), projected from Nous into time. This Psyche is fragmented into all the individual souls of the universe. Finally, from Psyche emanates the world of space, matter, and the senses.

Spirituality involves moving from the senses to contemplation of one’s own soul, the World Soul, and Divine Intelligence -- an upward flow towards the One. Ultimately, we require direct ecstatic communion with the One to be liberated. This made neo-Platonism quite compatable with the Christianity of ascetic monks and the church fathers, and with all the forms of mysticism that would flourish in the following 1800 years!

Another proponent of Neo-Platonism worth mentioning is Hypatia of Alexandria (370-415). A woman of great intellect, she became associated with an enemy of the Christian Bishop Cyril. He apparently ordered his monks to "take care" of her. They stripped her naked, dragged her from her home, beat her, cut her with tiles, and finally burned her battered body. The renaissance artist Raphael thought enough of her to include her in his masterpiece, The School of Athens.

One of the most popular religions of the Roman Empire, especially among Roman soldiers, was Mithraism. Its origins are Persian, and involves their ancient hierarchy of gods, as restructured by Zarathustra (c. 628-c. 551 bc) in the holy books called the Avestas.

The universe was seen as involved in an eternal fight between light and darkness, personified by Ahura-Mazda (good) vs. Ahriman (evil). This idea probably influenced Jews while they were in Babylon, which is when they adopted HaShatan -- Satan -- as the evil one!

Within the Persian pantheon, Mithra was “the judger of souls” and “the protector,” and was considered the representative of Ahura-Mazda on earth.

Mithra, legend says, was incarnated into human form (as prophesized by Zarathustra) in 272 bc. He was born of a virgin, who was called the Mother of God. Mithra's birthday was celebrated December 25 and he was called “the light of the world.” After teaching for 36 years, he ascended into heaven in 208 bc.

There were many similarities with Christianity: Mithraists believed in heaven and hell, judgement and resurrection. They had baptism and communion of bread and wine. They believed in service to God and others.

In the Roman Empire, Mithra became associated with the sun, and was referred to as the Sol Invictus. or unconquerable sun. The first day of the week -- Sunday -- was devoted to prayer to him. Mithraism became the official religion of Rome for some 300 years. The early Christian church later adopted Sunday as their holy day, and December 25 as the birthday of Jesus.

Mithra became the patron of soldiers. Soldiers in the Roman legions believed they should fight for the good, the light. They believed in self-discipline and chastity and brotherhood. Note that the custom of shaking hands comes from the Mithraic greeting of Roman soldiers.

It was operated like a secret society, with rites of passage in the form of physical challenges. Like in the gnostic sects (described below), there were seven grades, each protected by a planet.

Since Mithraism was restricted to men, the wives of the soldiers often belonged to clubs of Great Mother (Cybele) worshippers. One of the women’s rituals involved baptism in blood by having an animal- preferably a bull - slaughtered over the initiate in a pit below. This combined with the myth of Mithra killing the first living creature, a bull, and forming the world from the bull's body, and was adopted by the Mithraists as well.

When Constantine converted to Christianity, he outlawed Mithraism. But a few Zoroastrians still exist today in India, and the Mithraic holidays were celebrated in Iran until the Ayatollah came into power. And, of course, Mithraism survives more subtly in various European -- even Christian -- traditions.

Christianity

Jesus was born, it is thought, about 6 bc. His name is Latinization of the Hebrew name Yeshua, which we know as Joshua. Legend has it that he was born in the small town of Bethlehem, to a virgin named Mary, the fiancée of a carpenter, Joseph. He grew up in Nazareth, part of a large Jewish family. He was apparently very intelligent and learned, for example, to read without formal education.

As a young man, he became very religious, and joined a group of ascetic Jews led by a charismatic leader named John the Baptist. When John was beheaded by local authorities for “rabble-rousing,” many began looking to Jesus for leadership.

He had 12 disciples from various towns and walks of life, and literally hundreds of other followers, men, women, and children. They wandered the area, in part to spread their beliefs, in part to stay ahead of unfriendly authorities.

At first, Jesus’s message was a serious, even fundamentalist, Judaism. He promoted such basic ethics as loving one’s neighbor and returning hatred with kindness. He particularly emphasized the difference between the formal religion of the priests and Jewish ruling class and the less precise, but more genuine, zeal of the simple people. Supporting the message was his apparent ability to heal the sick.

The Jews of his time felt oppressed by their Roman overlords, and many believed that their God would intervene on behalf of his people by sending a messiah -- a charismatic leader who would drive out the Romans and establish a new Jewish state.

Many of Jesus’s followers, of course, believed that he was the messiah. At some point in his career, he began to believe this, too. Unfortunately, the Jewish authorities, answerable to the Romans, were concerned with his popularity, and had him arrested in Jerusalem.

He was condemned to death and crucified. His followers were clearly disappointed that the promised Jewish state was not delivered. But rumor of his coming back to life, and his appearance as a vision to several of his followers, reignited their faith. Many believed that he would return -- soon! -- to lead them.

As time went by, of course, it was clear that he wouldn’t be coming back in their lifetimes. The less messianic, more religious aspects of his teaching began to be emphasized, and his notion of the kingdom of God as within us, or at least as our heavenly reward, replaced the hoped-for Jewish state.

For better or worse, Judea was actually quite metropolitan -- heavily “Hellenized” if not so “Romanized.” The same currents of thought in other parts of the empire where felt here as well. So the story of Jesus, as recorded in the gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke, began to be attached to ideas that were more properly neo-Platonist, gnostic, or even Mithraist!

The gospel of John, for example, is very different from the others, and refers to Jesus as the word, or Logos -- a common Greek idea. Revelations, also attributed to John, but very different in style and content, has all the complex imagery of gnostic and Mithraist end-of-the-world stories, popular among the Jews at this time. It includes the idea of an eventual resurrection of the body -- a concept that Jesus of the gospels did not promote, and which most Christians today do not believe in.

But it was Paul (c. 10 - c. 64 ad), a Romanized Jew, who would be most responsible for re-creating Jesus, whom he had never met, and never refers to by name. He is also responsible for divorcing this newly formed religion from its Jewish roots. It was Paul who introduced the idea that Jesus was the son of God and that only by faith in him could we hope to be “saved” from our inherent sinfulness.

For nearly a century, the early Christians were split into two hostile camps: One group followed Peter, one of Jesus’s original disciples. They were predominantly Jews and continued many Jewish traditions, as Jesus himself had done. The other group followed Paul, who was far more open to non-Jewish converts and waived much of Jewish law for those not born into it. The battle between these groups was, of course, won by Paul. Some critics suggest that Christianity ought to be called “Paulism!”

Both Peter and Paul were executed in Rome about 64 ad. Paul was beheaded. Peter was crucified upside-down (at his request, so as to avoid comparison with Jesus).

The Patrists, or church fathers, were the first Christian philosophers. In the eastern part of the empire, there was Origen of Alexandra (185-254); in the west, there was Tertullian of Carthage (165-220). Tertullian is best remembered for saying that he believed (in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ) precisely because it was absurd. Origen, on the other hand, had much more of the Greek in him, and pointed out that much of the Bible should be understood metaphorically, not literally. Keep in mind, though, that Origen cut off his own genitals because he took Matthew XIX, 12 literally!

The idea of the trinity, not found in the Bible itself, preoccupied the Patrists after Theophilius of Antioch introduced the concept in 180 ad. Tertullian felt that the trinity referred to God, his word (Logos), and his wisdom (Sophia). Origen was more precise, and said that it refers to the One (the father), intelligence (Logos, here meaning the son), and soul (Psyche, the holy spirit), following the Neo-Platonic scheme. Because the concept of the trinity is a difficult one, it was the root of many different interpretations which did not coincide with the official explanation. These alternative interpretations were labelled heresies. of course, and their authors excommunicated and books burned. (Click here for a list of heresies!)

Origen also did not believe in hell: Like the Neo-Platonists, he thought that all souls will eventually return to the One. In fact, it is believed that Origen and the great neo-Platonist Plotinus had the same teacher -- a dock worker/philosopher by the name of Ammonius Saccus.

The Patrists' philosophies were for the most part the same: All truth comes from God, through the mystical experience they called grace (intuition, interior sense, light of faith). This clearly puts the church fathers in the same league as the neo-Platonists, and contrasts Christian philosophy with that of the ancient Greeks: To take truth on faith would be a very odd idea indeed to the likes of Socrates, Plato, Democritus, and Aristotle!

Christianity had certain strengths, with strong psychological (rather than philosophical) messages of protection, hope, and forgiveness. But its greatest strength was its egalitarianism: It was first and foremost a religion of the poor, and the empire had plenty of poor! Despite incredible persecution, it kept on growing.

Then, on the eve of battle on October 27, 312, a few miles north of Rome, Emperor Constantine had a vision of a flaming cross. He won the battle, adopted Christianity, and made it a legal religion with the Edict of Milan. In 391, all other religions were outlawed. But even then, Christianity still had competition.

Gnosticism

Gnosticism refers to a variety of religio-philosophical traditions going back to the times of the Egyptians and the Babylonians. All forms of Gnosticism involved the idea that the world is made up of matter and mind or spirit, with matter considered negative or even evil, and mind or spirit positive. Gnostics believe that we can progress towards an ultimate or pure form of spirit (God) by attaining secret knowledge -- “the way” as announced by a savior sent by God.

The details of the various gnostic sects depended on the mythological metaphors used -- Egyptian, Babylonian, Greek, Jewish, Christian. Gnosticism overall was heavily influenced by Persian religions (Zoroastrianism, Mithraism) and by Platonic philosophy.

There was a strong dependence on astrology (which they inherited from the Babylonians). Especially significant are the seven planets, which represent the seven spheres the soul must pass through to reach God. Magical incantations and formulas, often of Semitic origins, were also important.

When Christianity hit the stage, gnosticism adapted to it quickly, and began to promoted itself as a higher, truer form of Christianity. The theology looked like this:

At first, there was just God (a kind of absolute). Then there were emanations from God called his sons or aions. The youngest of these aions was Sophia. wisdom and the first female “son.” Sophia had a flaw, which was pride, which then infected the rest of the universe. We need to undo this flaw (original sin) but we cannot do it on our own. We need a savior aion. who could release Sophia from the bonds of error and restore her to her status as an emanation of God.

Worship among the gnostics included baptism, confirmation, and the eucharist. In fact, it is likely that several of the non-canonical gospels were written by Christian gnostics, and some say that John was a gnostic.

Gnosticism was strongly refuted by the early Christian Church in the 100’s and 200’s, as well as by the neo-Platonists, like Plotinus, who saw it as a corruption of Plato’s thought. In fact, of course, the reason for the animosity was more a matter of how similar gnosticism was to Christianity and neo-Platonism!

Manicheanism

Manicheanism was founded by Mani. born 215 ad in Persia. At 12, he was visited by an angel, who told him to be pure for 12 more years, at which time he would be rewarded by becoming a prophet. He would eventually consider himself the seal (i.e. the last) of the prophets, a title Mohammed would later claim for himself.

Forced to leave Persia, he wandered the east, preaching a gnostic version of Mithraism, with elements of Judaism, Christianity, and Buddhism. He considered himself an apostle of Jesus. When he returned to Persia, he was imprisoned and crucified.

In Manicheanism, Ormuzd (a corrupion of the name Ahura Mazda) is the good god, the god of light, creator of souls. There is also a god of evil and darkness -- sometimes referred to as Jehovah! -- who created the material world, even trapping Ormuzd’s souls in bodies. Another tradition has Ormuzd placing fragments of light -- reason -- in the evil one’s mannequins.

So there is light trapped inside of darkness! Mani believed that salvation comes through knowledge, self-denial, vegetarianism, fasting, and chastity. The elect are those who follow the rules most stringently. Their ultimate reward is a release of the light from its prison.

His followers were severely persecuted, by Persians and Romans alike. Still, the religion spread to Asia Minor, India, China, the Middle East, even Spain. It lasted in Europe until the 10th century ad and influenced later Christian heresies such as the Bogomils and the Cathars.

St. Augustine

St. Aurelius Augustine of Hippo (354-430) was a Manichean for 10 years before converted to Christianity in 386 ad. He would go on to become the best known Christian philosopher prior to the Middle ages.

He is best known to us for the first truly psychological, introspective account of his search for truth, in his Confessions. A hint of the intimate detail of his account can be gotten from one of his best known quotes: He prayed to God to "give me chastity and continence, but not yet!"

His philosophy is a loose adaptation of Plato to the requirements of Christianity. In order to reconcile the idea that God is good with the evil that obviously exists in the world, he turned to the concept of free will and our personal responsibility for sin. And he emphasized intentions over actions when it comes to assigning moral responsibility

There are, of course, problems with his arguments: If God is omniscient and omnipotent, he knows what we will do and in fact made us this way, so isn’t he still responsible for evil? Besides which, despite the admittedly great evil we human beings do to each other, aren’t there also natural disasters and diseases that could be considered evil, yet have nothing to do with our free will? These arguments would trouble philosophers even into the twentieth century. (See Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov for examples!)

Augustine became bishop of Hippo Regius (west of Carthage) in 395. He died in 430, during the seige of Hippo by the Vandals, a Germanic tribe that conquered North Africa (which was the “breadbasket” of Italy in those times!). You could say he lived through the fall of the Roman Empire.

The Fall of Rome

The Roman Empire was seriously declining. The economy began to stagnate. Too much money was being used to simply maintain the borders and unity of the empire. The cities began to deteriorate. City services declined, and hunger and disease severely hurt the poor. Many moved out to the country, where they found themselves working in the great latifundi -- what we might call agribusinesses -- as peasants and artisans. Free peasants turned over their ownership of land to these powerful landlords, in exchange for protection. In turn, these latifundi were ready-made mini-kingdoms for the barbarian chieftains who would be coming soon!

By the third century, the empire was being attacked from every direction. It was nobly defended by 33 legions (5000 men each). Internally, it was suffering from sheer size, and in 395, it officially split into two halves, the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire.

In the 400s, the Huns entered Europe from the Russian steppes, and got as far as Chalons, near Paris. They spread terror everywhere they went. Their empire collapsed in 476, but not before they set dozens of German tribes in motion towards the Roman Empire.

The Romans fought some off, paid some off, and let some in to protect the borders. Most of the mighty legions were eventually composed of German soldiers! One rather large tribe, the Visigoths (western Goths), began to move towards Italy from their settlements in the Balkans. In 410, they destroyed Rome. The western half of the Roman Empire was for all intents and purposes dead and in the hands of the various invaders.

The Eastern Roman Empire was also in decline and was plagued by wars, external and internal. Emperor Justinian (527 - 565) tried but failed to reconquer Italy and sent the Eastern Empire into financial crisis. His efforts to discourage pagan philosophies and eliminate Christian heresies would eventually lead to much dissatisfaction with his rule. On the other hand, Justinian codified Roman law and adapted it to Christian theology, and he promoted great works such as the building of the Hagia Sophia, with its incredibly large dome and beautiful mosaics.

Barbarians at the gates were only part of the Empire’s problems, however. There was famine in the remnants of the Roman Empire on and off from 400 to 800. There was a plague in the 500’s. The Empire’s population dropped by 50%. The city of Rome’s population dropped 90%. By 700, only Constantinople-- capital of the eastern Roman Empire -- had more than 100,000 people.

In the late 600's, Arabs conquered Egypt and Syria (up till then still a part of the Eastern Empire), and even attempted to take Constantinople itself. In the 700’s, Europe was attacked by Bulgars (a Mongol tribe), Khazars (a Turkish tribe which had adopted Judaism), Magyars (the Hungarians), and others. The Eastern Empire would see the Turks take Anatolia (appropriately renamed Turkey) in 1071, and finally take Constantinople in 1453.

In the meantime, western Europe was ruled by various size gangster-like hierarchies of illiterate warriors. The great mass of people were reduced to slave-like conditions, tilling the soil or in service jobs in the greatly reduced cities. We don’t call ‘em the dark ages for nothing!

But, when the sun sets on one civilization, it is usually rising somewhere else.

So, as the Roman Empire faded into the sunset, the opportunity for other civilizations to make a mark arose. I doubt that anyone at the time would have guessed that the major contender would come from the relatively desolate western coast of Arabia. Arabia could only marginally sustain its population agriculturally. But, positioned nicely between the wealthy empires to its north and the untapped resources of Africa to its south -- and later the ocean roots to India and beyond -- it managed to provide its people with the option of lucrative trade.

Mohammed was born 569 ad in Mecca, a merchant town near the Red Sea. His mother died when he was six, so he was raised, first by his grandfather, later by his uncle. He was probably illiterate, but that was the reality for most Arabs of the time.

At 26, he married a wealthy widow 14 years his senior, who would be his only wife until she died 26 years later. He would have ten more wives -- but no living son. He and his first wife had a daughter, Fatima, who would become a significant character in Islamic history. She married Mohammed’s adopted son, Ali.

As he got older, he became increasingly religious, and sought to learn about Judaism and Christianity. He began to meditate alone in the desert and local caves.

In 610 ad, Mohammed fell asleep in a cave, when tradition has it that the angel Gabriel appeared to him and told him he would be the messenger of God (Allah *). He would have this experience repeatedly throughout the rest of his ife. Each time, the angel would provide him with a lesson (sura ) which he was to commit to memory. These were eventually recorded, and after his death collected into the Islamic holy book, the Quran (or Koran).

He preached to the people of Mecca, but was met with considerable opposition from pagan leaders. When the threat of violence became clear, he left Mecca for the town of Medina, to which he had been invited, with some 200 of his followers. Here, he was much more successful, and eventually he took over secular authority of the the town.

Relations with the pagan families of Mecca continued to deteriorate, and relations with the Jews of Medina, at first promising, deteriorated as well. An alliance between the Meccan families and the Medina Jews fought Mohammed’s followers over the course of several years.

In 630, Mohammed took Mecca. Within two more years, all of Arabia was under his control, and Islam was a force to be reckoned with. Mohammed died June 7, 632.

Mohammed’s basic message was simple enough: We must accept Allah as the one and only God, and accept that Mohammed was his prophet. Say words to this effect three times, and you are a Moslem.

Islam means surrender. meaning that we are saved only by faith. Allah, being all-knowing, knows in advance who will and who will not be saved. This idea (which we will see again among the Protestants in Europe) tends to encourage bravery in battle, but it also tends to lead a culture into pessimistic acceptance of the status quo. But that would not happen to Islam for many hundreds of years!

The Quran says that some day (only Allah knows when), the dead will rise and be reunited with their souls. They will be judged. Some will be cast into one of the seven levels of hell. Some will be admitted into paradise -- described in very physical, even hedonistic, terms. Much of this scenario came from the Jews, who in turn got it from the Persians.

Islam is very rule-oriented, blending the religious with the secular. Church and State are one. In the Quran, there are rules for marriage, commerce, politics, war, hygiene -- very similar to the Jewish laws, which Mohammed imitated. Among those rules, Moslems are not to eat pork or dog meat and may not have sex during a woman’s period, just like the Jews. Mohammed added a rule against alcohol. The society Mohammed envisioned is approximated by such authoritarian states as Saudi Arabia and Iran today.

Marriage was encouraged, and celibacy considered sinful. Polygamy was permitted, within limits. Women, as in Judaism and Christianity, were clearly secondary to men, but were not to be considered property. They were equal to men in most legal and financial dealings, and divorce, while easy, was strongly discouraged. Likewise, although slavery was not condemned, many rules were designed to humanize the institution.

Mohammed and the Moslems were generally accepting of Jews and Christians (“people of the book”), but intolerant of pagans. War and capital punishment were clearly condoned and practiced by the prophet: “And one who attacks you, attack him in like manner” (ii, 194).

The Arabic culture and language, and the religion of Islam, soon would dominate much of the world, from Spain and Morocco to Egypt and Palestine to Persia and beyond. For a while, it would present a progressive, tolerant face, and Moslem philosophy would rival that of the ancient Greeks.

(For more information about Islam, especially its Sunni and Shiite branches, click here !)

* Allah is the Arabic word meaning "the God." It comes from the same root as the Hebrew Elohim, and ultimately comes from the Cananite word El, which referred to the father of all the gods.