Who was Jesus?
Jesus arrived in Israel when the anti-Roman feeling was at a peak, so His teachings were widely accepted. Jesus’s followers believed that He was the promised Messiah. However, other Jews thought that He was a blasphemer and encouraged the Romans to condemn Him. The Romans did not seem too concerned about Jesus, and there are no references to Him in the surviving official records of the time.
Death by crucifixion was a common fate for many people whom the Romans regarded as troublemakers. This form of punishment was often handed out to anyone who caused unrest, for example when Jesus preached to large crowds.
Why did the Romans persecute the Christians?
The teachings of Jesus were spread widely by His followers after His death. At first, the Christians were ignored by the Romans, especially as they did not join in the Jewish rebellion against Roman rule in AD66. However, the early Christians began to travel around the Roman Empire, and when they reached Rome they began to recruit new followers. The Roman authorities became concerned that this new religion would threaten the established order.
The Romans did not object to the new religion itself, but they did object to the fact that it denied the emperor’s divinity. The new religion appealed to the poor and to slaves, and its popularity was seen as a threat to Roman society.
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