In 111A.D. the governor Pliny of Asia minor wrote to emperor Trajan with questions regarding the Christians. He wrote wondering weather to seek the Christians out, weather to punish those who denied they were Christians, and overall just what to do with them. The emperor Trajan responded that Pliny had been right not to seek the Christians out and that they should not do that. But if a Christian was denounced to them and they did not renounce their faith, that they should be executed. In the years that followed this remained mostly true they were not actively sought out but if someone turned them in they would be executed. But under some emperors such as Nero and Domitian more aggressive tactics were taken. If a Christian was found out Nero might have them lit on fire to act as a torch, or they might dress up in animal skins for Nero’s men to hunt. But by far the greatest persecution the Christians experienced was under the emperor Diocletian. This lasted from 303 – 305A.D. This systematic persecution of Christians was different in that the Roman officials went out seeking the Christians instead of waiting for them to be turned in. Oftentimes people would be ordered to pledge allegiance to the Roman gods and if the Christians refused they were killed.

But under the emperor Constantine (who ruled from 306 – 337) the edict of Milan was established which meant that the Christian persecutions had finally ended. Throughout his reign he did other things to show his Christian sympathies. He banned crucifixion and gladiatorial games. He also made lives better for slaves and women. At the end of his life he was baptized, which was not an uncommon thing to do in those days so that all your sins would be washed away before you could commit anymore great sins. After his death Christianity would continue to grow and spread becoming the dominant religion in the Roman empire.

In Homers epic poems the Odyssey and the Iliad show that the ancient Greeks valued duty and honor above most other things. In the Odyssey and the Iliad the gods were portrayed as often changing their minds, being petty or vain. Some philosopher strongly disagreed with this however. The pre Socratic philosopher Xenophanes said that if there were gods (or god) that they would be higher than human beings and more noble. Socrates and Plato did not openly oppose the Greek religion but they developed a moral philosophy so appealing that it made people wonder why they should worship their vain and petty gods. By the Roman times people were looking for a religion that would appeal to the heart and to the mind. Stoic philosophy was popular among the intellectual but it did not hold much appeal for the common man because of the detached way you were supposed to look at life. They were also wondering about life after death and what that might look like if it was real.

This paved the way for Christianity to come in and to be spread rapidly. Some of the great ancient thinkers, such as Socrates and Plato had alluded to the fact that there might be a higher power unlike the gods of that day. The values of the Greeks had been rather self centered focusing on your own honor and prosperity. These differed from the values of Christianity that you should be humble and to place others before yourself. The Greeks had hoped to be good people to get into the Elysian fields of the underworld where there were none of the tortures that there were for the wicked people. This contrasts with the Christian promise that if you put your faith in Jesus as your savior, you will be saved.

Tiberius succeeded Augustus as Roman emperor in 14 AD after the death of Augustus. Tiberius continued the centralization of power to the emperor. It became really only one man in charge of Rome when Tiberius went into seclusion after his sons death and the government came to a halt. The mentally unstable Gaius more commonly known as Caligula succeeded Tiberius as emperor. He ruled for four years, in which he ordered the heads of statues to be cut off so that he could put his own head on them. After a brutal four years the praetorian guard assassinated him. The more competent emperor Claudius succeeded him for a more peaceful 13 year reign. After him Nero became emperor for 14 years. The story goes that for the first five years of his reign he was more stable but after that he became vicious and brutal. In an invasion from Gaul he committed suicide believing that they were hopelessly outnumbered. This marked the end of the Julio – Claudian dynasty.

The year that followed became known as the year of the four emperors as emperors were announced and ousted in rapid succession. Then Vespasian stabilized Rome and he became emperor for 10 years. His son Titus succeeded him and ruled competently for two years. After the death of Titus Vespasians other son Domitian became emperor. He ruled for 15 years and started out fine but after a revolt lead by the governor of a Roman province he became suspicious of everyone. He demanded worship of him and his family and had extra priests for worship of himself. Finally his family assassinated him which brought an end to the Flavian dynasty. During this time there was no legitimate way of naming the emperor sometimes the praetorian guard decided, sometimes it passed from father to son, and sometimes legions appointed their generals as emperor. Because of this system brutal or incompetent people could be appointed which was often the case.

When Octavian was 19 Julius Caesar was assassinated and in his will Octavian was anointed his successor. Julius Caesar had proclaimed himself dictator for life which made the Roman senate decide to assassinate him. After this the senate decided to rally around Octavian planning to take advantage of him because he was young, get rid of Mark Antony and then get rid of Octavian. Octavian realized that this was what the senate was planning so he rounded up two legions of soldiers with some of his inherited money. At first people did not know what Octavian was going to do with these soldiers. Then Octavian marched to Rome and successfully defeated Mark Antony there.

After the second triumvirate was established, which resulted in the death of Mark Antony, Octavian was faced with a difficult position. He knew that if things went back to the way had been, with the senate tribunes and consuls, that things would fall back into civil war. But if he took obvious dictatorship of Rome like Julius Caesar did, that the senate would be unhappy and could revolt. He decided to take the position as consul in the Roman government and was in that position for many years. Gradually more and more powers were given to him giving a more centralized government. During all this time the illusion was maintained that things had just gone back to the old days of the republic even though Octavian was the one in charge of the government. In 27 BC he was given the name Augustus by the senate which linked him to divinity. Augustus himself however preferred the name priceps or first citizen.

The struggle of the orders lasted from about 494 – 287 BC and was the struggle between the patricians and the plebeians. The patricians were the wealthy ruling class of Roman society. You could only be a patrician if you were born into a patrician family, and intermarriage was not allowed. Plebeians were the working class of Roman society. They did not know the law and had very few rights and privileges. But they realized that they had something that the patricians did not have. They had their own physical bodies that the patricians needed to do the work and defend the city since the patricians were a small percentage of the population. So in 494 BC the plebeians seceded from Rome ,which started the struggle of the orders.

At this the patricians told them that if they came back that they would have more rights. This started with the 12 stone tables being put up in the city so that the plebeians could observe the law. They were also given their own assembly called the Conchillian assembly or the counsel of the plebs. This was made to make laws that would govern the plebeians but would eventually also affect the patricians. The office of consul was opened for the plebeians. Eventually it was required for one of the two consuls to be plebeian, and the in 94 BC both consuls were Plebeian. Intermarriage between them was allowed. Though the plebeians gained many rights the patricians still had more privileges and wealth, and had increased social status into the 1^st century AD.