🌎 Ancient Rome: Religion and Early Christianity

Learning Objective

I will learn about the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire.

 Assignment Instructions

How did Christianity spread in the Roman Empire?

When Rome conquered Greece, they adopted much of the religious tradition.  The gods and goddesses were given Latin names, but many religious practices such as shrines and temples were very similar to Greek culture.  As the Roman Empire expanded into many different lands, the Romans were generally tolerant of all the religious beliefs in their empire as long as the people also worshiped the Roman gods.  Early Christians, or followers of Jesus Christ, refused.  Christianity began in Jerusalem which was controlled by the Romans at the time of Jesus's birth.  Read about the spread of this new faith in the Roman Empire in the following article:

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video Links to an external site.

Answer the following questions in the text box:

1.  Why did early Christians and the Roman Empire come into conflict?

2.  How did the Roman Empire try to stop the spread of Christianity?

3.  How and why did Christianity finally gain prominence in the lands once ruled by the Romans?

4. Name three Roman gods and the Greek gods they are derived from.  Example: Roman god Neptune= Greek god Poseidon

 Guidelines

Answer questions in complete sentences using capital letters and periods.  Use text evidence from the article in your answers.