Notes

• Octavian
  • Got  title Caesar Augustus
  • 1^st empire in the Roman Empire
  • Began the Pax Romana
  • Built roads, aqueducts (bringing water from places)
  • Set up civil service(government) to take care of roads, the grain supply, even a postal service
  • Jesus was born at the time
  • Augustus died at age 76 by natural causes
• Tiberius
  • Time of Jesus and Paul
  • Augustus’ stepson and adopted adopted son
  • Tiberius succeeded Octavian
  • Didn’t get along with Senate
  • Senate- “men fit to be slaves”
  • Didn’t want to be emperor
  • Germanicus- ally
  • Germanicus started to get powerful and looked like he was going to take over
  • Tiberius had him killed
  • Died at age 77 by natural causes (probably)
• Jesus
  • Roman citizen and a Jew
  • Began ministry at 30
  • Preached to the poor, reached out to outsiders
  • Wasn’t popular when alive
  • A lot of things he said made people nervous, thought he was going to overtake the kingdom
  • Pontius Pilate,  governor of the Roman province of Judaea, sentenced him to death
• Paul
  • He was riding his horse
  • Got kicked off and got blind
  • The first thing he saw was Jesus
  • He started to tell Jesus’ story
  • People wrote letters to him asking questions
  • He wrote back to him
  • Letters in New Testament
  • Jesus became known because of him
• Most influential persons in history
  • 1. Muhammad
  • 2. Sir Isaac Newton
  • 3. Jesus
  • 4. Buddha
  • 5. Confucius
  • 6. St. Paul of Tarsus
• Caligula
  • Germanicus’ son
  • Tiberius’ adopted grandson and great-nephew
  • Started off well
  • Began to fight with Senate
  • Claimed to be a god
  • Had statues of him everywhere, like in a Jewish temple
  • Slept with other men’s wives and bragged about it
  • Spent too much money
  • Tried to make his horse a consul and a priest
  • Critics said all this
  • Assassinated by his own aides at age 28
• Claudius
  • Ostracized by his family because of his disabilities
  • Had limp, slight deafness, possible speech impediment
  • Conquered Britain, no one else could
  • Built roads, canals, and aqueducts
  • Renovated the Circus Maximus
  • Had an awful marriage to Messalina
  • She was unfaithful, plotted to seize power for her lover Silius through a coup
  • Claudius had wife and her lover killed
• Religious troubles
  • Christianity and Judaism: monotheistic (one God)
  • Romans had many gods, plus at times the emperor was viewed as a god
  • A group of Jews called the Zealots tried to rebel, but Roman troops put them down and burned their temple (except for one wall)
  • The Western Wall is considered holiest site for Jews