Bit of a tangent, but returning to the subject of Ancient Rome's interaction with the Jewish people before the spread of Christianity, it's a fairly interesting topic. While the Roman state was generally prone to getting along with other religions, there still tended to be friction when it came to monotheistic religions. Religion in antiquity was an important part of the social fabric, and religious tolerance no doubt influenced by the concept of Pax Deorum, the idea that it was in the interest of the Roman state to appease the gods whenever feasible. So when you have a monotheistic group that rather strongly refuses to partake in public festivals and respect the other gods, on top of the political complications that influenced Roman policies towards Judea...
Judea, prior to its absorption by the then-Republic, was a kingdom that had previously won autonomy from the Selucid Empire. After a similar period of religious strife involving a Hellenic empire's interactions with its monotheistic subjects, slowly but surely the Hasmonean Kingdom found itself practically the only part of the Mediterranean not under Roman control. Politically this meant they were a kingdom smack dab in the middle of what would be a very useful route connecting Aegyptum, now Rome's breadbasket, with other important parts of it. A kingdom sandwiched between two sides of an Empire (and Republic, during earlier parts of all this goings-on) that considered an important part of its history being the deposing of the Roman kings, and who had already not long ago had a fun time dealing with the political strife of the Hellenic pharaohs of the Ptolemaic Kingdom.
Needless to say, even if there wasn't religious strife, Rome's gotta Rome and the direct rule of Judea was the logical conclusion for the Roman Empire's growing influence over the whole of the Mediterranean world. Imagine the parallels and worries someone living in that time and place might have, their independent kingdom replaced with a puppet of yet another empire, one with yet another polytheistic religion as a major factor in the fabric of its everyday society. Someone with a knowledge of their history would likely compare it either to the period under the Neo-Babylonian Empire ending in the intervention of the Achaemenid Empire, or the far more recent Maccabean Revolt against the Selucids.
Hence the Siccarii and the Zealots, various competing schools of thought all concerned with the potential fate of Judea and its people. Religious groups also arguing that the Second Temple and the Pharisees were corrupt at best, and actively serving as Quislings to pagan overlords at worst. Eventually this growing political and religious friction culminated in the Great Revolt and the beginning of the Diaspora period.
A few fragments of this historical context can be seen having an influence on early Christianity. Those early writings can generally be traced back to people writing of their experiences and thoughts not just decades after the time period they described, but in the context of having subsequently lived to see the aftermath of trying to repeat the successes of the Maccabean Revolt, and seeing it completely fail. As far as those early founders and Rome itself was concerned at the time, these early Christians were just yet more Jews now scattered across the Empire, just a group who idolized a random anti-Roman activist who advocated a non-violent approach to resistance against Rome.
Over the course of the next couple centuries, with the Jewish people no longer considered a nuisance to the Roman Empire, and with the religion becoming more well-entrenched and recognized as something that's been around for a fair while, concessions gradually began to be made so that Judaism could co-exist and the Pax Deorum could be maintained. But all while this was happening, that one small sect was still spreading and still growing, and drifting apart from the rest of Judaism until the average Roman citizen, and a good number of converts to that new religion, couldn't even tell that they shared a common origin with Judaism.
Enter Diocletian.
Following the Third Century Crisis, Diocletian sought to bring the Empire back from the brink, enacting a host of reforms that would help keep the Roman Empire going just that little bit longer (and one of many things that'd help ensure the Eastern Roman Empire would one day live to see the medieval period from beginning to end). He sought to save Rome and help bring it back to the glory of the old days. And being an adherent to the old faith, that included maintaining the Pax Deorum.
Judaism was given a pass by this point in time, being both well-established and not really seen as a threat to the social order or the Pax Deorum. Not like those Christians, who were up to largely the same shenanigans Judea had been up to in centuries past, only now it was across the whole of the Empire. And thus began the last and largest persecution of Christians, and the only one actively mandated from the top-down, from the Emperor himself. The closest Rome had gotten to this beforehand was Nero, who blamed Christians for the fire of Rome and fanned the flames (pun intended) of others willing to get some good ol' fashioned persecution done, but didn't go so far as to sign a law demanding it be done.
And the humorous thing here, something bordering on irony perhaps? Another bit of historical context you can see glimpses of in the Christian bible was the argument among early Christians over the question of, essentially, how Judaic Christianity should be. The answer eventually proved to be "not very" and this arguably proved useful towards ensuring its spread among the Empire, making it more attractive to the Gentiles. To the point where Christians were afforded none of the exemptions Judaism was allowed, not just because they were troublemakers but because the average Roman could barely make the connection between the two anymore. The very thing that allowed early Christianity to spread left it vulnerable to the closest it ever came to extinction.
And this concludes your daily dose of history memes. Apologies if this is a bit long-winded, or if I glossed over or borked a few details.
Tune in next time for episodes covering topics such as:
1. Constantine deciding that not declaring Christianity legal might be useful for maintaining Pax Deorum.
2. Theodosius declaring all that Pax Deorum stuff to be bollocks and outlawing the old faiths.
3. The fall of the Western Roman Empire perhaps being a sign that Theodosius was dead wrong about the Pax Deorum.
4. The Eastern Roman Empire leaving the above question a bit harder to answer, or: Why The Medieval Period Began And Ended With The Fall Of The Roman Empire
EDIT: Couple typo fixes here and there.
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