CAESARS AND THE BIBLE

Reign: 27 B.C.E.-14 C.E. as emperor (40 years)

Dynasty: Julio-Claudian

During his reign, Augustus dramatically expanded and secured the empire, reformed the Roman tax system, developed a road network with an official courier system, established a city police force and an imperial bodyguard unit, the Praetorian Guard, set up a fire department for Rome, and rebuilt much of the city, making it a "city of marble". The Pax Romana ("Roman Peace") he instituted lasted more than 200 years. He also introduced emperor worship, ironically without ever directly requiring it.

In 2 B.C.E., Emperor Augustus issued a decree requiring all residents of the empire to be registered in the city of their birth. This resulted in Joseph and Mary traveling to Bethlehem to follow the instructions and Jesus being born in the prophesied city of Bethlehem. (Prophecy: Daniel 11:16, 20 and Micah 5:2, Fulfillment: Luke 2:1-4)

Augustus died in 14 C.E. at the age of 76, not as a result of "anger" or "warfare," but of illness, thus fulfilling Daniel's prophecy. (Daniel 11:20)

Reign: 14-37 C.E. (23 years)

Dynasty: Julio-Claudian

Augustus hated his stepson Tiberius for his bad qualities and made him heir to the throne only after all other likely successors had died. To his credit, Tiberius declined many honorary titles and generally directed imperial worship toward Augustus rather than himself.

Tiberius was hypocritical and distrustful in his dealings with others, and his reign was filled with ordered murders. He extended the law of lèse-majesté (offended majesty) to include, in addition to seditious acts, mere slanderous words against him. In fact, Tiberius was considered a tyrant, and when he died, the Romans rejoiced and the Senate refused to deify him. For this reason, Daniel described him as "despised one". (Da 11:21)

Tiberius' reign spanned the life and ministry of Jesus, and the Bible refers to him several times, either by name or by his title "Caesar" (compare Lu 3:1; Lu 23:2). 

It was his head on the coin that Jesus pointed to when he asked the Jews: "Whose image and inscription is this? (Mat 22:17-22).

Later, the Jews pressured Pilate to have Jesus killed by accusing Him of not being a "friend of Caesar (Tiberius)". (Jo 19:11-16)

Daniel wrote that during the reign of the despised king, "the Leader of the covenant" would be broken. (Da 11:21, 22) Jesus, the head of the covenant that Jehovah made with Abraham, was "broken" when he died on the 14th of Nisan, 33 C.E. - while Tiberius was the reigning Caesar.

And it was in the 19th year of his reign that the good news reached the city of Rome, after "sojourners from Rome" assisted in the festival of Pentecost in 33 C.E. (Ac 2:10).

Ruling period: 37-41 C.E. (4 years)

Dynasty: Julio-Claudian

Gaius, also known as Caligula, succeeded his adoptive grandfather, Tiberius, as emperor. At first, Caligula was popular and very generous, but this quickly changed. He became cruel, indulged in sexual indiscretions that offended Rome, and was considered insane. The Praetorian Guard had him killed in 41 C.E.

Caligula is not mentioned in the Bible, but it is known that he was friends with Herod Agrippa I (grandson of Herod the Great), who was educated in Rome. Caligula proclaimed Agrippa king over a number of Roman territories, including Galilee.

Shortly before his death, Emperor Caligula attempted to place a statue of himself in the Temple in Jerusalem because he felt that the Jews did not give him enough honor. Agrippa interceded with Caligula on behalf of the Jews and prevented the desecration of the Temple.

The Christians in Judea, Galilee, and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace during his reign. (Ac 9:31)

Ruling period: 41-54 C.E. (13 years)

Dynasty: Julio-Claudian

Claudius, nephew of Tiberius and uncle of Caligula, was the fourth emperor. During his reign, Claudius proved to be an able and efficient administrator. He helped restore the empire's finances and incorporated freedmen into the imperial bureaucracy. He was also an ambitious builder, constructing many aqueducts, roads, and canals throughout the empire. And it was under Claudius' rule that Rome began its successful conquest of Britain. Claudius' fourth wife, Agrippina, poisoned him to bring her son Nero to the throne in 54 C.E. 

A number of biblical events coincide with Claudius' reign. He is also mentioned by name twice in the Bible.

Claudius added Judea and Samaria to the dominion of Herod Agrippa I, making him king of all Palestine (in 41 C.E.). He slew James with the sword and threw Peter into prison in 44 C.E. (Ac 12:2,3) Shortly thereafter, Jehovah Himself killed Agrippa. (Ac 12:23)

In 46 C.E., a great famine struck Judea, which "did take place in the time of Claudius." (Ac 11:27,28)

Also, Paul's missionary travels in Asia and Greece from 47 to 56 C.E. partially overlapped with Claudius' reign. Some of the Roman Christians learned the truth from Paul, as was the case with Epaenetus, "a firstfruits of Asia." (Ro16:5)

In 51 C.E. "Claudius had ordered all the Jews to depart from Rome." (Ac 18:2) The Roman historian Suetonius explained that this was because the Jews were "constantly making disturbances" against the Christians. This affected the Jewish couple, Aquila and Priscilla, who then settled in Corinth where they worked with Paul.

Ruling period: 54-68 C.E. (13 years)

Dynasty: Julio-Claudian

Nero was 16 years old when he was made emperor by his ambitious mother and Burrus, the head of the Praetorian Guard. These two, along with the philosopher Seneca, became Nero's guides and advisors in the early years of his reign. By this time, the Roman congregation had grown and flourished. In 56 C.E. they received a letter from the apostle Paul.

For reasons that are "not fully understood," Nero murdered his mother and wife in 59 C.E., and he also lost his advisors. Now in complete control, Nero turned against the Senate and began to become an impulsive and cruel tyrant. According to one scholar, he "lost all sense of right and wrong" and his reign became associated with tyranny, extravagance, and debauchery.

It's also during this time that the apostle Paul appealed to Caesar and was escorted by Roman officials to Rome, where he was held under house arrest for two years and finally released in 61 C.E. During this time, 7 books of the Bible were written in the city of Rome by Paul, Luke, and Mark.

A series of events helped seal Nero's unpopular reputation: In 62 C.E., he reinforced the treason laws and killed anyone he considered a threat. And in 64 C.E. a great fire left about a quarter of the city destroyed or burned to the ground. Nero's opponents blamed him for the fire because it gave him the space to build his golden palace, the "Domus Aurea", and he in return blamed the unpopular Christians, which led to the first official persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, during which the apostle Paul was arrested and brought to Rome a second time in about 65 C.E. A year later he was killed, most likely on Nero's orders.

Shortly thereafter, in 66 C.E., a revolt broke out in Judea, which led to the destruction of Jerusalem a few years later. Revolts and conflicts in other provinces (Britain, Gaul, Parthia, Africa, Spain), as well as the high cost of rebuilding Rome after the fire, put the Roman Empire under great strain in the final years of Nero's reign. This, along with Nero's murderous and excessive lifestyle, finally caught up with him, and in 68 C.E., after a tumultuous 13-year reign, the Roman Senate lost patience and condemned Nero to death as a public enemy. The 30-year-old Nero then fled and committed suicide.

He was the last emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, which began with Augustus.

Rulers: Galba, Otho, Vitellius

Ruling period: 68-69 C.E.

Nero's death was followed by a chaotic year of civil war and unrest throughout the empire. Three emperors succeeded each other during this time, dying either by murder or suicide.

At the same time, the Roman army, led by General Vespasian and his son Titus, approached Jerusalem.

Ruling period: 69-79 C.E. (10 years)

Dynasty: Flavian

The Principate, established by Augustus, allowed for the existence of a dictatorial regime while maintaining the formal framework of the Roman Republic. Most emperors upheld this public facade of democracy, and in return the Senate recognized the emperor's status as a monarch. The Civil War of 69 had made it abundantly clear that real power in the Empire lay with control of the army, not the Senate. Thus, General Vespasian, with the support of his army, was proclaimed emperor in late 69 C.E. (leaving the Judean campaign to his son Titus*).

Unlike all previous rulers of Rome, Vespasian did not come from the Senate aristocracy. As a result, he and his two sons who succeeded him as emperors had a different approach to government: The center of power gradually moved to the imperial court, while the powers of the Senate were undermined.

One of Vespasian's first acts was to rebuild houses and buildings that had been burned during the civil war and to erect new structures, such as the Temple or Forum of Peace, where the utensils of the Jerusalem Temple were later stored.

Vespasian also started a system of public education, and to fill the treasury he reintroduced the urine tax and constructed public pay urinals. The waste was sold as a source of ammonia, which was used for cleaning clothes and tanning leather. To this day, urinals are named after Vespasian in many modern Roman languages (vespasiano in Italian, vespasienne in French).

Vespasian's largest and most famous project was the massive Flavian Amphitheater, known as the Colosseum. It was completed to the third level at the time of Vespasian's death in 79 C.E., and his sons continued construction.

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* When Titus arrived in Jerusalem before the Passover in 70 C.E., he found the city crowded with visitors from all over the country who had come to support the feast. He then ordered his soldiers to clear the Judean countryside of trees and to surround the city with a wall of "pointed stakes" 4.5 miles (7 km) long, just as Jesus had foretold. (Lu 19:43, 44) 

By September, the Romans had sacked and burned the city and its temple, and "brought their ensigns into the temple, and set them up against its eastern gate [near the altar]; and there they offered sacrifices to them." (Josephus) So, in a very literal sense, disgusting idols were standing in the Jews' holy place!

By the time Titus finally destroyed the city and tore down the temple stone by stone, 1,100,000 had died (most from starvation and disease), by one estimate over one-seventh of all Jews in the Roman Empire. 97,000 of those who survived were captured and dispersed throughout the empire. A large number were also brought to Rome and sold into slavery.

In 71 C.E., Titus returned to Rome with the largest triumphal procession the city had ever seen, displaying the slaves and the spoils, which included items from the Jerusalem Temple. This memorable event was later immortalized by the Arch of Titus.

Ruling period: 79-81 C.E. (2 years)

Dynasty: Flavian

Vespasian's eldest son, Titus, became the next emperor, and his reign began with months of disasters, including the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum, a fire in Rome, and an outbreak of the plague.

In addition to the destruction of Jerusalem, Titus is best remembered for the completion of the Colosseum and his generosity to those who suffered from the disasters. After barely two years in office, Titus died and was deified by the Roman Senate. His younger brother, Domitian, succeeded him on the throne. 

In honor of his brother, Domitian built the Arch of Titus, depicting scenes from the glorious triumphal procession that took place when Titus returned to Italy in 71 C.E. after the destruction of Jerusalem. 

Ruling period: 81-96 C.E. (15 years)

Dynasty: Flavian

Domitian's approach to government was less subtle than that of his father and brother. Once emperor, he quickly abandoned the republican facade and more or less formally transformed his government into a divine monarchy. 

He was the first Roman ruler to demand worship during his lifetime as Dominus et Deus (Lord and God). Not surprisingly, the second great persecution of Christians flared up in the empire, and this is when the apostle John was exiled to the island of Patmos for "bearing witness to Jesus" (Re 1:9). In the book of Revelation John refers to Antipas, a Christian who was killed in Pergamum, a major center of emperor worship. (Re 2:12, 13) It's not clear how much Domitian was personally involved, since these reports come not from Rome but from Asia Minor. But the persecution was a natural consequence of the increased imperial cult.

Domitian was popular with the people and the army: He strengthened the economy, expanded the empire's frontier defenses, and initiated an enormous building program that left many archaeological marks throughout modern Rome.

He never won the favor of the Roman Senate, although he paid them more attention than his predecessors. They considered him a tyrant, and as a result, Domitian was assassinated in a conspiracy by court officials, and the Senate condemned his memory to oblivion (damnatio memoriae), which meant that his image and name were erased from official records and monuments.

By this time, the Christian apostasy in the city of Rome was already underway (probably beginning shortly after the first great persecution by Nero in the 60s): Clement of Rome, as Christian tradition claims, was one of the first bishops/popes of Rome, serving from 88 until his death in about 100 C.E. 

He wrote uncanonical letters, including one to the Corinthians. Although JW publications sometimes quote from these letters to show that the so-called apostolic fathers did not teach some of the popular false Christian doctrines, such as the Trinity, at the same time they say that these men, including Clement of Rome, "used myth, mystical ideas, and philosophy to explain the Christian faith, thus opening the way for a tide of error." Furthermore, one source says of Clement: "He seems to know Christ not through the Gospels, but through non-canonical writings", referring to the Apocrypha that were circulating in Christian communities at the time.

Ruling period: 96-98 C.E. (15 months)

Dynasty: Nerva–Antonine

Nerva had been in imperial service since the time of Nero and was proclaimed emperor by the Senate on the day Domitian was killed. He was one of the better emperors of Rome and repealed the law that Domitian had passed against the Christians. During his reign, John was released from exile on Patmos and settled near Ephesus, where he wrote the last four books of the Bible.

After only 15 months in office, Nerva died of natural causes and was succeeded by his adopted son, Trajan.

Ruling period: 98-117 C.E. (19 years)

Dynasty: Nerva-Antonine

Trajan continued Nerva's supposedly wise and just policies and was officially proclaimed Optimus Princeps ("best ruler") by the Senate. Through his military campaigns, he expanded the Roman Empire to its largest territory. He also oversaw an extensive public works program that reshaped the city of Rome, leaving behind many enduring landmarks such as Trajan's Forum, Trajan's Market, and Trajan's Column.

As for the Christians, persecution flared up in various parts of the empire. Trajan gave orders not to seek them out, but to execute those who refused to renounce their religion after being asked to do so.

Trajan died of a stroke and was deified by the Senate. He was succeeded by his cousin's son, Hadrian, whom Trajan is said to have adopted on his deathbed.