In discussing Christianity in the Roman Empire one is immediately confronted with a problem: all too many people, in-fluenced by Hollywood, have preconceived notions of mass Christian persecutions complete with lions and the roaring crowds. And al-though these have a basis in truth, these persecutions did exist at certain stages of Rome's relations with Christianity, to view them as characteristic of Roman policy is to greatly misinterpret it. Rather, I suggest that Christianity was an intellectual movement that triumphed with surprisingly little violence. It was initially viewed with the toleration characteristic of Rome's dealings with other religions; only when it came into conflict with Rome's political ideas and motives was persecution sanctioned on a wide scale, and even then, these generally did not last for any great length of time.
In dealing with the Roman religion one notices its political nature, its inseparable ties to the state. As historian R. H. Barrow has put it, "[The Roman] tended to think of religion in terms of history, and history was the history of Rome" (Barrow 141). The religion had little in the way of strong personal appeal; rather, the individual felt that he was incorporated into the state, a vast organization whose history and destiny was dictated by divine powers. No elaborate theology was developed, nor was the intellectualizing associated with Christianity characteristic of the Roman beliefs. Religion tended to support the state and was often used by the emperors for the growth of their power. Indeed, from the time of Augustus forward, a large part of the Roman religion revolved around worship of the emperor.
During the Republic the Roman religion faced no serious challenges from outside religions. The cult of Cybele and Bacchus were introduced but generally frowned upon because of their frenzied, exotic ceremonies. However, with the spread of the Empire throughout the Mediterranean, R...