4/29/2014

The Roman Empire.

• Octavian- Caesar Augustus. He was Julius Caesar's grandnephew.
•  begins the Pax Romana- a period of peace and prosperity.
• built roads, aqueducts (brought water to the cities)
• Set up civil service to take care of roads, the grain supply, even a postal service.
• Augustus dies at age 76 in A.D. 14, and passes power to Tiberius.
• Jesus
• was a roman citizen and a practicing Jew
• at 30, he began his ministry (A.D. 31-33), preaching to the poor (and there were lots of them) in the empire, and reaching out to outsiders.
• statements like "My kingdom is not of this world" made the Romans (and the Jews) nervous, and they began to plan his execution.
• The governor of the Roman providence of Judea, Pontius Pilate (promoted by Jewish high priests), sentences Jesus to death by crucifixion.