Opera

1672

Shoults Lb 1672 T

[Amsterdam: Daniel Elsevir]

Christianity emerged as an off-shoot of Judaism in the 1st century AD and for the next four centuries it developed alongside and within the Roman Empire. Until Christianity was made ‘legal’ in 313 by the Christian Emperor Constantine (272-337 AD) and adopted as the state religion in 380, Christians were arbitrarily persecuted by administrators of the Empire. The Emperor Nero (37-68 AD) blamed the Christians for the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD and the resulting executions were chronicled by the historian Tacitus (56-117 AD) in his work Annals – ‘…Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt…’ (Annals, Book XV, chap. 44). Tacitus also alludes to the beginnings of Christianity, named after its leader, and Christ’s subsequent execution by Pontius Pilate.