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unnamedussr t1_j8i7kyp wrote

Reply to comment by en43rs in Weekly History Questions Thread. by AutoModerator

Yeah, my apologies for the mishap, I was referring to the one between 303-313, which is what I'm assuming you've answered. Thanks, by the way. My takeaway is:

  1. Persecuted because they were endangering Rome by not partaking in events honouring the Roman Gods.
  2. The fact that Roman society was hierarchical rather than egalitarian. This part I'm a little foggy on, if you wouldn't mind shedding some more light, why was this a reason for persecution?
  3. And it wasn't religious discrimination but rather persecuting "criminals" for breaking the law – the law being that they had to worship the Gods for their grace upon the empire.
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en43rs t1_j8ibjg5 wrote

  1. exactly. Keep in mind that up until 299 Rome had been at war with Persia. Defending Rome wasn't an abstract idea, the empire was threatened.
  2. We live in a society where we consider that humans all have the same fundamental rights and value. This is not the norm in antiquity. Roman society is extremely hierarchical. There are actual legal distinctions between categories of people, and not just between free people and slaves. The rich, powerful and from old Roman families are supposed to be on top of every hierarchy. Then lowborn citizens. Then non citizens. Then slaves. This hierarchy is part of Roman society. In Roman religion the powerful ones hold the priesthoods, they are the superiors of lowborn and foreigners. Christianity has for its main tenets that everyone is equal and also gave a lot of importance to women (which for Romans always have a subordinate role). In Christian communities you could have non citizens/citizens of low birth, or even slaves (to not even talk about women) in position of authority over good roman citizens. This is unthinkable for Romans. This is an actual danger for them because it reject the traditional hierarchy. It is seen as "destroying the essence of Roman society", an attack against their society (to simplify a lot they see it as a conspiracy to destroy what makes Rome Rome).
  3. Yes, more or less. The persecution of 303 is maybe when it starts to be a systematic persecution of the religion itself (it is still debated by historians), but even then because it seen as a dangerous cult: it is a cult that endanger Rome's relations to gods... but it's also a religion that goes against Rome social structure.
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