Comparing Marcus Cato By Plutarch And The Gospel According To Matthew

The highlighted is referenced from the New World Encyclopedia’s, Historicity of Jesus page: Thallus, of whom very little is known, wrote a history from the Trojan War to, according to Eusebius, 109 B.C. No work of Thallus survives. There is one reference to Thallus having written about events beyond 109 B.C. by Julius Africanus , writing in c. 221, while writing about the crucifixion of Jesus. Julius Africanus mentioned that Thallus wrote:

The Martyrdom of St. Perpetua and Felicity, which is a story about Perpetua’s trial due to her beliefs in Christianity, was written in the year 203 by three different authors, Perpetua, Satururs, and an unknown narrator. Perpetua wrote her part of the story while she was in prison, perhaps to give others the strength to stand up for what they believe in. Perpetua lived in Carthage under the Roman Empire, where the paterfamilias meant everything. The paterfamilias is the father of the household; they have the ability to take away the life of their children which means they have complete control over them. However, in The Martyrdom of St. Perpetua and Felicity, Perpetua disobeys her father. In this paper I will argue that the text was intended for Christians instead of the Romans based on the way Perpetua is praised in the text and how Perpetua’s disobedience towards her father who was the paterfamilias was most shocking to the Romans.

Rome was a major world power for many years and had many forms of government, from a Republic to an Empire. Religious changes occurred as well. From the very beginning of Rome, there were as many gods as there were citizens. Every household had deities and spirits watching over the occupants and there were also chief deities that citizens had to worship. Citizens could worship any number of gods they wished, so long as they made the proper sacrifices to the state gods. The government controlled the citizens in this way. On a positive note, giving the citizens a common belief system brought together vastly different people as a one. Another way that the government used religion as a means of control was

Roman law developed progressively since it started as a collection of religious customs and set of rules. The primary form of the Roman law was religious in nature as it was distinct among early peoples. Crimes which are detrimental to public order were considered as disobedience or offenses to gods rather than to state. (Wanlass, 1953) Primarily, Roman law was inclined towards

The Edict of Milan was a government decree requiring the wrongdoings against the Christians be reversed as quickly as possible. The authors of the document were Constantine and Licinius. The authors of the document hold authority positions within the Roman Empire. With their sense of authority and it being a government decree, the tone was very serious and the language was formal. The seriousness of the document and the authority of the authors gives it creditability.

The first major persecution of Christians officially sanctioned by a roman emperor began during the reign of Nero in 64 AD. At this time Rome had almost been completely destroyed by a fire and the people of Rome were placing the blame on Nero. In order to attempt to shift the blame away from himself Nero accused the Christians of starting the fire. This began the first large scale persecution of the Christians. Not only did Nero hunt Christians down for execution, but he also tortured them for his enjoyment. According to the Roman historian Tacitus “Besides being put to death they [the Christians] were made to serve as objects of amusement; they were clad in the hides of beast and torn to death by dogs; others were crucified, others set on

Taoism is an ethical philosophy which emerged in China, which is about living in harmony with the Tao. Laozi regarded as the person who invented Taoism. Laozi was a mystic philosopher in ancient China, and the author of "Tao Te Ching" (one Chinese book of wisdom). Because of the "Tao Te Ching" he was traditionally regarded as the founder of Taoism. He was an important culture hero to subsequent generations of Chinese people.

What do the sources for this course tell us about the Church and politics in the middle ages.

Religions are immensely diverse in the types of rituals, myths, and overall beliefs their followers practice. There is bound to be ideas that overlap between these religions. In general it can be hard to pinpoint where some of these ideas come from because of how diverse they ideas truly are. However, the concept of good and evil is consistently mentioned in dozens of religions around the world. While dates are not concrete and we can only go back so far in history, the concept of Heaven and Hell can be traced back to one specific point. Zoroastrianism can be credited for “creating” the symbols of Heaven and Hell as they relate to good and evil and influencing religions such as Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1: l, New International Version). This is where it all began. God’s perfect Creation included night and day, sky and land and sea, the moon and the stars, all the birds and fish and animals, and humankind. Man quickly messed it up and the Fall hit hard. No more was humanity right with God. But God loved his people so much that his Son, Jesus Christ came to earth to make them right with God by dying on the cross to wash away all of their sins, and through God’s grace, they received salvation and restored their heart relationship with God. In this paper, I will discuss within the context of the Christian worldview who God is, what

Marcus Porcius Cato who was also known as Cato the Elder, was a military tribune in the Second Punic War. He is called "The Elder" to not be confused with his great grandson, Cato the Younger. Cato was born as a Plebian, but had a drive to climb up to the top of Rome's highest offices (McKay, John P.) His main goal was to restore old virtues of Rome that had been lost and forgotten. Cato grew up to be a brilliant leader because of his war skills, humbleness, and political skills.

Marcus Cato the Elder come from humble beginnings and worked himself to achieve great things.

In the 1st century, Christianity spread throughout Rome causing differing views on the religion. At first Christianity was disapproved of by the upper class, then in later years it was embraced. The spread of Christianity throughout Rome eventually caused Rome to split and lead to the fall of the Roman empire. Christianity challenged the government, believing in a higher power then the Emperor. With this mindset, the government feared for it’s future in Rome and it was disapproved of, much like the Tang Emperor Wu in document 6, who stated that it will cause disorder in society. Christianity eventually became adopted as the religion of the state, much like in late Chinese society which adopted

Christianity is the largest religious body in the world. It follows a monotheistic belief system that believes Jesus Christ is the son of God, a human who was crucified for all mankind’s sins and would be the savior of humanity. Christianity has suffered in history by the hands of those in power who would have no one held in a higher regard than them. Of those who persecuted Christians were Emperor Claudius Nero and Saint Paul the Apostle. Each of these men went to great lengths to destroy the Christians and equally failed. Both were motivate but for one moment in time that would change one man from a killer to a savior and the other destroyed himself.

In many ways Christianity and Paganism are inter-twined. They’ve existed along-side each other for nearly 2000 years and often share a language and culture. We’ve read several different literary sources, examining the similarities and differences between pagan texts and a few Christian texts and attempting to uncover Roman values embedded within the texts. The texts that I have selected to write over are the gospels of Matthew and Luke, Apuleius’s Golden Ass, and the section over magic from the book Backgrounds from Early Christianity. We see morals laid out in each of these books and writings. Each writing is from a different era and yet seems to have very similar values. These pagan writings have helped form what we know of today as Christianity.