Emperor Nero And Christianity

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Emperor Nero is the great grandson of Augustus Caesar of Rome. On July 64 A.D., a fire destroyed two thirds of the Roman Empire. There were rumors that accused Emperor Nero of starting the fire in order to make room for his extravagant palace. In order to dismiss these rumors, Nero blamed the Christians for starting the fire. He brutally persecuted the Christians. He had people torn into pieces by dogs and others set on fire. At this time, Roman Pagans had to tolerate Jews because Judaism was a well established religion. However, pagans did not have to tolerate Christianity because it was a young and illegal religion. Christianity was unpopular for various reasons. For example, people believed that Christians practiced cannibalism and incest. In addition, people believed the Romans Gods would punish the people of Rome because Christians did not worship these Gods. This incident is important because it illustrates the kind of mistreatment that Christians had to endure early on. In times of chaos, people soothed their fears by finding someone or something to blame. Until the rise of Christianity years later, Christians were usually the target for accusations such as the one made by Emperor Nero.
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Saint Anthony of Egypt is considered to be the founder of Christian monasticism. At the age of 20 he gave away his inheritance and went to the desert to reside as a hermit. At 35 he secluded himself from everything completely on a mountain called Pispir, and reportedly faced off with “every temptation the devil could devise”. As word of his actions spread, people gathered around his area of isolation. He emerged after 20 years and took all these people on as disciples. One of these disciples, St. Pachomius, came up with the first set ...

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...opied by monks and clerks. Since books were rare and expensive, people did not feel the need to learn how to read. Books were usually owned by wealthy aristocrats or monasteries. The Gutenberg Press put more books in circulation for a cheaper price. For the first time, people were able to purchase abundant books at a low cost. In 1455, Gutenberg printed the first bible using his invention at the Frankfurt trade fair. These early printed bibles later became known as Gutenberg Bibles. Gutenberg’s invention is important because it allowed common people to have access to the bible. This meant that people were able to interpret the bible for themselves, not having to depend on priests. It also played a large role in spreading the Christian faith to other places. Due to this, the literacy rate also went up because people had a reason to learn how to read.
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