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Facts
Did
you know?
ROMAN
EMPIRE was the ruling government
all around the Mediterranean from about 63 B.C. to A.D. 450.
It began as a small city-state in Italy and grew into an empire that
controlled most of the world of that day. It reached form Britain, France,
and Germany in the north to Morocco in Africa and east to what is now
Turkey and Lebanon. As Rome conquered and controlled these areas, it
brought some degree of peace that lasted about five centuries. This peace
also permitted trade to flourish. Roman money became the common currency throughout
the world.
In the time before Christ, the city-state had a form of democracy with a
senate representing the citizens. Later the emperor became powerful. By
about A.D. 100, the emperor of Rome was even worshiped as a god in some
places. The Romans insisted that everyone must say, "Caesar is
Lord."
Because
Christians would not do that, the huge Roman Empire persecuted the tiny
early church, and many Christians were thrown to the lions. But this only
seemed to make the early church even stronger.
The peace and the ease of travel that Rome established helped the church
to grow and spread throughout the world of that day.
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