The cross, one of the most well-known symbols around the world, represents Christianity.
One great contribution was Christianity. This religion was a large part of Roman life, and continues to be a large part of many people’s lives today. The birthplace of Christianity was an isolated place on the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea where Jesus was born. The Roman called this Judea. Jewish people were dedicated to their belief in a single god. In fact, this belief set the Jewish people apart from their neighbors around the world. Judea came under rule of the Romans in 63 B.C.E. The Romans tried to govern this country by having Jewish rulers who agreed with Roman rule, but many times groups of Jewish people revolted. In 37 B.C.E. Rome elected a man named Herod to be the king of Judea. Herod was not Jewish when he was born; in fact, he converted to the Jewish religion and rebuilt the Temple of Jerusalem. Many of the Jews continued to distrust him, and they saw him as a puppet controlled by the Romans. In 4 B.C.E., Herod died, and his kingdom was divided up among his three sons. The Romans experienced a lot of unrest throughout the empire. Rome sent soldiers to Judea, and replaced Herod’s sons with a prefect,(military governor). The prefect made sure everything was in order, and made sure Judea payed tribute to Rome. When Jesus was born, Judea was very peaceful. But many Jews disliked the Romans. In the sacred writings, prophecies were written that one day God would send a savior to fix the kingdom of David. This savior was called Messiah. At first, Christians were not accepted in Rome. These Christians were killed in cruel and painful ways. Eventually, in 395, the Romans started to believe what the Christians were saying, and they switched to Christianity. Today, Christianity is one of the most popular religions in the world. Millions of people are under some branch of Christianity (Christian, Catholic, etc.), and this religion continues to grow strong.