Rome in Biblical History

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Schaff's Bible Dictionary

Definitions in Biblical History
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What is Rome?
ROME
, the celebrated city and capital of the Roman republic and empire, and once the proud mistress of the world. It is situated on the river Tiber, about 15 miles from its mouth. The ancient city was built upon seven hills. It was founded about 754 years before the Christian era; legendary history ascribes its founding to Romulus. The principal interest to the Bible-reader in the history of Rome relates to the N.T. period. Rome, in the N.T. times, was the capital of the empire in its greatest prosperity, and the residence of its emperors. Among its inhabitants were many Jews. Acts 28:17. They had received the liberty of worship and other privileges from Caesar, and lived in the district across the Tiber, near the Porta Portese. At the time of Paul's visit the city had outgrown the old Servian wall, and consisted of an extensive and irregular mass of buildings unprotected by any outer city wall. This was a period between two noted epochs in its history - the restoration by Augustus and that effected by Nero. It was the boast of Augustus that he found a city of brick and left one of marble. The streets are described as being at that time generally narrow and crooked, flanked by crowded lodging-houses of great height - so great that Augustus made a law limiting them to 70 feet. Gibbon estimates the population of the city at this time as nearly 1,200,000, of which probably one-half were slaves, and the larger part of the remainder were paupers supported in idleness by an unwise system of public gratuities. Paul was kept at Rome two whole years, dwelling in his own hired house with a soldier who had charge of him. Acts 28:16, 1 Kgs 20:30. In accordance with the usual Roman custom of treating prisoners, he appears to have been bound to the soldier with a chain. Acts 28:20; Eph 6:20; Phil 1:16. To those coming to visit him he preached the gospel, no one forbidding him. Acts 28:30-31. An old legend declares that the Mamertine prison was the place where Paul and Peter were confined together as fellow-prisoners, though there is no historic proof of this supposition. This prison still exists under the church of St. Giuseppe; while a chapel on the Ostian road is pointed out by tradition as the place where the two parted when on their way to martyrdom. Some historians deny that Peter ever visited Rome, and it is quite certain, from the silence of the N.T., that he could not have been there till the latter part of his life, but tradition unanimously affirms that he suffered martyrdom in Rome under Nero. It is the prevailing opinion that Paul was acquitted on his appeal to Caesar, but that he was after a time again imprisoned at Rome. Several of his Epistles are believed to have been written from this city, as those to the Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians, Philemon, and the Second Epistle to Timothy, the latter shortly before his death. 2 Tim 4:6. On Paul's approach to Rome he was met by brethren, who came out on the Appian Way as far as the little town of Appii Forum. Acts 28:15. In his letter to the Philippians he also refers to the "palace" or Caesar's court. Phil 1:13. This probably does not refer to the imperial palace, but to the residence of the Praetorian guards or to a miltary barrack attached to the imperial house. There were Christians also belonging to the imperial household, even during the reign of the cruel Nero. Phil 4:22. Gardens, Colosseum, and Catacombs. - There are many traditions connecting various other localities in Rome with the visit and residence of Paul, but most of them have very little real historical support. Among the sites which may unquestionably be connected with the Roman Christians at or near the apostolic age are: 1. The Gardens of Nero, in the Vatican, near St. Peter's. Within these, in the Neronian persecution, a.d. 64, after the great conflagration. Christians, wrapped in skins of beasts, were torn by dogs, or, clothed in inflammable stuffs, were burnt as torches during the midnight games; others were crucified. 2. The Colosseum. - In this vast theatre games of various sorts and gladiatorial shows were held, and within its arena many Christians, during the ages of persecution, fought with wild beasts, and many were slain for their faith. 3. The Catacombs. - These are vast subterranean galleries (whether originally sand-pits or excavations is uncertain). Their usual height is from 8 to 10 feet and their width from 4 to 6 feet, and they extend for miles, especially in the region of the Appian and Nomentane Ways. The Catacombs were early used by the Christians as places of refuge, worship, and burial. More than four thousand inscriptions have been found in these subterranean passages, which are considered as belonging to the period between the reign of Tiberius and that of the emperor Constantine. Among the oldest of the inscriptions in the Catacombs is one dated a.d. 71. The names of twenty-four Christians at Rome are given in the salutations contained in the Epistle to the Romans. The house of Clement of Rome, where the early Christians probably met for worship, has recently been discovered beneath the church of St. Clement. Rome, as a persecuting power, is referred to by the "seven heads" and "seven mountains" in Rev 17:9, and described under the name of "Babylon " elsewhere in the same book. Rev 14:8; Rev 16:19; Rev 17:5; Ps 18:2,Rev 18:21. Post-Biblical History. - The Christian church at Rome, which appears to have been founded before the visit of the apostle, probably by Roman Jews who had heard the gospel in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, Acts 2:10, was strengthened by Paul, and the metropolitan character of the city gave the church a position of importance and gradually increasing power, until it became the seat of a metropolitan bishopric, and then of the papal see. The earliest religious centres under Christianity were, Ephesus, Antioch, Alexandria, and Rome. Each of these gradually claimed superior powers in the Church, and their decrees were accepted as law. Soon the bishop at Rome, from his position in the capital of the world, and from an assumption that he was the spiritual successor of Peter, claimed supreme power in the Church, and, after long regarding themselves as his equals in rank and authority, the patriarchs of Antioch, Alexandria, and Constantinople were led to acknowledge the claim of the Roman bishop to a primacy of honor, but not to a supremacy of jurisdiction (about a.d. 451-604). Since the ninth century the great schism divided Christendom into the Roman Catholic Church and the Greek Church, independent of the papal power of Rome. The popes ruled Europe with varying degrees of power and ability until the Reformation broke out, in the sixteenth century, since which era the papal power has gradually declined at Rome. The French army entered Italy in 1796, and later the pope became a prisoner, first at Rome, then in France, and Rome was formally governed by France (1806). In 1814 the pope returned to his palace, but in 1848 the people rebelled, and established a republic. France again interfered; the republic ended. The pope returned, but when the French troops were withdrawn in 1870, Italy became united under Victor Emmanuel, Rome was made the political capital of the nation (1871), and the temporal power of the holy see was abolished. The pope still occupies the Vatican, and is supported by contributions of Roman Catholics of France, Austria, Belgium, England, the United States, and other countries. Pius IX. indignantly refused the government pension, and called himself a prisoner in the Vatican. Leo XIII., though firm in maintaining his claim to the "patrimony of Peter," is more peaceable and conciliatory,

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Schaff, Philip, Dr. "Biblical Definition for 'rome' in Schaffs Bible Dictionary".
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