Rome's Age of Revolution
Augustus, Empire, and the Making of Christianity
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Rome's Age of Revolution
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Narrated by:
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By:
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Tim Whitmarsh
About this listen
The western world has been shaped by its Christian heritage—years are still measured by their distance from the birth of Jesus Christ. But Christianity was built on Roman foundations: it was Julius Caesar and his adopted son Augustus who created the calendar we use today and reset time itself. They redesigned space too, hewing through mountains, building roads, and bridging gullies to forge an interconnected Mediterranean world under Roman rule. The society into which Jesus was born was prepared for a change, for a new age, and already had—in the quasi-divine Augustus—a savior figure ready to deliver it.
The factors that made the classical world so ripe for revolution provide the subject of Tim Whitmarsh’s brilliant inquiry, which peers not only into the lives of the elite but into those of the wider, largely Greek-speaking population—all of whom lived amid what Whitmarsh terms “the swirl”: the flowing and counterflowing of physical movement, ideas, and languages that characterized the pre-Constantine era. From this swirling came a new religion that draws at once from Jewish scripture, from the Greek philosophical and cultural legacy, and from the language of Roman imperial practice.
In these pages we travel with Paul along the vast network of Roman roads, revisit pivotal clashes with the kingdom of Judah, and discover the reality behind common misconceptions like the exaggeration of Nero’s villainy and of Christian persecution. Rome’s Age of Revolution is a thoroughly engaging portrait of an era and a religion that continue to leave their mark.
Critic reviews
“Tim Whitmarsh’s Rome’s Age of Revolution locates early Christianity in its contexts of the Greek East, Augustus’ revolution, and the early rule of the emperors. Written with style and wit, it makes us rethink everything we know about the rise of Christianity. Strikingly original, provocative and wonderfully enjoyable, it is one of the most important books on the ancient history in many years.” —Harry Sidebottom, author of Those Who Are About to Die
“This dazzling, refreshingly innovative book reframes the origins of Christianity through the cultural and political shockwaves of Augustan imperialism. With remarkable intellectual range, clarity, and verve, Whitmarsh shows how Greek-speaking eastern Roman Empire did not merely receive Christianity but actively forged its instincts, arguments, and ambitions—forever changing how we think about the entanglement of empire, culture and early Christianity.” —Candida Moss, author of God’s Ghostwriters
“Tim Whitmarsh’s new book is an estimable achievement, learned and incisive, but also accessible. He sets the emergence of early Christianity in a wider context, that of the Roman empire and the imperialism of the Augustan age, finding connections and overlappings that few have called attention to, including the role played by the networks of Roman roads, a new sense of time and space, the all encompassing and unifying imperial authority that helped to engender Christian universalism, the influence of Stoicism, the dispersal of the Greek language, the traditions of oracular, prophetic, and messianic pronouncements, the centrality of Pauline letters, the impact of a writing culture, the effect of martyr narratives, especially fictive or fabricated ones, all in all a rich and engrossing mixture, Whitmarsh at his best.” —Erich S. Gruen, Wood Professor of History and Classics, Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley
"Nobody understands the psychology and ethnic complexity of the Greek world of the Roman Empire like Tim Whitmarsh. This riveting read offers incisive, nuanced and stylishly written explanations for the extraordinary and rapid spread of Christian beliefs throughout the Empire’s eastern provinces. A period of unprecedented intellectual and spiritual ferment that still has ramifications today is brought to vivid life. Essential reading." —Edith Hall, author of Aristotle's Way
"The intricate relationship between early Christianity, Greek culture and the Roman Empire is expertly articulated in this thoughtful and beautifully written book. Full of new insights and careful in its treatment of difficult and ambiguous evidence, this book is powerful and fascinating throughout." —Andrew Pettegree, author of The Book at War
“This dazzling, refreshingly innovative book reframes the origins of Christianity through the cultural and political shockwaves of Augustan imperialism. With remarkable intellectual range, clarity, and verve, Whitmarsh shows how Greek-speaking eastern Roman Empire did not merely receive Christianity but actively forged its instincts, arguments, and ambitions—forever changing how we think about the entanglement of empire, culture and early Christianity.” —Candida Moss, author of God’s Ghostwriters
“Tim Whitmarsh’s new book is an estimable achievement, learned and incisive, but also accessible. He sets the emergence of early Christianity in a wider context, that of the Roman empire and the imperialism of the Augustan age, finding connections and overlappings that few have called attention to, including the role played by the networks of Roman roads, a new sense of time and space, the all encompassing and unifying imperial authority that helped to engender Christian universalism, the influence of Stoicism, the dispersal of the Greek language, the traditions of oracular, prophetic, and messianic pronouncements, the centrality of Pauline letters, the impact of a writing culture, the effect of martyr narratives, especially fictive or fabricated ones, all in all a rich and engrossing mixture, Whitmarsh at his best.” —Erich S. Gruen, Wood Professor of History and Classics, Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley
"Nobody understands the psychology and ethnic complexity of the Greek world of the Roman Empire like Tim Whitmarsh. This riveting read offers incisive, nuanced and stylishly written explanations for the extraordinary and rapid spread of Christian beliefs throughout the Empire’s eastern provinces. A period of unprecedented intellectual and spiritual ferment that still has ramifications today is brought to vivid life. Essential reading." —Edith Hall, author of Aristotle's Way
"The intricate relationship between early Christianity, Greek culture and the Roman Empire is expertly articulated in this thoughtful and beautifully written book. Full of new insights and careful in its treatment of difficult and ambiguous evidence, this book is powerful and fascinating throughout." —Andrew Pettegree, author of The Book at War
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