The Culture of Jesus' Time As humanity grows and we seek to satiate our constant need for conquest, distinct cultures blend together as destiny manifesto pushes us further and further west. America is the current melting pot of ethnicities and religions. Long ago, around the year 30 BC, the region of Palestine served as a place of fusion between cultures, namely Greek, Roman and Jewish. When the Romans invaded Greek territory, much of Greek and Roman culture combined to create a hybrid that became the dominant social and political belief system of the time. Religious beliefs were more varied, and many religious groups, including Jews, were persecuted by the Romans in Palestine. According to Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus Christ was born between 2 and 7 BC, meaning that the diversity of social, political and religious philosophies in Palestine must have influenced the way Jesus taught and acted (Murray). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Over hundreds of years, the Romans expanded their rule from a small village to a vast empire. Conquering every town and city they encountered, soon most of the Mediterranean belonged to Rome. While there are gruesome tales of brutal Roman rule, historians say that “. . .wherever they went, the legionaries established order and respect for Roman law. . .The conquerors taxed their subjects heavily, but once they collected the tax money, they usually respected local customs and traditions” (Kotker 12). Therefore, most of the conquered nations accepted Roman rule. Indeed, only the regions of Palestine with the largest populations of Jews, Judea and Galilee, adamantly resisted their new subjugators, who “found it intolerable that Roman law should take precedence over the laws of the Torah. . .which they believed had been given to them by God Himself” (Kotker 12). Regardless of the discontent of the Jews, the Romans chose to put a man named Herod in power in Jerusalem to rule over the Jews. Herod's family underwent a forced conversion to Judaism, and Roman officials believed that the Jewish population would be more receptive to his accession to the throne. To achieve this, Herod had to put down rebellions in all the major cities of Palestine, eventually destroying the holy Temple in Jerusalem which had been built by King Solomon hundreds of years before. The Romans used Herod as a puppet and he sought to infuse current Jewish culture with the secular culture of the time. The Jews resisted, however, and "Herod's introduction of Greco-Roman sports to the Holy Land horrified some Jews" (Kotker 41). After Herod took the throne, he was plagued by intense paranoia for the rest of his life, placing spies throughout Jerusalem and killing citizens he believed were plotting against him. His paranoia only caused further political and social tension, and his death in 4 BC was almost a relief. Since the Romans conquered Jerusalem, relations between them and the Jewish population were tense at best. During the early years of Roman occupation, the Jewish religion began to consolidate as Jews maintained their beliefs in defiance of the Roman and Greek views that the Roman Empire brought with it. After Herod destroyed the ancient Temple in Jerusalem, he tried to gain favor with the Jews by rebuilding an even grander version of it, but his gesture did not have the same impact he hoped for, because the Jews believed that “ Their God was invisible and their law prohibited them from trying to represent him. . .Eraso vast and powerful that no man could ever fully understand it, much less represent it” (Kotker 32). The Jews believed that anyone who did not worship their God was impure and refused to even speak to people who worshiped idols and practiced polytheism for fear of defilement. Why GreekBecause Roman culture worshiped both gods and goddesses, the Jews could not fully accept Roman rule or beliefs. By the time of Jesus' birth, the Romans had already invaded Palestine and were well established in the region. The Jewish struggle against Roman rule and Greco-Roman culture would influence how Jesus, a Jew, was raised to view the empire. He undoubtedly encountered a great deal of anti-Roman sentiment arising from differences in culture and religious customs. They would be taught that there is only God and that those who worship idols and multiple gods and goddesses are inferior and impure. This is interesting because Jesus was known to eat with all kinds of people, both Jews and non-Jews, an activity that is exactly the opposite of how he was taught to behave. When Herod died in 4 BC, Jesus was either an infant or not yet born. After Herod's death, he was succeeded by his son, Herod Antipas, whom the Palestinian people considered crueler than Herod. Around the time Herod Antipas ascended the throne, a great religious figure, John the Baptist, was rapidly gaining fame throughout the region. Hundreds of Jews looked to John as a great religious teacher, seeking him on the banks of a river to baptize him. John Dominic Crossan, professor emeritus of religious studies at DePaul University, believes that Jesus himself looked to John the Baptist as a mentor, saying, "Jesus was baptized by John, and so he had to accept John's message." Threatened that John the Baptist might incite a rebellion among the Jews against the Romans, Herod Antipas had John executed. As Jesus' journey gained momentum at this time, he was seen as another John the Baptist and even threatened Herod Antipas. Despite the growing danger surrounding Jesus' mission, he continued to travel throughout Palestine, performing miracles and preaching parables. The interactions he had with the people he met incorporated aspects of both Jewish and Roman social norms. In the story of the Syrophoenician woman, Jesus and his disciples encounter a Canaanite woman who begs Jesus to heal her daughter. When Jesus says he was sent to help only the Jews, reflecting the Jewish belief that those who are not Jews are inferior, the woman responds, “'Yes, Lord...and yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their hands '. the masters' table" (HCSB, Mt 15,27). Jesus then changes his mind and heals the woman's daughter. In other stories, Jesus meets two women, Mary and Martha, who are referred to in the Bible as close friends of Jesus. Historians believe that Mary and Martha owned their home and that Jesus treated them as equals. This emulates a more Roman social ideal, as the Romans allowed women to own homes while Jewish beliefs dictated that women were inferior to men. Greco-Roman culture is particularly present in the trial and execution of Jesus. The concept of trial is Roman, and although Jesus' trial was not a typical jury trial like those we have today, "the way of judging in criminal cases it seems to resemble it" ("Roman Law"). However, Jesus' trial was not fair and many bore false testimony against him. His death sentence, crucifixion, was a sentence given to thieves and traitors. Even this, however, shows the Roman influence on the life of Jesus, since only the Romans, known for their violence and love of battle.