As one author once wrote: “The past is a foreign land, they do things there differently”. This semester I teach a course on the Roman civilization (from the end of the republic up to the “end” of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE). It’s a small course and that gives me an opportunity to interact with my students even more. Besides the two tests they will take during the semester, they have to write an essay (4 pages max). Last year, students got Augustus’ autobiography entitled Res Gestae. They had to write about the way Augustus portrayed himself both as a ruler and a regular person. Augustus, of course, was the first Roman emperor and one of the most influential and powerful people of his age. However, now, I decided to switch things a little bit.

RELIGION IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE: SAVIOR GODS?

The title of the essay they have to write this year is “Divine Saviours in the Roman Empire: differences and similarities between the portrayal of Jesus and other ‘Divine Men‘”. Before explaining the nuances of their assignment, let me give you a little background. When Christianity appeared in the ancient Mediterranean world, there were already many Gods and Goddesses in heaven and earth. Romans believed in a multitude of divine beings. To say that there is only one God sounded totally ridiculous to the average person in antiquity. Furthermore, in the religions of the Mediterranean world, there were all sorts of interactions and transactions between the divine realms and humans. This was a two-way street: people would offer gifts, prayers, vows, and sacrifices to honor gods expecting in return that these divine powerful beings would help them secure a better and safer life. Sometimes, when the Gods and Goddesses decided to help this or that city or nation, he or she could do it by taking on human form and
going down into that city or region to provide “hands-on” help and deliverance. This method of direct intervention, typically called “saving” or “benefacting,” seems to have been thought of as occurring in two different ways. There were two different types, if you will, of Savior Gods. The first type was the so-called “demi-god”. All of you probably heard of them: offspring of divine-human sexual unions who grew up to perform remarkable feats of salvation or benefaction on behalf of this or that city or country or even the whole civilized world. At death, they were rewarded with immortality. that is, they became full-fledged Gods and were henceforth worshipped as Savior Gods. The second type of a Saviour God was different. The feature of it was the temporary appearance of the eternal Gods (e.g. Jupiter or Mars) in the form of an adult human. This type can be called an incarnation. For example, the famous Roman poet Horace believed that the emperor Augustus was actually an incarnation of the eternal god Mercury who came to the earth in form of Augustus to help deliver Rome from all the madness and chaos caused by the deep ruptures in the Roman republic during the 1st century BCE. Likewise, Romans believed that certain emperors, rulers, philosophers, and heroes were so awesome, powerful, and brilliant that after their death they became full fledge divine (immortal) beings. Gathered around that idea, Romans created a cult worshiping such individuals (especially emperors), bringing gifts and sacrifices! Some of those individuals were believed to be divine even while they were still alive. Take, for instance, the resolution passed by the Provincial Assembly of Asia Minor regarding the emperor Augustus enacted around 9. BCE:

Whereas the Providence which has guided our whole existence and which has shown such care and liberality has brought our life to the peak of perfection in giving to us Augustus Caesar, whom It (Providence!) filled with virtue for the welfare of mankind, and who, being sent to us and to our descendants as a savior, has put an end to war and has set all things in order; and whereas, having become visible (meaning: he became a visible God!), Caesar has fulfilled the hopes of all earlier times… that the birthday of the God (Augustus) has been for the whole world the beginning of the gospel (literally: the good news) concerning him, therefore, let all reckon a new era beginning from the date of his birth, and let his birthday mark the beginning of the new year!

As you can see, this edict uses the same concepts and phrases (Savior, gospel, visible God, etc.) that Christians worked with while describing the nature and the role of Jesus Christ. So, when Paul spoke in Corinth or Athens about Jesus being the Son of God, pagans weren’t surprised by such concepts. They already knew about a long tradition of Gods, demigods, and the Son of Gods (from Alexander the Great to the emperor Augustus). They, of course, had other problems with Paul’s message, but that’s a topic for another day!

SUBJECT OF THE ESSAY (BE OPEN AND SCEPTICAL, DO RESEARCH, AND THINK WITH THAT BIG THING YOU HAVE IN YOUR HEAD!)

So back to the subject of the essay: Their assignment is to write an essay comparing the portrayal of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke with the portrayal of other divine beings in several “pagan” sources (e.g. Plutarch, Cicero, Diognetus Laertius, etc.). Needless to say, they have to do some reading in order to fulfill the assignment. No pain no gain! I gave them three types of literature:

1. A collection of stories about the “pagan” individuals who were thought to be divine. For example, the account of Plato’s birth or the account of Julius Caeser’s death, etc.
   1. I’ve arranged these collections topically: birth accounts; miracle accounts; accounts about extraordinary teachings and wisdom and accounts about miraculous deaths and apotheosis (an act of becoming a god or goddess).
2. Certain chapters from the Gospel of Luke.
   1. By carefully reading this, they can get familiar with the way Luke describes the extraordinary nature of Jesus’ identity. For Luke, Jesus is not just an ordinary man, far from it!
3. A chapter from the book by Bart Ehrman in which he explains the main features of Roman religion. This is indispensable because it gives them basic knowledge about that aspect of Roman society and culture.

What exactly do they have to write about? They are to name and explain at least three specific ways in which Jesus as portrayed in Luke is similar to other people who were thought to be divine during the Roman Empire. Moreover, they are instructed to find at least one way in which the portrayal of Jesus is clearly different from other (pagan) “divine beings”. What can we say about these differences and similarities? What do they tell us about both the Roman religion and Christianity? My goal is to give them the opportunity to read the primary sources, do their own research, think about these issues as historians, and create certain ideas and conclusions.

CONCLUSION

I want them to get creative and to see that in historical scholarship everything revolves around the context: you have to know the political, social, cultural, and religious context, and you have to take that very seriously. Today, when you hear the phrase “Son of God” you immediately think about Jesus. However, Greeks and Romans “knew” about a lot of other “Sons of God” and divine beings who are worthy of worship. In other words, Christianity didn’t emerge in a laboratory. It is a religion that came to be during the first decades of the Roman Empire, within the ancient Mediterranean world characterized by many gods and goddesses. In some aspects, Christianity was shaped by that world. In other aspects, it was totally different. Finally, I know this task can be a little bit tricky so I encouraged them to ask questions if something incomprehensible pops out. The deadline for essays is in three months! We’ll see what they will come up with!