EPISODE 18 THE DISINTEGRATION OF ROMAN CULTURE

EPISODE 18 THE DISINTEGRATION OF ROMAN CULTURE

The first test of transformed Christian lives colliding with a Pagan culture took place in the Roman Empire. On the surface Rome appeared to be an advanced culture. The Roman Empire’s engineering accomplishments were impressive. The invention of cement plus slave labor created new opportunities in construction.

Aqueducts brought water to the cities. They carried water at a predetermined rate of flow to distant locations making possible the growth of large cities and centers of power and trade in remote areas. Remnants of the Empire’s extensive road system still remain. They stretched from England to Egypt. The roads facilitated trade, travel and military movement. Statues and large stadiums speak of Rome’s wealth and variety of interests.

A closer look provides a different picture. In Rome’s earlier history their farmers were also volunteer soldiers. As wars spread Rome’s boundaries, captives became Rome’s slaves. As their boundaries were extended, farmer-soldiers served their country for longer periods of time. When they returned they found that the wealthy had taken their land. It was being farmed by the captive slaves. The former farmers became a growing class of unemployed.

The decline of Rome provides evidence of the accuracy of the Creator’s science. It demonstrates how human nature destroys the principles of government, economics and morality.

The Roman economy and culture changed. Slave labor became the center of the Roman economy. It produced the projects that tourists view today. Roman citizens became a welfare class. To keep the unemployed mobs from rioting, the politicians and Caesars provided a welfare system of free food and free entertainment. Free food removed responsibilities normally belonging to the working class. Pleasures filled their time and formed a new culture.

            Sexual pursuits and violent stadium entertainment became their cultural pillars. The Empire’s wars continued to expand their tax base and provide fresh supplies of slave labor. 

            The focus on sexual pursuits led to the decline of marriages. There was a war on children who were viewed as a burden and a barrier to a sexual lifestyle. Infants could be aborted with drugs. More often they died from abandonment. Older children often ended up on the streets as beggars. Later the government provided free food for them, but they grew up without experiencing the love of a father, mother or family.

            Men would attend banquets usually honoring a Roman god. The attractions were live sexual performances ending in group orgies.

            Married women were considered a man’s property. Adultery only occurred with another man’s property. It was not considered adultery if a married man had sex with an unmarried woman. Married women were soon excluded from the sexually driven, male dominated culture. Their solution was to remain married while serving as a temple prostitute.                             

            Rome’s Coliseum and other stadium’s offered violent entertainment. The games were preceded by a parade to the stadium. Crowds lined the streets to personally see and cheer the men who were about to fight to the death. The mob scoffed at defensive fighting and cheered aggressiveness.

            The disregard for life was best illustrated by the games. Slaves, captives and criminals trained as gladiators. They gored, bloodied and slashed one another to entertain the crowds who demanded cruelty and gruesome deaths.

            The crowds were entertained when hungry animals were hunted by gladiators or turned loose on unarmed victims during the games. A crowd favorite was when the stomach of an animal was sliced open by a gladiator to show the undigested body parts of a human being. It was not uncommon for 100 victims to die in a single day. It is estimated that more than 100,000 animals were put to death in the Coliseum.

                Violent overthrow and sexual perversions soon dominated Roman government. Soldiers were loyal to their Generals who paid them with conquered land or captured booty. Their commitment to their leader became greater than their loyalty to Rome. Successful Generals were able to overpower reigning Emperors.

            In 69 A.D. four different emperors replaced one another on the throne. One committed suicide; one was murdered by his guards and one by the fourth emperor’s troops. From Augustus to Constantine there were 53 emperors. Only 17 died of natural causes. Although they served for life their average reign was less than 4 ½ years.

            Many emperors ruled more like violent criminals than western world leaders. The Emperor Nero had his mother murdered and kicked his pregnant wife to death. Vitellius killed his son. Caracalla was co-emperor with his brother until he had him murdered.  Domitian’s wife learned of his plan to murder her and had him assassinated. Thousands of executions were ordered by the emperors, many of them in the coliseum for the enjoyment of the citizens.

Sexual perversions were commonplace among emperors. Brothels were housed in the palace. Several emperors kept up to two hundred or more males and females for sexual atrocities and their own sexual amusement. Some of the 17 who died from “natural causes” died from sexually transmitted diseases.

Human nature, following all its desires, destroys the principles of government, economics and morality.

Moral disintegration was a cancer destroying the life of a once great empire. Genuine love, family, patriotism and the sanctity of life disappeared from the culture.  Rome had no structure capable of sustaining it.