Download Italy Trip Notes from Our Times with Dr. Randy Smith and Doug

Italy Trip Notes from Our Times with Dr. Randy Smith and Doug Greenwold
Christian Travel Study Programs - Joan Keane - Assistant - [email protected]
Randy Smith has a masters in forensic archeology and a doctorate in rabbinic studies.
Salt = salary; Roman soldiers were often paid salt.
Rome is what it is because of the Tiber River. Italy is a garden spot. Rome is about 300
meters above sea level.
---------Site #1 - The Necrpoli near the port of Ostia; 100-220 AD
Jews were all about family and the community; Greeks and ultimately the Romans
elevated the individual and the state.
Moselliums, ossuaries, and sarcophaguses', tell us much about a people, ie their jobs,
marital status, beliefs, diet, etc.
Romans generally did things the hard way. They were amazing architects and engineers.
In Rome you funeral was generally about your famous or successful relatives and very
little about you.
Death masks were made for important people like patrons of villas; Plebs including
libertines (those freed from slavery) lived in tenements. The desk masks of your family
were put at the front of your home where you would address your clients. Ie The cloud
of witnesses in Hebrews.
At a bridal shower the week before a wedding rose water was poured over the bride
from a long necked pot which was broken at the wedding
1 out 3 women died in child birth; child mortality rates were very high; life expectancy
of the higher (equestrian) class was 42-52; plebs 35-40.
Roman slaves could save their stipends and eventually buy their freedom.
VIP A woman slave was often molested at night by the patron and beaten during the
day by the matron; thus Paul's words to slaves in 1 Cor 7; "if you had no control of what
is happening to you, you are not responsible.
Stones were cut with hammer and chisel and finished with the ends of dowels rotated
back and forth rapidly over metal filings
----------Site #2 - Ostia
The Romans were masters at making "many people into one."All Roman towns were
designed to be the same. Pagan Roman culture is infused into our Western culture, ie
Thursday - Thorsday, Saturday - Saturnday; The winter solstice - Christmas.
Ostia Antica was the first "rubber stamped" town of the Roman empire 700 BC.
60,000 people; agora = forum = piazza = a large public square in the middle of an
ancient town.
80% of the Roman empire was poor. 1/3 of the population were slaves. The average
slaved was better off than the average pleb. The poorer you were, the higher up you
lived in the tenement. People would prepare their food at home and take it to a baker
to cook and then they would eat it out.
VIP. Roman gods were pernicious( they would trip you up for fun) so you needed to
appease them by RSVP. Rituals, sacrifices, vows, and prayers. Anyone who could help
Romans out of trouble might be consider a god, ie the Caesars.
Egyptian fed Italy. Wine was of very low alcohol content. Wine and honey were often
mixed in a drink or put on a barley cake for breakfast.
Diamond shaped brick laying used by Herod was time consuming but better in
earthquakes. Each town had a shopping area surrounding a theater, a capitol, and a
bema seat.
Comedies and tragedies were popular with Romans who used less dialogue and more
action than the Greeks. Women, because of their "levitas" natures were forbidden from
the always bawdy comedies.
Roman, Han, and Parthian empires were contemporaries. Roman Republic - 500 BC to
0; Roman Empire - 0-500 AD.
Rome was so brutal to Israel because it was the buffer between itself and Parthia - the
only kingdom to lick the Romans.
Rome had little prison space; a poor defendant worked in a work camp until his trial; a
person of means would rent an apartment where he was bound by a "light chain." The
Roman guard who was switch out every 8 hours had to produce the defendant on an
hour's notice or face death.
Claudius Gothicus had many Christians drug behind chariots to make them recant their
faith. He tortured to death many including the powerful Maximus the Presbyter at
Ostia.
In 1 Thess 1-2 (Paul's first letter) he writes biography; in 3-5 he writes against sexual sin;
gossip and sloth, and the pagan Greek and Roman views of death. VIP
Rome ultimately became a user rather than a producer nation.
Site #3
Randy likes people to imagine being a person in Roman culture, ie a slave, a soldier, etc.
What made Jesus' followers so offensive to the pagan world? They appeared to offend
Rome's passion for conformity throughout the empire.
Our literary guides from 4 BC to 95 AD: Pliny the Younger born in 60 AD; Tertullian,
Petronius - a contemporary of Paul - a bedeviled nobleman; Marshall - a poet
Cosmogonies - the 2 concepts of the creation; modern science has tended to be
religious philosophy with its priests in lab coats.
1/2 of the English language comes from Latin. Italian was the language of Florence.
Clothes were cleaned with human urine collected in public pots and sulfur as a
whitener.
Augustus began to make "uniformity" in everything the Roman way (a giant franchise).
Liminal monuments - 3 statues at every harbor
Rome wins the hearts of the people by providing free entertainment (spectacles) ie,
gladiatorial combats, chariot races, and plays.
Olive trees produce good olives after 38 years.
Coins given to the Roman soldiers were the way to spread a new messages. Metal
mining was the lowest form of slavery.
Augustus brilliantly used the benefits of the Republic to begin an Empire with himself as
the Emperor
Greeks gave me democracy
Romans gave me law
Hebrews gave me monotheism ( a belief in a good and loving God) and the idea of
human equality
Paul's grandpa may have become a Roman citizen by making goat hair tents for the
Roman army.
Sperlonga - a maritime villa of Tiberius - it boasted the cave where Cyclops was blinded.
* A elephant skull will eventually look like a giant human skull with one eye.
Sejanus saved Tiberius during an earthquake at Sperlonga and was made preceptor of
Rome. When Tiberius took a 10 year hiatus, Sejanus took advantage of his position.
Tiberius found out and had him killed and thrown into the Tiber. He then informed the
governors like Pilate that they could execute traitors without a trial. VIP
When a man became free, he got a hat called a "pileus" thus the controversial thing in
1 Cor 11 is the man having to remove his hat when at worship. VIP
---------The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed at least in part to use its precious metals to fund
the Flavian Coliseum. We have no record that Christians were martyred here, but they
most likely were.
The Coliseum would seat 50,000. Circus Maximus where the Christians were martyred
would hold 300,000.
Arches always indicated a major change in culture.
The Palatine hill is where Rome began. The palace overlooked the hippodrome in
Roman cities.
Caligula means "little boots." His dad, Germanicus, was a famous soldier.
Gladiators were the heart throbs of the day. They trained in a "ludis" and received the
best of care.
Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian built the coliseum. The grand opening saw 5000 animals
slain. A lion was worth a $1,000,000.
Romans were even better engineers than soldiers. A legionnaire would have used a
shovel more than his sword.
The Vatican became open to the public in 1932. Peter is buried in St Peter's Basilica.
The Pope holds mass in the Sistine Chapel.
The Vatican museum contains wonderful sculptures, paintings, frescos, tapestries, etc,
like the imperial Romans, the Catholic Church reveres its forefathers.
Context Matters - Doug's three illustrations - waterskiing over the surface vs scuba
diving into the Bible; or peeling back the layers of an artichoke; watching a great movie
on an old black and white TV vs. a 48" plasma.
------------If we aren't careful we can become Roman in our religious practices by thinking that
God is mad and out to trip us up. We serve a good God who loves us and wants to bless
us.
Centurions were in charge of 1/10 of 4,800 man legion. The Caesar gave them
diplomatic immunity upon reaching this rank.
The "diaspora" is a term referencing "a displaced people," ie the Southern Kingdom to
Babylon.
Jerusalem Council in 50 AD - Kosher Kids vs. Pig Eating Pagans
A "titilus" was a placard hung around a slaves neck explaining who he was.
""Don't be led by comfort or fear, they are horrible guides."
NT:1401
"Doulos" in Greek NT means "slave" not "servant." We are slaves of Christ!
In Israel Doug connects the dots; in Italy he has to create the dots before he connects
them.
Roman and Christian "exceptionalism" were similar in some respects.
Jewish men were given both a Jewish and gentile name
Paul, a scribe, lives to age 62. We believe he is beheaded in 68 AD; Peter watch his wife
crucified and then was crucified upside down himself in 69 AD.
Felix which means "happy" was the most the common slave name.
Romans attempt to make their homes, villas, and towns as much alike as possible. A
Wal-Mart is a Wal-Mart is a Wal-Mart. They valued conformity and tradition; Americans
value freedom of choice and newness.
Roman men wore white. Togas were worn by the wealthy; tunics were worn by working
people. Women wore colors and plaited their hair to show status.
A Roman town smelled terribly!
The use of lead pipes caused loss of taste buds, brain cells, and often death.
Diocletian forced 4000 Christians to build a 3000 person bath causing most of them to
perish.
Fasces - the rods wrapping an ax were carried by the servants of a consul and showed
the authority of Rome.
Rome fell in 476 AD.
Jesus spoke to an agrarian society, Paul addressed an urban one.
Randy has seen referenced 5 different "Gates of Hades"
Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva were the big three Roman gods.
See page 90 in Randy's syllabus for how Julius Caesar learned to demolish a fortress Paul likely used this imagery for 1 Cor 10.
See pages 105-107 on Patrons and their clients (very Mafia-like).
Holy = doing what you are created for.
In Rome the Gospel was first received by middle and upper class women. It is estimated
that there were 35 million Christians by 395 AD
Honor/Shame cultures out number Innocent/Guilt cultures. Rome was the former;
Christianity is the later.
St Benedict 480-447 believed the Gospel should transform a person.
The "Vigililes Urbani" were the fireman/police officers of a Roman town
Randy believes there are three kinds of people: saved people, unsaved people, and
saved people who are poorly taught.
---------The underground laundry we visited our last day was within yards of a Jewish ghetto in
Rome where Paul would have been held under "light chain" (a type of house arrest
where a Roman soldier was guarding the prisoner in 8 hour shifts and obligated to
produce the defendant to the emperor on an hour's notice or face death) at his own
expense.
The "catacombs" were an underground burial chamber use by early Christians facing
persecution. Romans typically cremated a body. Christians were opposed to the
practice. As persecution of early Christians increased, they used the catacombs for a
place of worship. 100,000 bodies have been exhumed there.
At the Three Fountains we visited the place where Paul was beheaded by Nero in 68 AD
and where the 10,203 Christ following Roman legionnaires from around the empire
were beaded by Diocletian in 290 AD for not bowing to Mars before battle. In most
cases Christians were martyred for not supporting the state approved education and
caste systems.
Randy believes Clement 99 AD was the first man to function as a Pope.
When Paul wrote his letter to them, the Colossian church may have only been about 30
people.
Rome, like most cultures, propagated an "energizing myth" by forcing the pantheon of
Greek/Roman gods on their people. "Evolution" has been our country's "energizing
myth."
Romans tried to placate their capricious gods with: prayers, penance, vows, sacrifices,
and lares (mementoes of one's forefathers --- like our photos on the piano).
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