A stimulating and expert analysis of the unique conditions that allowed Christianity to take shape and flourish across the Roman Empire during its first three centuries, from one of our leading historians of the ancient world

“How did the intersection of Roman rule, Greek culture, and Judaean tradition create an environment that fostered the growth of—and also shaped—the 'Jesus movement?' . . . A brilliant look at an epochal moment, with intriguing and illuminating connections to the present day.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

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.