PART #13 - ROMAN HISTORY BEFORE and AFTER "SATAN'S SEAT" ABSORBED

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                                                                (see "Prophetic Vocabulary")
Note; Can a Juror determine truth without hearing ALL of the evidence?  It is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that one hear ALL of the evidence, beginning with Part #1 of these posts!


        In this Post, the JURY will hear the TESTIMONY of "Documented Human History" for a brief overview of the Roman Empire.




       Countless volumes of books have been written about the Roman Empire.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome
       Most agree that;



      According to the founding myth of Rome, the city was founded on 21 April 753 BC by twin brothers Romulus and Remus.



       According to the founding myth, Romulus and Remus's mother was raped and impregnated by Mars, the PAGAN Roman god of war, therefore the twins were considered half-divine PAGANS.




       The city of Rome grew from settlements around a ford on the river Tiber, a crossroads of traffic and trade.



       According to archaeological evidence, the village of Rome was probably founded sometime in the 8th century BC, though it may go back as far as the 10th century BC.




THE ROMAN KINGDOM


        Initially, Rome was ruled by PAGAN kings, who were elected from each of Rome's major tribes.




       The king was also the Head of the Roman Religion.




       Roman religion, at least concerning the gods, was made up not of written narratives, but rather of complex interrelations between gods and humans.
      



       Unlike in Greek mythology, the gods were not personified, but were vaguely defined sacred spirits called numina.





       Romans also believed that every person, place or thing had its own genius, or divine soul.



       For a list of Roman Gods and Goddess's, the JURY can click on the following link;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Roman_deities





       As the head of the PAGAN state religion, the Roman Kings were considered "Sacred Kings"(a god dwelling with humans).




     

THE ROMAN REPUBLIC


        The Roman Republic was established around 509 BC, when the last of the seven kings of Rome, Tarquin the Proud, was deposed by Lucius Junius Brutus.



     

        During the Roman Republic, Roman religion was organized under a strict system of priestly offices, which were held by men of senatorial rank.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontifex_Maximus
       The College of Pontifices was uppermost body in this hierarchy, and its chief priest, the Pontifex Maximus, was the head of the PAGAN state religion.  





       The foundation of this sacred PAGAN college and the office of Pontifex Maximus is attributed to the second king of Rome, Numa Pompilius.





       The Collegium Pontificum (College of Pontiffs) was the; 

-most important PAGAN priesthood 

of ancient Rome.





       The pontifices were the ones who smoothed the "bridge" between gods and men.





       The main duty of the PAGAN Pontifices was to maintain the pax deorum or "peace of the gods."



 

      In the ROMAN REPUBLIC, the sacred king / Pontifex Maximus took on the religious responsibilities of the deposed kings.




       The Pontifex Maximus was the most important position in the PAGAN ancient Roman religion


open only to patricians until 254 BC, when a plebeian first occupied this post. 





       According to the usual interpretation, the term pontifex literally means "bridge-builder" (pons + facere); "maximus" literally means "greatest".





       As the "GREATEST BRIDGE BUILDER" between the PAGAN gods and humansthe only access to the PAGAN Roman gods WAS THROUGH THE PONTIFEX MAXIMUS.





      Basically, a PAGAN Jesus Christ if you will.


JOHN 14
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.







IN THE PAGAN ROMAN RELIGION;

       NO MAN COULD APPROACH THE PAGAN GODS, BUT BY THE "PONTIFEX MAXIMUS".







THE ROMAN IMPERIAL STATE


     A distinctly religious office under the early Roman Republic, it gradually became politicized until, beginning with Augustus, it was subsumed into the Imperial office.





      The Pontifex was not simply a priest.



 

      He had both political and religious authority. 





       It was a coveted position mainly for the great prestige it conferred on the holder; Julius Caesar became pontifex in 73 BC and pontifex maximus in 63 BC.




        In the early Empire, the pretense of a republican form of government was maintained.



      

        The Roman Emperor was portrayed as only a princeps, or "first citizen", and the Senate gained legislative power and all legal authority previously held by the popular assemblies.



      

        However, the rule of the Emperors became increasingly autocratic, and the Senate was reduced to an advisory body appointed by the Emperor.



      

        The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period (starting at about 27 BC).



      

        In 27 BC, Octavian was the sole Roman leader.



       

       In that year, he took the name Augustus.



      

        That event is usually taken by historians as the beginning of Roman Empire – although Rome was an "imperial" state since 146 BC. (13 years before "Satan's Seat" was given to Rome)



       Officially, the government was republican, but Augustus assumed absolute powers.





       This included assuming the title of Pontifex Maximus.





       The Julio-Claudian dynasty was established by Augustus.



        The emperors of this dynasty were:
 



  • Augustus

  • Tiberius

  • Caligula

  • Claudius

  • Nero





       The Julio-Claudians continued to rule Rome after Augustus' death and they remained in power until the death of Nero in 68 Ad.




       In the Roman State, emperors were considered "gods"

and the formalized imperial cult 
(Emperor / Pontifex Maximus WORSHIPED AS GOD)

became increasingly prominent.





       Following the turmoil of the Year of the Four Emperors


       In 69 AD, four emperors were enthroned:

  •        Galba

  •        Otho

  •        Vitellius

  •        and finally, Vespasian.





        Vespasian - crushed Vitellius' forces and became emperor.





      He fought as a commander in the First Jewish-Roman War along with his son Titus.




     The last traces of Emperors being at the same time chief pontiffs are found in inscriptions of Valentinian I, Valens, and Gratian (Orelli, Inscript. n1117, 1118).



      Its last use with reference to the emperors is in inscriptions of Gratian (reigned 375–383) who, however, then decided to omit the words "pontifex maximus" from his title.





       As contact with the Greeks increased, the old Roman gods became increasingly associated with Greek gods.


      

        Thus, Jupiter was perceived to be the same deity as Zeus, Mars became associated with Ares, and Neptune with Poseidon.


      

       The Roman gods also assumed the attributes and mythologies of these Greek gods.


      

        Under the Empire, 


Romans absorbed the mythologies of their conquered subjects, often leading to situations in which the temples and priests of traditional Italian deities existed side by side with those of foreign gods.

        



Imported "mystery religions"


-which offered initiates salvation in the afterlife.


were a matter of personal choice for and individual, practised IN ADDITION TO one's family rites and participation in public religion.



       Sporadic and sometimes brutal attempts were made to suppress religionists who seemed to threaten traditional morality and unity, as with the senate's efforts to restrict the Bacchanals in 186 BC.



    


       Beginning with PAGAN Emperor Nero in the 1st century AD, Roman official policy towards Christianity was negative, and at some points, simply being a Christian could be punishable by death.


      
 

       Under PAGAN Emperor Diocletian, the persecution of Christians reached its peak





      
 
       However, it became an officially supported religion in the Roman state under Diocletian's successor, Constantine I, with the signing of the Edict of Milan in 313, and quickly became dominant.


      
 
       All religions except ROMAN "Christianity" were prohibited in 391 AD by an edict of Emperor Theodosius I.
 




        From the time of Theodosius I (r. 379–395), the emperors no longer appear in the dignity of pontiff.







THE ROMAN RELIGIOUS KINGDOM

       In Emperor Theodosius's edict De fide catholica of 27 February 380, enacted in Thessalonica and published in Constantinople for the whole empire, by which he established Catholic Christianity as the official religion of the empire, he referred to the western Bishop of Rome, Damasus, as a pontifex.





      The reign of Gratian(Western Empire), during Damasus' papacy, forms an important epoch in ecclesiastical history, since during that period (359–383), Catholic Christianity for the first time became dominant throughout the empire.





       The JURY SHOULD NOTE, that 

Damascus WAS THE FIRST ROMAN CATHOLIC POPE 

to hold the PAGAN (SUN WORSHIP) 
RELIGIOUS Title "Pontifex Maximus







       Theodosius I, the last emperor to rule over both East and West, died in 395 AD after making ROMAN "Pontifex Maximus" Christianity the official state religion.




       The Empire then began to disintegrate in the late 4th century as invasions overwhelmed the capacity of Christian Rome to govern and mount a coordinated defense.





       Most chronologies place the end of the Western empire in 476, when Romulus Augustulus was forced to abdicate to the Germanic warlord Odoacer.





       The JURY should also note that;



  •        At the same time that POLITICAL ROME was disintegrating;

               -RELIGIOUS ROME WAS RISING UP








        In the next post, we will continue to examine the evidence regarding the; 


-4th and "diverse" FINAL Kingdom of;





  •        DANIELS "Little King"










  


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