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The Roman Empire - Episode 5 - Cult Of Order (History Documentary)
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Jun 4, 2025
Rome fashioned a cultural template that resonates today in Western art, architecture, medicine and urban planning. As the Roman Empire grew, this pagan model blended with a host of beliefs reflecting the multi-cultural world it encompassed. From this mix emerged Christianity, by its very nature at odds with the deeply rooted values of Roman Culture. Romans thought they had united the world. But after centuries of conquest and glory, resentment festered within. Repression and chaos replaced tolerance and order; and the gap between the wealthy and the poor had become unimaginably wide. Indeed ninety-five percent of the population struggled beneath the poverty line. Cults of dissent emerged that threatened to divide the empire forever. "Cult of Order" aims to track the corruption of the values that made Rome 'great'; as excellence gave way to excess.
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Romans thought they'd united the world, but after centuries of conquest and glory, resentment
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festered within. Repression and chaos replaced tolerance and order. And cults of dissent emerged that threatened to divide the empire forever
1:27
in a Roman arena in Carthage, North Africa. Members of an Eastern cult were rounded up
1:36
and publicly tortured for the amusement of the crowd. Their crime was religious conviction
1:57
Their name, Christians. It was a theater of terror that would haunt Rome forever
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One of the victims that day was Perpetua, a woman who redefined the meaning of defiance
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Perpetua is a young mother, a beautiful young girl and she is determined to stand by her faith
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and even when the government wants to attack Christians she remains steadfast, her father begs her to renounce her faith
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she says I can't, I must be true to my cause she's separated from her baby, she's imprisoned
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she's never been in such a place before she's a woman from a respectable family
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in prison she kept a diary a tragic testament to the power of faith
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one night she dreamed her time in the arena had come I saw a beautiful bronze ladder
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extending all the way to heaven people were climbing the ladder but under it was a demonic serpent
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the serpent was attacking the climbers hoping to frighten them from making the ascent
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and I said in the name of Jesus Christ the serpent will not harm me
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then I awoke knowing that it wasn't beasts that I'd fight in the arena
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It was the devil. And I knew I would be victorious. The next day, Perpetua was sent into the arena
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The lions were released
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But they refused to touch her. So a gladiator was sent in to finish her off
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When he too hesitated, Perpetua grabbed his sword and slit her own throat in defiance
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Perpetuous martyrdom stunned the crowd. She chose death over allegiance to Rome
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Why? Rome's century of doubt had begun. For hundreds of years, the benefits of Roman rule seemed clear
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Her army created the most stable empire the world had ever known
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From Scotland to the Sahara, from the Atlantic to the Euphrates, everyone enjoyed the blessings
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of Rome's peace. Her government gave the Mediterranean centuries of community, stability and prosperity
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For hundreds of years, it was good to be Roman. But that wouldn't last
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Our history now descends from a kingdom of gold to one of iron and rust, Cassius Dyle
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Emperor Marcus Aurelius presided over the first signs of decline in the Roman world
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Born in 121 A.D., he was groomed from an early age to be Rome's next emperor
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Aurelius had 20 years to dream about the kind of ruler he wanted to be, and the kind of
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Aurelius had 20 years to dream about the kind of ruler he wanted to be, and the kind of
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empire he wanted to rule. As a Roman, he believed there was a divine order to things. As emperor
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he hoped to recreate that order in the Roman world which is what Romans had done for centuries with astounding success everywhere
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They pacified the entire Mediterranean with one set of laws, regulated trade with one currency, replaced diversity with conformity
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Rome's empire stretched for two million square miles but whether you were in Egypt or England
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you could always travel a straight Roman road to a familiar Roman city
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Roman roads reflect a tremendous centralized organization all roads led to Rome of course
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and you could come to the city of Rome and go to the Forum and there was a golden milestone which told you
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how far it was to every other city in the empire. Romans liked to know where they stood
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They planned their cities like they planned their lives, in a methodical, orderly fashion
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If nature was unpredictable, they tamed it. Romans channeled water to their cities in massive aqueducts
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arguably their greatest logistical triumph. Rome had been a symbol of order and stability for centuries
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And Marcus Aurelius expected to continue that tradition. In 161 AD, Aurelius finally became emperor
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for 23 years he'd been planning a peaceful rule he was in for a brutal awakening
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later that year war broke out in the east barbarians crossed the frontier and attacked a roman province
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a deadly plague ravaged the empire killing a quarter of rome's population
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Germanic invaders then exploited the disaster and attacked from the north. Rome was suddenly confronted with military threats on two fronts
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Marcus Aurelius spent eight years on the frontiers, fighting for Rome's survival
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Like many, he feared it was the beginning of the end, that the great Roman Empire was
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about to fall to an invading army. But his fears were misplaced, for Rome's greatest problems lay within, as did the emperors
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Marcus Aurelius had cancer. He took daily doses of a drug he hoped would alleviate his suffering
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It didn't. And in 180 AD, the disease finally won. Aurelius' painful death foreshadowed the fate of the empire he left behind
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Rome, too, was suffering from a fatal disease. cultural decay. It was an erosion of traditional Roman values
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that would force many to turn to foreign cults for their salvation
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and, like Perpetua, question their allegiance to Rome. The Roman Empire is as famous for its vices as it is for its virtues
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Corrupted by wealth and power, Rome's legacy was tainted by images of indulgence and imperial excess
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The emperor Commodus epitomized the decay. His arrogance would force everyone to question their allegiance to Rome
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Commodus succeeded his father, Marcus Aurelius, in 180 AD. Traumatized by an early attempt on his life
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Commodus shunned all public appearances and left Rome in the hands of his closest advisors
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As they terrorized Rome, Commodus amused himself in the palace. He maintained a harem of hundreds of young boys and girls
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and abused them at his whim. He kept amongst his minions certain men
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named after the private parts of both sexes and on these he liked to bestow kisses
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Herodian It was a lifestyle funded by corruption and extortion. Resentment festered throughout the empire
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In 190 AD, the poor rioted. They thought Commodus had deliberately hoarded grain
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to inflate its price and increase its profits. After nine years as a recluse, the emperor was forced to play a more public role
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The results were disastrous. He demanded he be made a living god
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He took the title Hercules and appeared in a lion's skin, wielding a club on all public occasions
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When a huge fire consumed Rome in 191 AD, Commodus outdid himself
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He proposed the rest of the city be destroyed, and an entirely new one rebuilt in his honor
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But first, Commodus chose Rome's most famous landmark for his ultimate act of indulgence
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On November 17th, 192 A.D., people flocked to the Colosseum
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Something truly shocking was on the program. That afternoon, the slaves and criminals who normally fought in the arena
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were joined by someone very special For the first time in Roman history
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an emperor was appearing in public as a gladiator. Commodus may have won that day
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but his victory was short-lived. Commodus was assassinated on December 31st, on New Year's Eve
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because next day he planned to be inaugurated as consul, dressed up as a gladiator
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And that was such an affront. It's as though the American president attended inauguration
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dressed in an American football kit. It was a complete insult to the total political way of life
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The assassination of Commodus wasn't the answer. For Rome's problems lay deeper still, in the very foundation of Roman society
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On August 24th, 79 AD, a volcano in southern Italy erupted. Smoldering ash from Mount Vesuvius
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buried the nearby town of Pompeii and froze a haunting and revealing portrait
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of Roman society for all time. Suffocated by ash
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the victims that day seemed united in death. Yet the ruins of Pompeii showed just how divided they were in life
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The rich lived lives of gaudy luxury. Their houses were spacious and ornate
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Their gardens lush. Their lifestyles, lavish. But the most notorious element of their decadence is a fiction
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Paintings of imagined Roman orgies were commissioned by 19th century politicians to promote their own message of sexual intolerance
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The most famous of these showed a group of disapproving philosophers frowning at a debauched banquet
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There was a serious proposal to put that painting in every classroom in the United States of America
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because it was seen as an image of morality, of what the Romans were really about were those philosophical types
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And if you get involved in the orgy, in decadence, then your civilization will fall as surely as the Romans
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For most Romans, a lifestyle of luxury and decadence was a very distant dream
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The gap between wealthy and poor was ten times worse than today
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95% of the population struggled beneath the poverty line. They lived in dark, fire-trapped tenements
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entire families packed into a single room. The child mortality rate was 50%
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Typhoid and diphtheria were constant threats. Equally claustrophobic was a woman's place in Roman society
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Women were considered biologically and morally inferior to men. They couldn't vote, buy property, or choose who they married
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Their fathers and husbands had legal and financial control over them most of their lives
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their lives. Rome was built on a rigid social hierarchy
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At the height of her power, one in every three people in Italy was a slave
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And it was their sweat and their labor that gave Roman cities their fabled wealth and splendor
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Astoundingly, the burden of discrimination was lifted once each year
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Every December at the winter solstice, Romans would celebrate the Saturnalia, when everything in Rome turned upside down
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For one week, masters served their slaves dinner. children of the poor ate with the rich
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It was a surreal disruption of the status quo. For those who wanted more frequent release
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from Rome's rigid class system, there was another option. The cult of Dionysus was Greek in origin
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Its controversial rituals, or bacchia, arrived in Italy in the 2nd century BC
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With wine and dance, devotees entered a kind of collective trance, a communal ecstasy that offered escape from the oppressive divisions of Roman society
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People are getting together, they're making cells, they're making little clubs, and they're assembling in an uncontrollable way at night time
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in groups that are mixed, men and women, and they're not quite sure what sort of conspiracy together
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And it is dealt with in an extremely bloody way. I mean, not only is the cult of Dionysus completely banned
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but the consuls go up and down the country. There are many executions
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At the heart of Roman culture lay a tragic flaw. A social order that tolerated excess for the few
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and oppression for the many. That injustice would soon fuel the rise of Rome's
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most subversive cult of dissent. Transcribed by ESO translated by The
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There was one ideal that made everyone proud to be Roman. An ideal as old as Rome itself
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A commitment to cultural diversity. Roman society was always enormously open
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There's a wonderful story about Romulus, who, when he goes to found Rome
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calls upon people to come and live in the city. And the passage sounds just like the Statue of Liberty, you know
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Everyone come. Let me take your outsiders and your poor. 1,000 years later, Rome's open-door policy was still going strong
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Her fabled wealth and splendor had attracted people from every corner of the world
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You could be in the city of Rome, and you could see people who were obviously African
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obviously Indian, obviously Italian, Gauls, Germans. all of these people were in fact Roman citizens
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And so somehow the Romans seem to have been able to find a way
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to achieve the American motto, E Pluribus Unum. They all got along
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There doesn't seem to have been any racial or ethnic tension within the Roman Empire
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By the 3rd century AD, Rome's immigrant spirit applied to everyone, even emperors
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Septimius Severus succeeded Commodus as emperor in 193 AD. He was African, a native of Lepkis Magna in modern-day Libya
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during his 18 year rule he adorned his hometown with lavish buildings
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and brought some of its magic back to Rome Severus and his wife Julia Domna
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were both deeply superstitious he was devoted to an Egyptian mystery cult
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she worshipped a Syrian sun god Romans had no problem with the couple's exotic beliefs
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the vast Roman Empire had a long history of religious tolerance they lived in a pagan world that welcomed virtually everyone's gods
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there's something in the pluralism of roman religion that makes it possible
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to acquire new gods in their very earlier stories about themselves conquest of little towns around
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rome involve one of their myths is that of evocation when you go and you pronounce a series
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of prayers to beg the god of the local town to come to rome with you and it becomes your god
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and you add to the strength of the team at Rome. All that was asked of foreign religions
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was that they respect the cult of Rome by making annual sacrifices to the emperor
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It was a policy intended to secure some control in a world of extreme religious diversity
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There were as many cults in Rome as there were provinces in the empire
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Bull worshippers from Iran. Fertility sects from Egypt. Rain gods from Germany
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In the city of Rome, you could experiment with almost anything. And in that way, I suspect the religious menu
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the huge a la carte menu of choice, not as large as it would be in Los Angeles or New York
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but still very wide. But by the 3rd century AD, religious diversity was leading to chaos
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People were overwhelmed by the choices that surrounded them. Severus's solution was sun worship
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He hoped it would prove a unifying force in a very fragmented world
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Rome's wealthy decided to follow the sun in a different way. They traveled east, to Greece, Egypt, even as far as India, in search of themselves
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But if Romans were confused, their leaders were completely out of control
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In 211 AD, Severus was succeeded on the imperial throne by his son, Caracalla
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whose most memorable act as emperor was to murder his own brother, Gaeta
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He was sick in body and mind. He often thought he was being pursued by his father and his brother, armed with swords
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At first, Caracalla's insanity was kept in check. In 212 A.D., he awarded Roman citizenship to every free man in the empire
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a dramatic reaffirmation of Rome's commitment to tolerance and diversity. The emperor then set off on a grand tour of the empire
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In December 215 A.D., he reached Egypt. In the city of Alexandria, he was given a splendid reception
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by its proud new Roman citizens. The affection didn't last long
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Enraged by local criticism of his brother's murder, the emperor invited 5,000 citizens into a local theater
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and butchered them in cold blood. In one afternoon, Caracalla destroyed the fabled value of Roman citizenship
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Never had Romans felt so confused or so conflicted about their place in the world
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They're looking for something in the same way that we Americans are looking for something
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I think we can use that same explanation to explain things like Heaven's Gate and the Jonestown Massacre and any of the cults that have arisen over the past few years
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When they lose their identity, you find that they begin to turn to cults
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In the 3rd century A.D., Romans turned to one cult in particular
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A cult whose message was destined to change the empire and the world forever
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Christianity's dramatic rise to power in the Roman world would change everything
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A cult based on the suffering of one man was set to challenge the integrity of an entire empire
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Christianity's message spread west from Judea in the first century A.D., carried by a small band of apostles
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in Rome it struggled for identity one of many obscure cults in a crowded city
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one blatant act of brutality would set it apart in 64 AD the emperor Nero
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publicly massacred hundreds of Christians in Rome blaming them for a fire they didn't start
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It was the first time most Romans had even heard of Christianity
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But the cult was a perfect scapegoat, its values radically un-Roman. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth
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Matthew you. Woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Luke
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Christianity is a protest movement in one real sense. We mustn't think of early Christians as
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people who went on demonstrations through the streets of Rome, or picketed the Senate House
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or through exit emperors. They're not that kind of group. They're very quiet, introverted, keeping themselves to themselves
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So anti-Roman in their beliefs, but not a protest movement in the sense of marching on Rome
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Christianity's most revolutionary ideal was spiritual equality. It was a direct threat to Rome's belief in hierarchy and social division
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Women in particular were attracted to the new cult. It granted them the independence they had been denied by Roman society
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The only public position of power and prestige open to a Roman woman was as a Vestal Virgin
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Rome's six Vestal Virgins attended all important state events. But their principal duty was to look after the sacred fire of Vesta
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the Roman goddess of the hearth. This fire was the symbol of Rome's longevity
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and it was their job to ensure it never went out. Vestal virgins were highly respected and lived well
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yet their public honors had a price. Vestal virgins took a vow of chastity when they entered the order at an early age
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If one of them broke that vow, the punishment was fierce and final
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She was locked in an underground room. The windows were covered. And she was slowly buried alive
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Ironically early Christians chose to be underground ground They felt safer meeting in the labyrinth of burial chambers beneath the city known as the catacombs
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Here, women participated in the ritual of communion on an equal footing with men
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This shocked pagan Rome and gave rise to scandalous rumors. They recognise each other by secret signs
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And they have sex even before they've become friends. They call each other brother and sister
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and thus their common fornication becomes a kind of incest. They worship the private parts of their priest
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and I've even heard that they kill children and drink their blood. Minutious Felix
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Precisely the same accusations would be used by Christians to condemn witches in later centuries
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But Rome persecuted Christians for another reason. They refused to respect anyone else's gods
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For there is only one God and one mediator between God and men
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the man Jesus Christ, 1 Timothy. they couldn't absorb christianity because it will not allow you to sacrifice to other gods
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in particular christianity involves the rejection of the cult of the emperor and because the cult of
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the emperor is virtually the only way in which the whole empire can express its unity this is very
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disruptive. At first, the Roman state tried hard to ignore the conflict. A letter from
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the Emperor Trajan to a provincial governor in 113 AD shows how lenient he wanted to be
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These people must not be hunted out. If they are brought before you and the charge against
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them is proved, they must be punished. But if anyone denies he is a Christian and makes
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it clear he is not by offering prayers to our gods. He is to be pardoned, however suspect
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his past may have been. Trajan. Trajan was wise in his restraint. Rome's previous attempts
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that social repression had backfired. In 19 B.C., the Emperor Augustus embarked on a program of brutal moral reform
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He feared that the Roman aristocracy, decimated by recent civil wars, was dying out
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His solution was to persuade Roman families to produce pure Roman babies quickly
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Adultery was made a capital crime, punishable by exile or death. Romans openly mocked his moral crusade
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Ovid, the most popular poet of the day, provoked the emperor's wrath by publishing a book called The Art of Love
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celebrating sex and secret liaisons. Augustus panicked and banished Ovid to a bleak outpost on the Black Sea
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Though others have been exiled for weightier causes, a more remote land has been assigned to no one
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Nothing is farther away than this land except only the cold and the enemy
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and the sea whose waters congeal with the frost, Ovid. Ovid died there ten years later
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still dreaming of Rome. The emperor's repressive reforms were extremely unpopular and futile
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They fathered more informers than children. Now the country suffered from its laws as it had done from its vices, Tacitus
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But by the second century A.D., most Romans had forgotten the lessons of the past
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Christianity ideals were attracting upper women to the faith Their refusal to perform public sacrifices to the emperor
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threatened the male elite. Their response was highly controversial. Its severity still debated today
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In the first three centuries after Christ, most Romans neither cared nor noticed Christians
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and they certainly didn't see them as an endless supply of lion food
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More criminals were eaten by lions in the Roman world than Christians
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This is an image which has been created by later Christian sources
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keen then to present themselves as an active movement of protest against Rome
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And yet, accounts of public persecution have survived. Rituals of repression that backfired
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For persecution produced victims. Victims willing to become martyrs. One of these was Blandina, a young slave girl
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The crowd subjected her to every horror and punishment Yet she was by now indifferent to suffering
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And kept faith in Christ To the crowd's amazement Blandina endured three days of horrific torture in the arena
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in the end she too was killed though the pagans admitted they had never seen a woman suffer so much
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for so long eusebius the more that you persecute the more you raise the stakes it's a terrible gamble because in
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throwing people to the lions, you do it in an enormously public fashion. And if the martyrs
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play the game well, if they not survive their martyrdom but maintain their dignity, keep
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the crowd on their side through the martyrdom, then it's a wonderful recruiting ground. And
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the effect of great persecution is that everyone knows you've got to go this way or that way
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the big choice is Christian or not. A protest movement was quickly gaining momentum
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Its very popularity posed a fundamental threat to the Roman way of life
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By the middle of the 3rd century AD, Rome was consumed by doubt
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As chaos and confusion wracked the empire, everyone began questioning the benefits of Roman rule
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Between 235 and 270 A.D., more than 30 Roman generals proclaimed themselves emperor
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As Roman legion fought Roman legion, innocent citizens were caught in the crossfire of civil war
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Barbarians seized the opportunity and streamed across the frontiers. Germans in the west and Parthians in the east disrupted the provinces
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Inflation soared and livelihoods were destroyed. The promise of salvation in the next life was becoming very appealing
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Christianity's tradition of charity attracted many converts in Rome's century of chaos and doubt
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The size of the catacombs in Rome, the cult's secret meeting place, shows just how popular Christianity had become
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By the middle of the third century, there were an estimated five million Christians in the empire
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It's an indication of the strength of the church at the end of the 1st century
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and particularly of the level of church organization. We've got a church now that's got a growing membership
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and that has got a hierarchy of clergy and bishops throughout the Mediterranean In 284 A Diocletian was crowned emperor
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He had risen through the ranks of the army to seize power in Rome
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As befitted a military man, his vision for the future was brutal and bold
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Diocletian felt the key to unity lay in division. He split the Roman world in two
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and agreed to share power with three other generals. Their coordinated efforts did bring peace
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but only for a time. Diocletian ruled for over 20 years, but spent only two months in Rome
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He was forced to spend most of his time in cities like Trier, Germany
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to be closer to the wars on the frontiers. Rome, a beacon of strength for over a thousand years, felt increasingly vulnerable
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As did the emperor. In a desperate bid for respect, Diocletian proclaimed himself the son of Jupiter
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and insisted that everyone kneel in his presence and kiss the hem of his robe
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To many it was empty spectacle. And they began looking elsewhere for reassurance
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Now even members of the imperial court were secretly converting to Christianity
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Diocletian has said that the unity of the empire is not just a military matter
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but it's a religious matter. And if we can stamp out Christianity, then we will all be worshipping the same gods, so we will all be the same empire
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and when that gamble fails to come off, you fail to stamp out Christianity
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the martyrs produce more Christians. On February 24th, 303 AD
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Diocletian initiated the most sweeping persecution Christianity has ever faced. Churches were burned
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Scriptures destroyed. Christians sent to work in state mines or imprisoned and tortured for their beliefs
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If they still refused to sacrifice to Rome's gods, they were publicly tortured
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Rome, once a proud culture of tolerance, had become a repressive cult of order
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What we see in Diocletian's persecution of the Christians are the only two Mediterranean-wide organizations
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the Roman state and the Christian church, battling it out for supremacy
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In 305 A.D., Diocletian retired to his summer palace, confident that Rome had won
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he was wrong in the blood of the martyrs
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lie the seeds of the church Tertullian there's an irony about Roman history
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in that one of the great accomplishments of Rome were the roads
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And I think it's fascinating that those roads are what did Rome in
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Because over those roads came the cults, came ideas that would undo the Roman identity and Roman sense of self
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For centuries Rome's power and confidence had been unshakable
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She had basked in the achievements of her empire, convinced of the glory of her rule
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But a cult from Judea confronted Rome's arrogance, challenged her inequality and exposed her brutality
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Rome, once a symbol of order and control, was crumbling into chaos and confusion
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