Life in Roman Judea

Yesterday I spoke about our lack of understanding of life in Roman Judea.  Here is a description of a few of the conditions of the time.

Government: Most of the readers of this blog live in, or at least understand the concept of, a representative democracy.  That was not the case in Roman Judea.  The Roman rulers, including the local governors, were distant from the people, and were interested only in holding on to their own power by suppressing disorder by any means necessary.  On the local level, the most powerful person was the military commander who could order arrests and executions at will.

Taxation: The Roman government demanded that taxes be paid and contracted out the collection.  Tax collectors were allowed to keep any funds they were able to collect over what the Romans demanded.  Unscrupulous men could become wealthy.

Citizenship:  Roman citizenship provided some minimal privileges (by our modern standards) but people in occupied lands were not normally Roman citizens.

Medicine: Healthcare was largely based on potions and ointments.  It was possible to die from an abcessed tooth.

Communication: It was possible to send a letter to a person in another city or village but there was no scheduled mail and there were no specific mail routes.  You had to find someone who was going to the city and pay them to carry your letter.  You could also, as Paul did, send a courier to ensure delivery.  The process could take months.

Travel: Travel was by foot, horseback, wagon, or boat and sometimes took months.  Outside of Roman colonies, there were no paved roads.

Entertainment: There were no television, radio, newspapers, or magazines.  No professional sports teams or local sport leagues.  There were no music concerts.  Entertainment consisted of stories and singing.


Upward Mobility:  It was almost impossible to improve one’s station in life.

Literacy: Most people were illiterate, but as People of the Book , many had memorized large portions of scripture.

Knowledge: The people were of normal intelligence, as smart as any of us, but they knew nothing of human physiology, quantum physics, economic and political theories, and their knowledge of other cultures was minimal at best.