The persecutions against Christians constitute one of the most studied events in the history of Christianity and in the history of Rome. From the beginning of the second century onwards, extant documents by pagans and Christians are numerous. Based on these documents, we may ask: what was the legal basis for the Roman authorities’ persecution of the Christians? I try to show in this paper that, initially, established criminal laws were applied. Only later did it become a crime to be a Christian. However, punitive laws valid in the whole Empire only emerged about the year 250, being abolished in 313.
Roman law; Persecution of Christians; History of Christianity; Roman Empire