In this episode, Brendon and Skyler continue setting up the context for the coming series on the Nicene Creed. Today, we take a brief and broad tour of Ancient Roman civilization. This includes some of the basics of public and private Religion in Roman society, as well as the importance of Roman law, piety, and virtue. The how and the what of the spread of Roman power helps set the stage upon which Christianity entered the scene. This is key to understanding the events that led up to, among other things, the Council of Nicaea.  

Correction: I merged parts of two scenes with Anchises in Virgil's Aeneid. The scene where Anchises charges Rome with her destiny is actually from the Underworld. (see here) It should be noted that in the same section where this occurs, Anchises also explains the reincarnation of souls. (see also the prophecy of Jupiter early on in the epic poem, here and here.)

The Ancient City by Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges 

Twelve Greeks and Romans Who Changed the World by Carl Richard 

Politically Incorrect Guide to Western Civilization by Anthony Esolen 

A History of the Roman World 753 to 146 B.C.; From the Gracchi to Nero A History of Rome from 133 B.C. to A.D. 68 by H. H. Scullard 

The Gods of Ancient Rome; The Cults of the Roman Empire by Robert Turcan 

The State, Law and Religion: Pagan Rome; Roman Private Law around 200 B.C.; The Spirit of Roman Law; The Nature of Law by Alan Watson 

The City of God by St. Augustine 

“Augustine and the Classical Latin Literary Tradition” by Dennis Trout (found in Augustine and Tradition, edited by David G. Hunter and Jonathan P. Yates) 

“Mars and Anna Perenna: March Gods and the Etruscan New Year in Archaic Rome”; Etruscan Italy; Masada and the World of the New Testament written and edited by John F. Hall 

The Etruscans: A Very Short Introduction by Christopher Smith 

The Religions of the Roman Empire by John Ferguson 

The Archaic Community of the Romans; Roman Religion and Roman Empire by Robert E. A. Palmer 

Roman Dining, edited by Barbara K. Gould and John F. Donahue 

Roman Myths by Michael Grant 

The World of Rome by Peter V. Jones and Keith Sidwell 

SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard 

Rubicon by Tom Holland 

The Roman Republic: A Very Short Introduction by David M. Gwynn 

Politics in the Roman Republic by Henrik Mouritsen 

Party Politics in the Age of Caesar by Lily Ross Taylor 

The Calendar of the Roman Republic by Agnes Kirsopp Michels 

The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic by W. Warde Fowler 

Law and Life of Rome, 90 B.C. - A.D. 212 by J. A. Crook 

Caesar: Politician and Statesman by Matthias Gelzer 

Julius Caesar and His Public Image by Zwi Yavetz 

“Caesar and Jewish Law” by Miriam Pucci Ben Zeev 

Pax Romana by Adrian Goldsworthy 

The Roman Empire: A Very Short Introduction by Christopher Kelly 

The Emperor in the Roman World by Fergus Miller 

War and Imperialism in Republican Rome, 327-70 B.C.; Roman Power by William V. Harris 

The Hellenistic World and the Coming of Rome by Erich Gruen 

Harvest of Hellenism by F. E. Peters 

Ancient Greek and Roman Science: A Very Short Introduction by Liba Taub 

“The Roman Flour Mill at Barbegal” by Roger Hansen (also here)  

An Introduction to Roman Legal and Constitutional History by Wolfgang Kunkel 

Roman Law: A Historical Introduction by Hans Wolff 

Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law by Adolf Berger (also here; and here) 

“Corporate Law Lessons from Ancient Rome” by Andreas Fleckner  

“Maritime Loans” by Dominic W. Rathbone 

“Banking in the Roman World” by Victor Labate 

“Sine Qua Non: How Banks in Ancient Rome Thrived in the Private Sphere” by Andrew Koroly 

Commerce and Social Standing in Ancient Rome by John H. D’Arms 

“The Economy of Endowments: the case of Roman associations” by Jinyu Liu 

Astrology in Roman Law and Politics by Frederick H. Cramer 

Ovid: A Very Short Introduction; Horace: A Very Short Introduction by Llewelyn Morgan (also, e.g.: Cicero)

The Christians as the Romans Saw Them by Robert Louis Wilken 

The Greco-Roman World of the New Testament Era by James Jeffers 

The Roman Citizenship; Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament by A. N. Sherwin-White 

The Rise of Christianity by W. H. C. Frend 

The Destroyer of the Gods by Larry Hurtado 

Rome and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilizations by Martin Goodman 

In Stone and Story: Early Christianity in the Roman World by Bruce W. Longenecker 

The Fall of Rome: And the End of Civilization by Bryan Ward-Perkins 

Why Empires Fall: Rome, America, and the Future of the West by Peter Heather and John Rapley 

Unnatural Death: Medicine’s Descent from Healing to Killing by Richard Weikart

When Children Became People by O.M. Bakke (also here)

The Victory of Reason; The Rise of Christianity by Rodney Stark

Envy by Helmut Schoeck

The Bourgeois Trilogy by Deirdre McCloskey