I mean it’s an interesting thing. What does it mean to win? The Greeks had a very strong soft power and even while they were subjects they received special treatment because the Romans believed the Greeks were civilized.
In a different but similar way, the Jews ended up conquering the Roman Empire. After the Jewish rebellion a few decades after the death of Christ, the Romans sent a large army to take back Jerusalem.
They ended up sick and tired of the constant issues with the Jews so they made Judaism illegal and scattered the Jews they could. What was the end result of this?
Certain Jews who considered themselves Christian (which up until this point was a sect of Judaism) did their best to distance themselves from the Jews. They made their religion a little easier for Roman gentiles to understand and resonate with.
Eventually this religion scattered throughout the empire along with the Jews and became the state religion.
In an attempt to stamp out an annoying religion in the Middle East, the Romans inadvertently created the conditions for that annoying religion to take over the empire.
What does it mean to win? I’m not saying this to cope, like you pointed out. It’s just an interesting discussion. And to bring it back full circle - the New Testament was written in Greek.
Paul, the writer of half of the New Testament was a Greek Jew. The Greeks once again influence the cultural fate of the Roman Empire.
I mean it’s an interesting thing. What does it mean to win? The Greeks had a very strong soft power and even while they were subjects they received special treatment because the Romans believed the Greeks were civilized.
In a different but similar way, the Jews ended up conquering the Roman Empire. After the Jewish rebellion a few decades after the death of Christ, the Romans sent a large army to take back Jerusalem.
They ended up sick and tired of the constant issues with the Jews so they made Judaism illegal and scattered the Jews they could. What was the end result of this?
Certain Jews who considered themselves Christian (which up until this point was a sect of Judaism) did their best to distance themselves from the Jews. They made their religion a little easier for Roman gentiles to understand and resonate with.
Eventually this religion scattered throughout the empire along with the Jews and became the state religion.
In an attempt to stamp out an annoying religion in the Middle East, the Romans inadvertently created the conditions for that annoying religion to take over the empire.
What does it mean to win? I’m not saying this to cope, like you pointed out. It’s just an interesting discussion. And to bring it back full circle - the New Testament was written in Greek.
Paul, the writer of half of the New Testament was a Greek Jew. The Greeks once again influence the cultural fate of the Roman Empire.