Did the Romans Create Christianity?

The Flavian hypothesis claims that Roman emperors invented Christianity after destroying Jerusalem in 70 CE. Popularized by Joseph Atwill’s 2005 book Caesar’s Messiah, the theory proposes that Jesus was a fictional representation of Emperor Titus, designed to make Jews accept Roman authority and ultimately worship Titus as a god.

The Flavian hypothesis remains far outside mainstream historical scholarship. Matt Baker presents it as an unconventional explanation for Christianity’s origins rather than an established historical theory. His purpose is to examine what it reveals about Roman politics, Jewish history, and the development of early Christianity.

Three other theories about Jesus had been examined earlier in the series. These proposed that Jesus was a secret descendant of Herod the Great and the Hasmonean royal family, the Egyptian prophet who reportedly attacked Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives around 54 CE, or Judas of Galilee, the Jewish revolutionary associated with the founding of the Zealot movement. Baker emphasizes that mainstream secular scholars do not seriously accept these identifications.

Augustus was emperor when Jesus was born, while Tiberius ruled during his ministry and crucifixion. Augustus was succeeded by his adopted son Tiberius around the time Jesus would have been a teenager. Tiberius remained emperor throughout the period traditionally associated with Jesus’s public activities and death.

Caligula, Claudius, and Nero ruled during the earliest decades of Christianity. These three emperors followed Tiberius and governed during the period associated with early Christian figures such as Peter and Paul.

Nero’s death in 68 CE ended the Julio-Claudian dynasty. A civil war followed in 69 CE, remembered as the Year of the Four Emperors. Vespasian emerged victorious and established the new Flavian dynasty.

Vespasian was commanding Roman forces in Judea when he became emperor. He had been fighting the First Jewish–Roman War and left for Rome after securing imperial power. His son Titus assumed responsibility for completing the campaign.

Titus conquered Jerusalem in 70 CE and became emperor in 79 CE. His destruction of Jerusalem established a direct relationship between the Flavian family and one of the most consequential events in Jewish history. Titus succeeded his father Vespasian nine years later.

The Flavian dynasty ruled during the period when the Gospel of Mark was probably written. Mark is generally considered the earliest canonical Gospel, commonly dated around 70 CE. This chronological overlap is central to the hypothesis because it places the earliest surviving Gospel narrative within the period of Flavian political dominance.

First-century Judea experienced repeated resistance against Roman occupation. Jewish rebels and would-be liberators attempted to restore independence, while religious differences between Jewish monotheism and Roman polytheism contributed to political and cultural tensions.

Baker identifies an apparent contrast between Jewish resistance movements and the teachings attributed to Jesus. Although the Gospels contain hints of connections between Jesus’s followers and revolutionary groups, they also emphasize nonviolence, forgiveness, and acceptance of certain obligations to Roman authorities.

Several teachings attributed to Jesus could discourage resistance against Roman rule. These include giving Caesar what belongs to Caesar, turning the other cheek, loving enemies, and praying for persecutors. Baker argues that such teachings would have been more compatible with imperial stability than revolutionary Jewish nationalism.

Roman soldiers receive favorable treatment in several New Testament passages. In Luke 7, Jesus heals a Roman centurion’s servant and praises the centurion’s faith as greater than any he has encountered in Israel. This provides an example of a Roman military figure being presented as spiritually admirable.

Acts describes the Roman centurion Cornelius as an important early Gentile convert. Since Acts and Luke are traditionally attributed to the same author, Baker treats the two centurion stories as part of a broader favorable portrayal of Romans within early Christian literature.

Roman tax collectors also appear as acceptable followers of Jesus. Zacchaeus is portrayed sympathetically after seeking an encounter with Jesus, while Levi, also identified as Matthew, becomes one of the twelve disciples. Both examples involve individuals associated with the Roman taxation system.

Jewish religious authorities are frequently portrayed as opponents of Jesus. Baker contrasts their treatment in the Gospel narratives with the favorable depiction of certain Roman soldiers and tax collectors. He considers this contrast politically significant in the context of Roman rule over Judea.

Christianity offered an alternative to Jewish political independence movements by emphasizing spiritual concerns. Baker argues that a movement focused on religious transformation rather than overthrowing Rome would have been less threatening to the imperial government.

Christianity's reduced emphasis on certain Jewish religious requirements made it easier for Gentiles to participate. The movement did not universally require circumcision or observance of Jewish dietary restrictions, including prohibitions on eating pork. This increased its compatibility with the wider Greco-Roman world.

The Flavian emperors could have benefited from Christianity without having created it. Baker argues that a relatively nonviolent religious movement open to Gentiles would have been preferable to the rebellious Jewish groups that had repeatedly challenged Roman authority.

Traditions connecting members of the Flavian family to Christianity form another part of the hypothesis. The most important figure discussed is Domitilla, identified in the episode as Titus’s niece and recognized as a saint in Catholic and Greek Orthodox traditions.

The Catacombs of Domitilla contain some of the earliest surviving Christian images of Jesus. Their association with a member of the Flavian family is presented as a potentially significant connection between imperial relatives and early Christianity, although it does not establish that the dynasty founded the religion.

Joseph Atwill identifies Domitilla’s husband, Flavius Clemens, with Clement of Rome. Clemens was a relative of Domitilla, while Clement of Rome is traditionally counted among the earliest bishops of Rome and associated with the First Epistle of Clement. Atwill argues that they were the same person, a claim not established by mainstream scholarship.

Atwill’s central argument relies on parallels between the Gospels and Josephus’s account of the Jewish–Roman War. He proposes that episodes presented as events in Jesus’s life actually encode military actions undertaken by Titus decades later.

The calling of the first disciples is interpreted as a reference to Roman soldiers killing Jewish rebels in the Sea of Galilee. Jesus tells Peter and Andrew that he will make them “fishers of men.” Atwill connects this statement to The Jewish War, Book 3, Chapter 10, where Josephus describes Roman soldiers using long spears to kill Jewish fighters in the water.

Atwill argues that the Gospel story of demons entering pigs represents another battle against Jewish rebels. Near Gadara, Jesus expels demons called Legion from a possessed man, after which they enter a herd of pigs that rushes to its death. Atwill compares this with Josephus’s description in The Jewish War, Book 4, Chapter 7, of Jewish rebels rushing violently against Roman forces before being driven to their deaths.

The repeated geographical and narrative parallels are presented as evidence of deliberate literary construction. Atwill believes the Gospel writers transformed Roman military victories into religious stories, with Titus concealed beneath the character of Jesus. Baker presents these as Atwill’s interpretations rather than demonstrated historical connections.

Josephus had a personal relationship with the Flavian imperial family. According to the account discussed, Josephus predicted that Vespasian would become emperor. After Vespasian gained power, Josephus received imperial patronage and adopted the family name Flavius.

Josephus’s connection to the Flavians is used to suggest coordination between his histories and the Gospels. Atwill argues that Josephus was positioned to help construct or align narratives about Titus’s military victories with stories attributed to Jesus. The episode provides no direct evidence of such coordination.

Jesus’s prediction of Jerusalem’s destruction is presented as a particularly important chronological parallel. In Mark 13, Jesus predicts that the great buildings will be demolished and that the events described will occur before the current generation passes away.

The period between Jesus’s presumed death around 30 CE and Jerusalem’s destruction in 70 CE was approximately 40 years. Baker notes that 40 years was associated with the length of a generation in Jewish literature. The timing allows the Gospel prophecy to appear fulfilled within the generation Jesus addressed.

The destruction prophecy has two possible explanations in Baker’s presentation. Jesus may have accurately predicted Jerusalem’s destruction, or the Gospel writers may have described the prophecy after the event. Atwill favors the second explanation and interprets the passage as part of a deliberately constructed narrative.

Atwill proposes that Titus regarded himself as the culmination of Jewish messianic history. Under this interpretation, the Roman emperor was not simply the conqueror of Judea but the intended fulfillment of its religious expectations.

The early Gospel narratives contain parallels with major events in the Hebrew Bible. Baker identifies a sequence involving a man named Joseph traveling to Egypt, the massacre of young children, a return to the promised land, symbolic cleansing through water, and a period in the wilderness.

The Gospel account of Jesus is presented as a possible recreation of Israel’s foundational history. The journey to Egypt, slaughter of children, return, water symbolism, and wilderness experience resemble the Exodus narrative. The wilderness period lasts 40 days in Jesus’s story, compared with 40 years in the biblical account of Israel.

Atwill interprets these biblical parallels as preparation for a new Roman-dominated religious order. His proposed message is that Jewish history has reached another turning point, but this time its fulfillment involves accepting Roman emperors as divine rulers rather than establishing an independent Jewish kingdom.

Titus’s position as Vespasian’s son is incorporated into the theory’s theological interpretation. Atwill draws significance from Titus being the son of the emperor, relating that imperial relationship to the religious language surrounding Jesus and his father.

The 2018 book Creating Christ offers a separate archaeological argument for the Flavian hypothesis. Its authors claim that symbols connected with the Flavian emperors also appeared among early Christian communities.

A symbol appearing on a coin bearing Vespasian’s image is central to the argument in Creating Christ. The authors identify a supposedly identical emblem in early Christian catacomb carvings and on surviving rings associated with Christians.

Inscriptions on some of the rings are offered as evidence that the objects belonged to Christians. The authors use this association to argue that early Christian imagery shared meaningful symbols with the Flavian imperial family. The episode does not establish that this shared imagery proves Roman authorship of Christianity.

The disputed symbol is also linked to Titus’s motto, festina lente. The Latin expression means “make haste slowly.” The authors of Creating Christ treat its association with the emperor as another possible connection between Flavian imagery and Christianity.

Baker’s strongest objection is that the Flavians had little reason to manufacture a new Jewish religion after defeating Judea militarily. Jerusalem had already been devastated in 70 CE, and Roman power had been decisively demonstrated. Creating an elaborate religious deception would have required considerable effort without an obvious strategic necessity.

Titus became emperor nine years after Jerusalem’s destruction. Baker argues that by 79 CE, the Jewish rebellion was no longer likely to dominate Titus’s political priorities.

Mount Vesuvius erupted approximately two months after Titus became emperor in 79 CE. The catastrophe destroyed Pompeii and created an immediate crisis for his administration.

A major fire struck Rome in 80 CE, during Titus’s reign. Several important buildings were destroyed, adding another significant domestic emergency to the emperor’s responsibilities.

Titus also had to complete the Colosseum, a major construction project begun under Vespasian. Baker cites the eruption, the fire, and the amphitheater project as competing priorities that make Titus’s alleged involvement in inventing Christianity less plausible.

The Gospels do not display the uniformity Baker would expect from a centrally managed imperial propaganda project. Although Matthew and Luke clearly used Mark as a source, their literary relationship does not establish that the Roman government directed their production.

The existence of numerous noncanonical Gospels further complicates the theory of coordinated Roman authorship. Early Christianity produced more Gospel traditions than the four eventually included in the New Testament. Baker argues that this diversity is difficult to reconcile with an organized imperial effort to create a single controlled narrative.

The Greek used in the Gospels differs considerably from the Greek found in Josephus’s writings. Baker presents these linguistic differences as another obstacle to the claim that the Gospel narratives and Josephus’s histories were deliberately coordinated.

Baker rejects the specific identification of Jesus with Titus while acknowledging that broader historical connections may exist. He distinguishes between the unsupported claim that Roman emperors invented Christianity and the more plausible observation that Roman political events influenced Christianity’s development.

The theory resembles an earlier suggestion that Jesus’s identity developed from a historical Jewish teacher. Baker considers it plausible that traditions surrounding a first-century religious figure evolved into the Gospel portrayal of Jesus, even if identifying that figure specifically as Judas of Galilee is unjustified.

Jerusalem’s destruction in 70 CE substantially weakened the prospects for Jewish independence. Baker argues that the Roman victory changed the political environment in which competing Jewish religious movements operated.

The defeat of Jewish revolutionary movements may have increased the relative influence of less confrontational religious groups. In Baker’s interpretation, communities more willing to coexist with Roman government, including Christians, became better positioned to survive and expand.

Christianity combined relative political accommodation with easier access for Gentiles. These two characteristics potentially gave the movement advantages over Jewish groups that were either more closely associated with rebellion or more demanding in their requirements for conversion.

Baker argues that Christianity eventually surpassed competing forms of first-century Judaism partly because of these advantages. The destruction of Jerusalem reduced the appeal and feasibility of political independence, while Christianity’s openness to Gentiles enabled expansion beyond Judea.

The Flavian period may therefore have favored Christianity’s growth without involving deliberate imperial sponsorship. Baker considers the political consequences of the Jewish–Roman War a more convincing explanation than the claim that Vespasian and Titus secretly created the religion.

Baker contrasts the Flavian era with the earlier Julio-Claudian period. He argues that the political conditions following Jerusalem’s destruction were more favorable to Christianity’s expansion than those prevailing under the earlier imperial dynasty.

Other fringe theories similarly connect Christianity’s origins to prominent Roman individuals or families. Baker mentions a theory that the Gospel account of Jesus retells the life of Julius Caesar and another proposing that the wealthy Roman Piso family invented Christianity. He does not examine either in detail because they overlap with the Flavian hypothesis.

Russian author Kirill Eskov explored Roman manipulation of Christianity through historical fiction. His work The Gospel of Afranius imagines events surrounding Jesus from the perspective of Roman intelligence and political operations.

The fictional Afranius serves as the head of Pontius Pilate’s secret service. In Eskov’s story, he manipulates Jesus and his disciples, gradually redirecting their religious movement toward objectives that benefit Rome.

Eskov’s narrative presents a different mechanism for Roman influence over Christianity. Rather than requiring emperors to invent Jesus entirely, it imagines Roman officials exploiting an existing movement and changing its political direction. Baker presents this as fiction, not historical evidence.

The episode ultimately separates deliberate Roman invention from indirect Roman influence. The claim that Titus secretly authored Christianity lacks convincing evidence, but the Flavian conquest of Judea created political and religious conditions that could have materially affected Christianity’s survival, character, and eventual expansion.