[:en]In 27 BC, Rome’s first emperor, Caesar Augustus ended 200 years of civil war and began to replace rundown neighborhoods with monuments, temples, arenas, and government complexes. According to Pliny the Elder, “they were the most beautiful buildings the world has ever seen”
Yet even with her beauty, the empire had a history of brutality with thousands of slaves, foreigners, revolutionaries and army deserters being crucified on roadside poles as a warning to anyone who dared to challenge the power of Rome.
The death of Jesus on a Roman cross with its agony and public curse had turned out to reveal an eternal glory of the love, presence and kingdom of our God. (BY: Mart Dehaan)[:]