Over the past two centuries, historians have studied and provided several theories on how early Christianity developed in ancient Rome. It is estimated that around 100,000 Christians were killed between 30 and 313 AD (Christian era). The main cause of death was the Roman emperors. Christians in ancient Rome were often brutally punished as the rise of the Christian religion threatened to take over other religions and disempower the emperors. Christians often received harsh punishments for their beliefs. In the first centuries AD if someone was discovered to be Christian they were punished and prosecuted. In reality it took the Roman authorities a long time to hesitate about what to do with this new “cult”. Their punishment was often death, but sometimes they got away with simply being thrown into prison instead of being tortured. However, there were some periods of time when Christians were not punished or put to death. Here is an example of a time of peace, granted to the people by the emperor. This peace, or tolerance, varied from emperor to emperor as everyone had different opinions on the situation. (At the time, Jews and Christians were not considered different from each other, and only later did the two religions separate and officially become two separate religions.) A Greek papyrus in the British Museum wrote: “I beg you, the Alexandrians, to behave with tolerance and benevolence towards the Jews, since they have lived for many years in the same city as you, and not to abuse the religious rights which they exercise in the worship of their god, but to allow them to observe their own customs. But without reservation I order the Jews not to agitate to obtain more indulgences than they enjoyed in the past, and not to send t...... middle of paper...... time they did not like, inducing them to act to eliminate this threat. Religion also threatened the principle of religious tolerance. The principle of religious tolerance had kept Rome at peace from religious wars for a long time (Roman religion). It established a set of rules to limit religions from doing certain things, which the Christian religion did not follow. Without the religious foundation on which the Roman Empire was founded, the emperor would have lost much, if not all, of his power. Christianity in ancient Rome threatened to take power away from emperors and overwhelm other religions. This led to the brutal persecution of many Christians. The Romans sought to eliminate the threat of Christianity to keep their empire and religion powerful. The killing of Christians lasted from 30 to 313 AD It is estimated that approximately 100,000 Christians were killed during this period.