How Did Ancient Romans become Christians?
Dan Snow's History Hit
History Hit
4.7 • 13.7K Ratings
🗓️ 1 January 2026
⏱️ 40 minutes
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Summary
Around 50 CE, a small group of travellers began to preach that a Jewish man, crucified by the Romans, had risen from the dead. Teaching love, forgiveness and eternal life, this new faith quickly gained followers. By the early fourth century, it was thriving, and over the next hundred years, it exploded, spreading across the entire Roman Empire before becoming its official religion. What enabled it to take such a strong hold so quickly and so steadfastly?
Dan is joined by author, broadcaster and historian Professor Alice Roberts to examine how Christianity out-organised and outlasted the Roman Empire.
Alice's new book is called 'Domination: The Fall of the Roman Empire and the Rise of Christianity'.
Produced by James Hickmann, Mariana Des Forges and edited by Matthew Wilson and Dougal Patmore.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Around about the year 50 AD, a tiny sect of travellers was spreading a radical idea, |
| 0:09.5 | that a Jewish man, crucified by the Romans, had risen from the dead. |
| 0:14.8 | He was in fact the son of God. |
| 0:16.9 | He was God. |
| 0:18.1 | You're listening to Dan Snow's history hit, and this is the story of the rise of Christianity. |
| 0:25.3 | The followers of that faith preached love and forgiveness and eternal life. It proved an attractive, |
| 0:32.6 | convincing message. Thousands of people converted. By the early 4th century, a few hundred years later, |
| 0:40.8 | it was a thriving religion, but it was still a minority one. It existed alongside lots of other |
| 0:45.5 | religious groups within the Roman Empire. But during the hundred years that followed, |
| 0:50.2 | it exploded, it even became the official religion of the mighty Roman Empire. |
| 0:56.4 | This is the story of how a small but tenacious minority out-organized, out-performed and |
| 1:02.7 | ultimately outlasted the Roman Empire to become the dominant cultural force in the Western world. |
| 1:10.3 | For this, I'm delighted to be joined by the author, the presenter, the broadcaster, the professor, |
| 1:15.6 | the legend, Alice Roberts. |
| 1:17.6 | Let's get into it. |
| 1:22.1 | Alice Roberts, good to see you. |
| 1:23.6 | Nice to see you, too, Dan. |
| 1:24.3 | Let's get things on the way here. Ring the bell. |
| 1:26.9 | Why are you ringing out, |
| 1:27.9 | bell? I'm ringing this bell because it connects with bells in the ancient Celtic church, |
| 1:36.0 | and there's been a really interesting dig carried out by the University of Cardiff at Plantet Major, |
| 1:42.1 | which we think maybe the earliest monastery in Britain and possibly the |
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