Persecution

A Christian Dirce,byHenryk Siemiradzki.A Christian woman ismartyredunderNeroin this re-enactment of the myth ofDirce(painting by Henryk Siemiradzki, 1897,National Museum,Warsaw).

Persecutionis the mistreatment (bad treatment) of an individual or group by another group.People can be persecuted for any reasons; it is usually because of theirreligion,ethnicity,politics,sexuality,genderorgender identity.

Religious persecutionis persecution of people that are part of a religion, or who are not part of a different religion. The most important organization to persecute people was theChristian Church.For about three hundred years there was persecution ofChristianityin theRoman Empire.During the next three hundred years, the Christian Church started to have a great effect by becoming the most important persecuting organization inhuman history.Persecution by Christians began in the 4thcenturyAnno Domini,and the Christian Church was the most important persecuting organization for 1,500 years.The Christian Church was very active in thepersecution of Christians– especially Christians the Church said wereheretics – and in thepersecution of Jews.Inclassical antiquity,theRoman Republicstarted to control the religion ofBacchusin 186BC.Although theRoman Senatedid not make the religionillegal,it stopped some parts of thecult.The Roman Empire's persecution of Christians, and then its persecution of non-Christians were both motivated by the religions of the persecutors (paganismandChristianity).

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• Oppression
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