Conversations at Midnight #4: The World Behind Peter's Words

Before we explore the teachings of the New Testament regarding women and their voices, I thought we might want to first look at the people and circumstances surrounding the writers. This will help us put their comments into context and help us decipher how the first readers of the New Testament would have understood them.

Imagine walking through the streets of ancient Rome.

A wealthy woman passes by in layered clothing, her hair piled high in careful curls. A slave follows, struggling to carry her purchases. Down the street, a crowd gathers at the arena where gladiators will soon fight. Just beyond the marble buildings, cramped homes lean close together where the poor struggle to survive.

In some ways, the scene might remind you of The Hunger Games. But this was not fiction.

This was the Roman Empire of the first century—the world in which Peter lived and wrote.

Peter likely wrote his letters from a jail cell between AD 60 and 64, while imprisoned for his faith. Only a few years later, around AD 68, early Christian tradition tells us Nero had him crucified upside-down. The emperor had pointed the finger at Christians for the great fire that ravaged Rome. A growing movement that refused to take part in Emperor worship, they were convenient scapegoats. Persecution soon followed.

According to early Christian writings, a multitude of believers met their end during Nero's reign. Peter's contemporary, the Apostle Paul, was among them. Because Paul was a Roman citizen, he was likely beheaded—a death less degrading than what Peter endured.

These periods of persecution did not spare women. Christian tradition remembers notable females among the martyrs, including Priscilla, Phatini (sometimes called Svetlana and linked in tradition with the Woman at the Well), and Claudia mentioned in 1 Timothy.

Within a few decades, the Roman historian Tacitus would describe Christians as a subtle but ever-growing threat to Roman society. Which raises an important question.

How could a movement built around a crucified teacher appear so threatening to the most powerful empire on earth?

To answer that question, we must first understand the society those early believers lived in.

A Society Built on Rank

Roman society ran on hierarchy. Everyone had to know their place to occupy it appropriately.

At the top stood the patricians, the noble families of Rome. These families traced their bloodlines back to the establishment of the Roman Republic in 753 BC. For centuries they shaped laws that protected their influence and wealth. By the first century, power began to change hands. Birth into a noble family was no longer the only path to influence. 

Senators, wealthy but only taxed with minimal requirements for owning land, often served as generals, advisers to the emperor, and governors of Roman provinces. Emperor Augustus—the ruler when Jesus was born—relied heavily on these leaders.

Equestrians were positioned beneath them. Their name came from their ability to afford a warhorse for military service. Many worked as military officers, tax collectors, business leaders, and administrators within the empire.

Following them were the plebeians, Rome's everyday citizens. They were farmers, soldiers, laborers, artists, and merchants. Their rights as citizens included voting and military service. If arrested, authorities spared them the torture and corporal punishment a non-citizen might receive. Still, their political influence remained small.

Below them were the freedmen, former slaves who had gained freedom through a legal process called manumission. Freedom did not erase the past. They were still required to remain loyal to their former masters by carrying his or her family name. They had to be available to provide services or financial help at the former master’s request. Some became wealthy merchants or skilled craftsmen. Although they could get citizenship, social limitations remained. They would not hold political office but their children could.

Occupying the bottom rung of Roman society were slaves. Slaves had almost no legal protection. Others considered them property, and they laboured in homes, farms, mines, workshops, and government offices. They made up a whopping 25 to 40% of the population.

With so many classes living side by side, Romans needed visible ways to show rank. 

When Clothing Spoke

In Rome, clothing was not just fashion. It was an identity.

Only male Roman citizens and their children could wear the toga. Senators wore tunics with wide purple stripes. Equestrians wore narrow ones. Purple dye was extremely expensive and became a powerful symbol of privilege.

A bright white toga meant a man was running for public office.

One's status was clear even down to their shoes. Distinctive red and black footwear marked senators; wooden shoes marked criminals; and slaves received no footwear.

The children of Roman citizens did not escape the dress for success culture. Besides their togas with purple bands, many wore a bulla, a small amulet around the neck believed to protect them from evil spirits. The rich children sported gold charms; the less wealthy wore leather.

Roman law punished anyone who harmed a freeborn child. This included spoken insults.

Enslaved children, however, lived under very different conditions, with no marks on their clothing or jewellery to ward off defamation or predators. This was another reason clothing distinction was important; it communicated which people were off-limits.

The womenfolk did not have the markings of rank available to them, so they improvised their system around high fashion. Elite women wore long, layered garments called stolas, along with an outdoor cloak known as a palla. Poorer women and slaves wore simple tunics made from rough cloth.

Hairstyles followed the same pattern. Wealthy women often wore elaborate styles that required special servants. Working women chose simpler styles that allowed them to do their daily work.

Trying to dress above one’s social class could bring consequences. People might face beatings, confiscation of clothing, public shame, or forced labor.

In Rome, appearance helped keep the social order intact.

Rank in Everyday Life

Social rank followed Romans everywhere. A person’s name revealed their place in society. Freeborn Roman citizens usually had three names. Freedmen often adopted the family name of their former master. Slaves owned only one name.

Even at a night out at the theater, one could not escape it: Senators sat closest to the stage in marble seats gifted to them by Emperor Augustus; equestrians filled the next fourteen rows; other male citizens sat behind them; women, freedmen, and the poor sat farther away in the upper tiers, while slaves and the very poor often stood in the highest gallery.

Meals and gatherings followed similar patterns. Slaves stood and served food. Free men reclined on couches while eating. The seats of the honored women graced hard chairs nearby.

These customs reinforced the careful structure of Roman life.

A Peculiar Community

Into this world came the early Christian Church.

In Christian gatherings, slaves and masters worshiped together. Women prayed and took part in the community's life. Believers addressed one another as brothers and sisters—even when rank and status placed them far apart.

For many Romans, this may have been threatening, definitely strange, and possibly even dangerous. Movements that blur social boundaries often make powerful societies uneasy.

Peter addressed his letters to believers learning how to live like Jesus' followers in this complicated world. Understanding that helps us hear his words more clearly.

And it helps us see why the message of the early church carried such powerful undercurrents.