The New Testament of the Bible was all written and takes place inside the Evil Roman Empire. Here are 10 top Bible characters who were Romans.

1.       Caesar Augustus – the evil emperor at the time of Jesus’ birth. He fought with other Romans Mark Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus for control of the Empire, eventually becoming the supreme ruler.

2.       The Centurion with the sick servant servant – a powerful member of the Roman army living in Israel. When one of his servants became sick, he asked Jesus to heal him, which Jesus did.

3.       Pontius Pilate – the prefect over Palestine at the time of Jesus crucifixion. The Jews asked him to crucify Jesus. He agreed to do it even though he knew Jesus had done nothing wrong.

4.       The Centurion at the cross – another powerful member in the Roman army, this Centurion was in charge of watching over the crucifixions. He was so amazed by the way that Jesus died that he said, “surely this man was the son of God”.

5.       Cornelius – another centurion. This man believed in God and helped the Jews, but had not heard of Jesus. The Apostle Peter preached about Jesus to him, and Cornelius believed, was baptised, and become the first gentile to join the early church.

6.       Claudius Lysias – another Roman soldier. In the Empire, Roman Soldiers acted like a brutal police force. Claudius arrested the Apostle Paul and had him whipped. But he started to worry when he discovered that…

7.       The Apostle Paul was also a Roman citizen! Being a Roman citizen meant he had rights under the law that most Jews didn’t have. You couldn’t whip a Roman citizen – only commoners deserved that kind of treatment!

8.       Antonius Felix – the Roman governor who dealt with Paul following his arrest. He kept Paul in prison but treated him fairly well, until the next Ruthless Roman governor took over.

9.       Porcius Festus was the next Ruthless Roman governor. Paul told him that he wanted to “appeal to Caesar” and have his legal case heard in Rome. Festus agreed, so Paul was sent off to…

10.   Nero – an extremely dangerous and crazy emperor.  He has plenty of claims to fame – including possibly setting fire to Rome and then blaming it all on the Christians, leading to their first great persecution.