Dura-Europos also provided evidence for one of the earliest Christian meeting places to be known, which included wall paintings and a baptistry, although it is less grand than the synagogue. Being a Christian was illegal in the Roman Empire, and one of the best sources for Roman attitudes to the cult comes from a letter written only a few years before our story by Pliny, then legate of Bithynia, and Trajan’s reply to him. While doing his rounds and holding assizes in the cities, Pliny was confronted with a number of Christians arrested by the local authorities. He investigated the matter, discovered no hint of the crimes gossip associated with this secret religion – anyone who met in secret was viewed with suspicion in the Roman world, and stories circulated of incest and cannibalism. Pliny found only ‘excessive superstition’ (prava superstitio), but understood that, by law, being a Christian was punishable by death. Therefore he asked each suspect three times whether or not he or she was a Christian. If they said no, and then performed a sacrifice to the imperial cult and reviled the name of Christ, they were set free. The crime was being a Christian at that moment, not having been one in the past. Non-citizens who refused to do this were executed – Pliny felt that they deserved this for unreasonable stubbornness as much as anything else, but the principle was that people should obey a direct order from the emperor’s representative. Roman citizens were sent to Rome for trial because they had the right to appeal to the emperor. Trajan’s reply is equally instructive, for after approving Pliny’s decisions, he tells him that he was not to go looking for Christians. If the local authorities were worried by them and arrested them, then the system had to take its course. Otherwise, the empire was really not bothered. Most of the time the same thing was true of local communities, but at times of crisis, such as natural disasters, epidemics or even economic problems, the Christians offered a convenient scapegoat as a group of odd outsiders.

This brings us to Domitius. A feature of several accounts of martyrdoms of Roman soldiers is the clear implication that they had been Christian for some time more or less openly and no one was that concerned, until suddenly it became an issue, for instance when there was a competition for promotion. The attitude of Pliny, and most Romans, was that public gestures were important and private beliefs and practices on the whole no one else’s business. Hence the assumption that anyone sensible would simply lie when accused, perform any ritual necessary, and then get on with their lives. Several martyrdom accounts are critical of members of the Church who did just that, and celebrate the ones who refused, like Domitius. Outside the empire, Christianity was not illegal, at least most of the time, but even within the empire mass persecutions were rare. It is harder to say too much about Christian practices and doctrine in this period, for the probability is that these varied from group to group. When writing the novel I did wonder how much access many Christians had to the Gospels and other Scriptures. Books were expensive, having to be copied by hand, so extensive collections tended to be something only the wealthy could possess, which suggests that more was learned by listening than reading. Thus in the story, Domitius has read only a little in borrowed manuscripts, and relies far more on sermons he has heard and conversations with other believers.