Roman Kingship

The New Testament is About Debt Forgiveness

The major theme of this essay is debt forgiveness, a practice widely observed by early agricultural societies—until the Romans forfeited economic sustainability by NOT forgiving debts.

Key Takeaways:

1. Tarquin was the last king of Rome, exiled and replaced by the Roman Senate, which established a powerful taboo against kingship.

2. Julius Caesar seized power as a political representative of the working class, proposed land redistribution, but was assassinated for violating the Roman taboo against kingship.

3. Jesus Christ advocated for the debt forgiveness commanded in Jewish scripture, but he was also murdered for seeking kingship.

The Taboo Against Kingship

Solon of Athens and Periander of Corinth are two of the “Seven Sages.” These renowned Greek figures from the 6th century BC broke the power of entrenched aristocracies, forgave debts, and redistributed land in an effort to promote economic prosperity. They were known as “tyrants.” In archaic and classical Greece, tyrannos was a positive term. It wasn’t until Roman times that the word became an invective hurled against politicians who sought popular support by advocating for working class interests.

Solon of Athens set the stage for his home city’s golden age with his Seisachtheia, or “shaking off of burdens.” In one fell swoop, he canceled outstanding debts and liberated slaves from debt bondage. Meanwhile, 50 miles to the west, Periander brought prosperity to Corinth by implementing a similar program.

The Greek historian Herodotus describes Periander being advised to do this by a certain Thrasybulus of Miletus. Herodotus’ Histories describes Thrasybulus walking through a corn field, snapping off the ears that overtopped the rest (Book 5, Chapter 92).

In Ab Urbe Condita, the Roman historian Livy provides a nearly identical account of the last king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus, giving the same advice to his son by striking the heads of the tallest poppies (Book 1, Chapter 54). That’s where the term “tall poppy syndrome” comes from.

But unlike Periander and Solon, Tarquin never managed to implement popular economic reforms. Instead, the Roman aristocrats caught wind of his plan and ran him out of town in 509 BC. They created the Roman Senate to rule in his stead, and established a powerful taboo against kingship to prevent tyrants from ever redistributing the wealth of the aristocracy, or from canceling the debts owed to it by the working class.

Lawrence Alma Tadema - Tarquinius Superbus (1867)

Sic Semper Tyrannis

Roman society was ruled exclusively by the Senate for almost 500 years. It wasn’t until the coronation of Augustus in 27 BC that Rome became an empire with emperors. Augustus was the great-nephew and adopted son of Julius Caesar, who marched on Rome during a time of bitter civil war as a populare, or a political representative of the working class.

The civil war was a popular revolt against the cruel economic hierarchy of Rome. Roman workers staged mass strikes starting in 494 BC, almost immediately after the establishment of the Republic. Subsequent strikes and revolts pockmarked the five centuries of rule by the Senate, whose aristocratic members refused to address the deteriorating condition suffered by the working class. Roman society finally erupted into full-blown civil war after Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon stream and marched on Rome with his army.

Julius Caesar planned to restore economic prosperity to Rome by redistributing land. But he was assassinated by members of the Senate in 44 BC for violating the Roman taboo against seeking kingship. Caesar’s best friend, Brutus, was one of the co-conspirators. His family, the Brutii clan, had been instrumental in the ouster of Tarquin 500 years previously. Loyalty to his family and to the ferocious Roman taboo against kingship outweighed Brutus’ loyalty to his dear friend.

Vincenzo Camuccini - La Morte di Cesare (1805)

Forgive Us Our Debts

Julius Caesar was not the only economic populist that arose during the Roman transition from Republic to Empire. Christianity was another popular response to the intolerable economic hierarchy of Roman society. The forgiveness preached by Jesus was originally a call to forgive financial debts, just as Solon of Athens had done in 594 BC with his Seisachtheia.

Jesus began his career of preaching forgiveness in his hometown of Nazareth. Being Jewish, he was very familiar with the debt forgiveness that his ancestors had learned about in Babylon and baked into Hebrew scripture. He selected the scroll of Isaiah for his debut sermon. Chapter 4 of the Gospel of Luke tells the tale:

¹⁶ And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
¹⁷ And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
¹⁸ The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
¹⁹ To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
²⁰ And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
²¹ And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

Jesus’ reference is to Isaiah, Chapter 61:

¹The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
² To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

Any doubts that the ministry of Jesus was primarily about debt forgiveness are put to rest in the Sermon on the Mount. That sermon, which includes the Lord’s Prayer, is one of the most essential teachings of Jesus Christ. In the 1611 King James version of Matthew, Chapter 6, the Lord’s Prayer is given as:

⁹ After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
¹⁰ Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread.
¹² And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
¹³ And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

The finale of Jesus’ story is even more famous than Julius Caesar’s. Like Caesar, Jesus was executed for violating the Roman taboo against kingship. His executioners affixed a sign to his cross that read Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum, Latin for “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” In virtually all forms of Christianity today, the iconography of the cross is still accompanied by the four letters “INRI,” implicating Jesus in the worst crime the Roman mind could imagine: claiming to be king.

Raphael - The Mond Crucifixion (1503)

Conclusion

The Roman aristocracy piled up a hoard of wealth more massive than any ruling class had accumulated up that point in history. They used their influence in the Senate to block programs of debt forgiveness and land redistribution just like the ones that had kept preceding Bronze Age societies from collapse since the Agricultural Revolution. They wielded an aversion to kingship like a cudgel against would-be economic reformers like Julius Caesar and Jesus Christ. They soared to unprecedented heights of wealth accumulation—like the Icarus of Greek mythology on waxen wings—before intolerable wealth inequality finally brought them crashing back to earth during the Fall of Rome.

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Further Materials

Jesus announced in his inaugural sermon that he had come to proclaim the Jubilee Year of the Lord cited by Isaiah, whose scroll he unrolled. His congregation is reported to have reacted with fury. (Luke 4 tells the story). Like other populist leaders of his day, Jesus was accused of seeking kingship to enforce his program on creditors.
Subsequent Christianity gave the ideal of a debt amnesty an otherworldly eschatological meaning as debt cancellation became politically impossible under the Roman Empire’s military enforcement of creditor privileges.
Michael Hudson, The Collapse of Antiquity, 2023, Page 17