11. The Roman Empire in the decades before Jesus
Judea, the land of the biblical recantations of the lifetime of Jesus, was one of the furthest corners of the Roman Empire at the time of his birth and throughout his short life. Rome had exerted its influence across Europe and in Britannia under Julius Caesar, establishing friendly overlords in the latter and collecting tribute. Roman roads traversed the continent of Europe; Roman aqueducts crisscrossed the continent and Roman armies were based from the borders of modern-day Germany to the Iberian Peninsula. Specifically just before and during the life of Jesus, Rome and Britain traded with each other, and Roman diplomacy inserted itself in the affairs of the ruling tribes of Britain.
Trade meant travel, and though it was undoubtedly difficult, dangerous, and time-consuming, it was possible to travel from one end of the empire to the other. Travel was often by caravan ashore, and convoys at sea. The journey from Judea to Britannia could be achieved either via coastal vessels along the Mediterranean shores, the Iberian coastline, and across the British Channel, or by road across modern-day Europe, or in some combination thereof. In 2010 ORBIS (a tool developed by specialists at Stanford University) demonstrated that a trip from Rome to Londinium (London) could be achieved in as little as four weeks. Travel from Judea to Rome was common in the time of Jesus, both Peter and Paul made the journey, according to biblical accounts, shortly after Jesus’ death.