ABSTRACT
Following the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC, the Roman Republic was plunged into chaos, anarchy and civil war that lasted until another dictator emerged who could complete the work that Caesar had begun. Eventually a new leader was found in the person of the dead dictator’s adopted great-nephew Octavian, eventually called Augustus by a grateful Senate in recognition of his contribution to the development of Rome as a mighty political power. After Philippi, the three-man alliance divided the Roman world among themselves. Mark Antony kept the eastern provinces and especially Egypt for himself and allocated Gaul and the provinces of Hispania and Italy to Octavian, and left Marcus Aemilius Lepidus with the province of Africa. From the first to the fourth century, and limited in scale, there is physical evidence of a Christian presence in Rome. The third pilgrimage church was the Basilica of San Sebastiano Fuori le Mura.
