SOURCE: Hodgson, Jr., Robert. “Valerius Maximus and the Social World of the New Testament.” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 51, no. 4 (October 1989): 683-93.

In the following essay, Hodgson focuses on Valerius's depiction of Tiberius and representation of Roman religion in the early Christian era in the Memorable Doings and Sayings.

Valerius Maximus, a historian and anthologist who wrote under Tiberius, is a significant source of information for reconstructing the social world of early Christianity. This article presents a few passages from Valerius' Factorum et Dictorum Memorabilium Libri Nouem (Of Noteworthy Deeds and Sayings Nine Books)¹ and briefly indicates their value for studying two aspects of the social history of imperial Rome. The first is the issue of emperor worship under Tiberius. The second is Roman religion under the same emperor.²

I. Roman Social History: the Imperial Cult Under Tiberius

Valerius dedicated his book of historical and moralizing anecdotes to Tiberius with...