The Roman élite of the first two centuries wanted the ethnic groups in the Roman Empire not to
disturb the peace that the Romans had established the Pax Romana. In this study Greg Stanton
explores what Greeks under Roman control thought about unity at several levels beginning with
the smallest entity Greek cities and moving through the Roman Empire and humankind to the
universe. The Christian writers from Augustus to the early Severan rulers had some distinctive
ideas on unity such as the unity of God and harmony among churches but they treated other
ideas such as the unity of humankind similarly to Greek orators and philosophers. Also of
interest is the extent to which writers inclined to Stoicism or Platonism or those committed
to Christian belief were intent on seeing practical outworkings of their beliefs on unity and
disunity.
