The office of emperor was definitely a node from which religious myths and political mechanisms emanated, bringing control of Rome to the world. Ready to absorb new religions when their proponents offered loyalty oaths and worship to the genius of the Roman emperor, the Principate was caught off guard by the Christians, who worshiped the God of Israel, had no arrangement with Rome for offering sacrifices on the emperor’s behalf as the Jews did in the Jerusalem temple, and refused to worship the emperor.