Christianity developed during the early years of the Roman Empire, when the empire was at the height of its political, economic, and military power. Most of those who lived within the empire’s borders were excluded from accessing its enormous wealth and prosperity. Jesus Christ taught and attracted followers in the province of Judaea, then a provincial backwater of the empire. His teachings appealed to the disaffected and the marginalized. He was executed by Roman authorities in Jerusalem, signaling the empire’s virulent hostility toward the new Christian religion. Despite Christ’s execution, his disciples spread the new religion throughout the heavily populated cities of the Roman Empire. The religion appealed to several disparate communities but was particularly popular among enslaved peoples, women, and common laborers.