Constantine : A Vision Or A Politic Strategy?

When you think about Christianity, you don’t think about it being a bad thing. Christianity is the religion derived from Jesus Christ, based on the Bible as sacred scripture, and professed by Eastern, Roman Catholic, and Protestant bodies. This religion came to be one of the largest and most influential religions today. When the Romans thought about Christianity, it was considered a sin. But what exactly was the nature of the conflict between Christianity and the Roman government? The conflict between Christianity and the Roman government was that Christians refused to recognizes the romans beliefs in their religion.

Beginning around 700 B.C., stories by Homer and other Greek poets told of the lives of powerful gods who involved themselves in human affairs. Supreme among these gods was Zeus, but to the Romans he was known as Jupiter. Zeus was the supreme god and ruler of Olympus. He was known by many titles: Lord of the Sky, the Cloud- gatherer, the Rain-god, and Zeus the Thunderer. All of which are the most popular names dating back to ancient Greek history and mythology.

In both Greek and Roman civilizations, mythology played an important part in their empire’s success. Both of these civilizations were polytheistic religions. Likewise, they had major and minor gods and goddesses as part of their religion as well. However, since the Roman Empire conquered many cultures including the Greeks, their gods blended with many similarities with the gods that the Ancient Greeks worshipped.

It has been known that the Romans and the Greeks have had many interactions with each other, whether it would be due to trading or just plain traveling, the stories of their myths have crossed each other in one way or another. This is may be the reason why there are many similarities between Greek and Roman Mythology. Even though a Greek god or goddess may have a different name in Roman Mythology they still performed similar tasks and were worshiped for similar reasons. I will compare and contrast Greek gods with their Roman equivalences to see how similar they truly are to each other. Probably the most famous Greek god, Zeus, was the god of all gods. Born to Cronus and Rhea, he was the ruler of the sky, and had

Zeus, he was the king of the gods and the supreme ruler of people. He originally was a god of the sky. In time, the Greeks regarded him as the only god who concerned him-self with the whole universe. They also associated Zeus with justice and believed that he punished the wicked and rewarded the good. He belonged to the race of Titans, and was the son of Cronus and Rhea. After overthrowing Cronus, Zeus took his father's place and ruled from Mount Olympus. He headed a family of twelve major gods, called the Olympians.

Zeus was considered to be the leader of the Olympian gods of Mount Olympus. He was the god of the sky and thunder. He had many powers but the most significant was the power to wield lightning bolts. He could hurl lightning bolts at people who defied him or other gods who he was displeased with. He was the youngest child of Cronus and Rhea and was planned to get eaten by Cronus like all of his brothers and sisters before him, but he was hidden from Cronus at Mount Dicte. He then went on to overthrow Cronus and control the gods. He had twenty-four children and some of them were powerful gods. He also had some half god children like Hercules. He lives on the top of Mount Olympus with Hera, his wife.

When we look back at Christianity over the years, there are several people who are remembered for their impact on the religion. The first most important figure was Jesus Christ. However, if we travel forward a bit, into the 4th Century we come across Constantine. Historians agree that Constantine served as an important component in the spread of Christianity. Although he spread the religion in a massive way, others wonder if his methods were more harmful then anything. In this paper I will be discussing Constantine in his rise to power and his impact on Christianity. Constantine provided a mean for the word of God to be spread, which is a major benefit. However, He also used violence and hate as

Ancient Roman religion was quite similar to ancient Greek religion. The Romans worshiped the Dii Consentes, the twelve main gods including Jupiter, Juno, Minerva,

The Romans heard the myths of the Greeks. They loved the stories so much that they took these stories and changed the names of the Gods and made them Roman gods. The Romans had their own religious beliefs. They just added the Greek gods to them. But they didn't copy the Greek gods exactly.

Without the support of Roman emperors, christianity would not have become as dominant of a religion that it is today. One reason for this, is Emperor Constantine converted to christianity, and favored people who practiced it. By doing, Emperor Constantine helped make the religion more established because when the people saw that their leader became apart of and favored this group, it made it become taken seriously and made people want to convert. Another reason for this is that Emperor Theodosius made christianity the imperial state religion. Because of this, it made it impossible for the people to not be christians and be citizens at the same time. This expanded christianity even more because people wanted to convert out of fear of prosecution

and beauty. She is also said to have a magic girdle that makes anyone she

Zeus, god of the sky and thunder, King of Mount Olympus, son of Kronos and Rhea, husband of Hera, and father of many significant gods and goddesses, was the most important god of all the Olympian gods.

Juno was known as the Roman goddess of marriage and childbirth. Hera, the wife of Zeus, was also worshipped for the same things, but she is the Greek version. Juno presides over every aspect of a woman’s life. She looks after and protects the women of Rome (Juno, 1). “She gives us the energy to fight for the elements we want and deserve in a relationship in order to preserve and enrich the home environment (Juno: The Queen of Heaven, 2).”

The Greeks and the Romans were both willing to receive legends and tales from other nations, and to incorporate them as well as they could with their own. Therefore in the mythology of the Romans you usually find a Latin and a Greek name for one imagined divinity. so Zeus of the Greeks, in Latin becomes “pater” a father. Jupiter Kronos of the Greeks is known as Vulcanus in Latin. Areas of the Greeks is Mars, Poseidon of the Greeks is Neptunus, Aphrodite of the Greeks is Venus.

The Romans were polytheistic. The Roman religion believed in many gods. They had similar beliefs to the Greek gods, but also big differences. The Roman mythology was to consist of twelve to thirteen main gods. Each of the gods has a function in the life of an everyday Roman that would require some sort of worshipping. The