The Rise Of The Roman Empire

The Battle of Milvian Bridge took place on October 28th 312 AD. At the time the church and Christianity was not a very accepted religion at this time in Rome, with many Catholic being killed for their religious beliefs. This event is considered one the most important events in the church’s history and without this event the shape of Christianity would be much different today. The battle of Milvian Bridge changed the Religion of Rome and changed the way Christianity was perceived. This event also changed the power and authority in the Roman emperor.

onward, we are now part of a human web in which the Christian religion plays a subtle, but evident role. In this essay I have tried to give a short, but adequate answer to the question “How did Christianity become the most prominent religion in the late Roman empire? (200 C.E. onward)”. At the basis of the rise of Christianity stand religious aspects, like the Christian missionary character and the duty of charity, as well as the involvement of the Christian emperors, in particular Constantine, who boosted the Christian expansion by issuing the Edicts of Milan and Thessalonica and sponsoring the Christian cause. Christian expansion therefore, has been stimulated from within and outside of the

In 324 AD, Constantine became Emperor of the Roman Empire. This is significant because he was the first 'Christian' Emperor. Traveling to Rome one day, he had a vision of the 'Chi-Ro', the symbol of Jesus, and the words "In this sign conquer." He ordered all his soldiers to paint the symbol on their shields. After he became sole Emperor of the entire Roman world, his subjects were forced to convert to Christianity.

mind, the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was one of the greatest empires of all

Through history many can see how empires grew and became successful. Many empires were so successful because of their leaders and their philosophies. Empires often had good runs and would be running successful until a stronger and more powerful empire would bring them down. One empire that was known as the most advanced both socially and politically in the western civilization was the Roman Empire. At about 285 CE the empire was so greatly advanced that the Roman central government could no longer rule the empire on its own. The Roman Empire had its really high point but eventually around 400 CE the empire fell.

Constantine came to power by engaging in a civil war and defeating the Western Roman Emperor. Before the battle near the Milvian Bridge, Constantine saw a vision of the cross with the words, “In this sign you shall conquer.” He won the battle. After Constantine won the war and became emperor of the entire Roman Empire, he attributed his success to the Christian faith. In 313 AD., he wrote and proclaimed the Edict of Milan. This was something that gave freedom of religion

As the Roman Empire was closing out the end of the third century they were faced with both internal and external concerns (Irvin, History of the World Christian Movement, 160). Some of the contributing factors to the rise of Constantine begun with the wars with the Persians that they were facing, in addition to managing the northern Germanic tribes which contained many of the Roman military resources (Irvin, History of the World Christian Movement, 160). As the Roman Empire began working with some of these Germanic tribes, they began to see a high influx of new faiths being introduced to the Roman world (Irvin, History of the World Christian Movement, 160).

Although the rise of Christianity to dominate western religions may have been undeniable, there were key moments that helped secure this position for Christianity. The rise of the constantinian Dynasty was one of those key moments. During the 4th century, Constantine rose to emperor in the west after the death of his father. Never the less, constantinian and his brother in law Maxentius who was also his co-emperor in the west were rivals. There was a lot of hostility between them and a war broke out after years of political backstabbing. Before they met in the battle of Milvian Bridge in 312 AD, Constantine apparently had saw the sign of Christ in his dream. Several years later, Eusebius gives an account in which Christ appeared to Constantine and told him to place the heavenly sign on the battle standards of his army. Armed with this holy power, Constantine destroyed Maxentius and there for becoming the only western Emperor.

Eventually Christianity spread widely and grew in influence because it gave people a sense of community and fulfilled a spiritual hunger that enforced Roman allegiance to the state gods could not (Osborne, 122). An ethos of being together and helping each other attracted many followers despite Roman persecution and perhaps because of it. In time, however, Christians began to believe that their best hope of survival would be under the protection of a state. This realization came after a shocking period where Diocletian attempted to completely eradicate Christians. It so happened that Constantine, his successor, converted to Christianity. Whether a true convert or not, Constantine saw an opportunity to

In 448 AD, Greek writer and historian Priscus journeyed from Constantinople to meet with Attila the Hun. Pricus wrote down the events of his journey, leaving one of the few first-hand accounts of a diplomatic meeting with the Huns. His writings can tell us much about how the Huns interacted with other cultures and societies and how Attila—specifically—welcomed his guests to his court.

During the first three centuries Christianity was, for the most part, in a constant state of turmoil, it was in its early formative years and suffered constant periods of persecution from the Roman Empire, the most notable and most severe period being the Diocletian Persecution in which an estimate of about twenty thousand Christians died. All of this changed when a man by the name of Constantine came into power at the beginning of the fourth century. Constantine was the first roman emperor to openly favor Christianity. His favor and patronage changed the situation Christianity had faced ever since its founding, he was crucial to its development. His reign also marked the start of the Roman Empire’s shift from paganism to its adoption of Christianity as a state religion. Even though some other events in the century can be argued to be more crucial in the development of Christianity, the most notable being the Edict of Thessalonica which made Christianity the state religion of the Empire and the two Ecumenical councils that were convened during the century, most of these events were only made possible due to the reforms Constantine in the early decades of the century. Scholars and historians alike consider him as one of the most crucial figures of early Christianity. The religious reforms Constantine had implemented during his reign made it possible for Christianity to grow and flourished into what it is today, the largest and one of the most influential religious movement in

One of the early empires that ruled had through that Christianity was tainted and going to corrupt the Roman citizens. The ten percent civil minorities who followed it in the reign of Nero were persecuted and executed in many cases just because they did not obey the Empire and the Emperor. They had Jesus killed and made an example of just because he had a done an anti-Roman religion. It takes a spark to light a blaze and the same occurred after the crucifixion of Jesus due to the Jews acting up against the Empire. Many Massacred occurred and oblivious casualties followed. The insurgency of the Jews towards the Empire but still, Christianity was viewed as an enemy and the Pagan’s agreed to that. Taking control of The Roman empire, Constantine had been given a vision of divine light which guided him to convert to Christianity for his benefit and good. Overnight the followers increased and Rome wasn’t full of hatred towards Christians after. In summation, the Roman Empire from the reign of Nero until the reign of Constantine had been tough for Christianity followers but it came to a good finish after all the hardship and

Christianity soon became the greater part of the empire. Between 284 and 476, Roman civilization went through two stages. One stage involved Diocletian's reforms -- paganisms last pinnacle, and the second part, when the empire began to fall after Constantine's reign -- the vibrant Christian age. (Matthews, 174) After this last stage, both secular and Christian writers

As emperor Constantine saw that it would be more beneficial to stop persecuting the Christians and accept them to avoid another civil war, he became a Christian. This was only the start as Christianity spread throughout the European continent and Emperor Theodosius established it as the official religion of Rome in 380. This proved especially beneficial for the empire as it allowed Rome to be governed during its greatest extent. When Rome official fell in 476 to the barbaric tribes of the Germanic region, Christianity was the uniting factor as the chaos of local groups sought to hold power. Out of this developed a complex feudal system comprised of lords, vassals, and serfs along with the power and wealth of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church demanded enormous amounts of money from the people as they sought redemption in times stricken with the Black Death and famine thus allowing the monasteries to emerge as the source of riches and the Church as the largest landholder in all of Europe. As the Church’s power grew towards the first millennia, and had sucked the wealth from nearly all of its local citizens, they desired to find the holy land. Despite the first commandment of “thou shall not murder” and the Christian idea of “turn the other cheek,” the Crusades were some of the bloodiest battles in European history. These crusades, although against Christian

Constantine (r. 306-337) was the very first Roman Emperor to embrace Christianity. Going into battle, he prayed for divine assistance; God sent him a vision of a cross and told him to use that sign as protection in all battles. Hearing from God and receiving the vision, he converted to Christianity. He was victorious in this battle and embraced the