Rise of Christianity in Rome

Roman Rule of Israel

27 BCE

The Jews and the Roman empire were mostly separate from each other. This changed around 27 BC, where their culture started to merge because of political influence in Israel. After this, %10 of Rome's population was made of Jews. The rise of Christianity was very threatening to the Jewish beliefs because he was claiming that he was the son of god when the Jews believed he was not. As you can see, this will cause tension in any environment.

Saul of Tarsus

4 BCE

At first, Saul of Tarsus (known as Paul) was not fond of Christ. He even went as far as to consent to the death of Jesus. However, after Jesus had supposedly risen from the dead, he came to Paul and he converted him into a Christian believer. Paul then went on to spread the word of the Gospel around and preach in his name.

Jesus of Nazareth

1 CE

The birth of Jesus was the beginning of the Christian Faith. When the Roman Emperor heard that Jesus was claiming to be god, he did not like this. Mainly, it threatened his position as king and threatened Roman beliefs and religion. The emperor demanded that he was killed on a crucifix, and this became a symbol for the Christian religion.

The Great Fire of Rome

64

In 64 AD, a fire broke out in a merchants area in Rome. The dry air and summer temperature spread the fire throughout the city. This fire raged on for about 6 days and 7 nights. Because the emperor did not want to be blamed for these fires, he decided to blame it on the Christians. Now he had a way to entertain his people while blaming the problem on the Christians. He made them fight in arenas and battle to entertain the people.

Constantine the Great

272

Constantine the Great was the first Roman emperor to support Christianity. He entered the Roman Empire into a Christian state, and this also furthered the development of the Medieval Era. He became interested in Christianity because of a vision he had before a battle. He saw a Christian related object in the sky telling him to follow it, and he would win. Once he won the battle, he was a believer in the lord. After this, he made the prosecution of Christians illegal.

The Great Persecution of 303 AD

303

After the crucifixion of Christ, Christianity spread through Rome like wildfire. This was threatening to the Romans because the Christians thought that Christ was their king, and not the Emperor. Because of this threatening position, the emperor started to attack the Christians. He disregarded the old laws and passed new laws claiming that you are only able to worship the Roman gods. Some say that the emperor did not personally dislike the Christians, but it was his advisor who disliked them.

Battle of Milvian Bridge

312

The Battle of Milvian Bridge was won by Constantine, who became the emperor of Rome after the battle. He had won because he claimed that the Christian God had sent him a vision, and he painted the vision on his soldier's shields. After winning, he also became a believer in the Christian Faith. This marked yet another age for the Christians as they were not prosecuted under the rule of Constantine.

Edict of Milan

313

The Edict of Milan was a letter signed by the Roman emperors that stopped the Prosecution of Christians in Rome.

The Emperor Theodosius

347

The Emperor Theodosius was a believer in the lord. During a very bad sickness, he was baptized in an attempt to cure the illness. This was a big change for the Romans because they were used to being prosecuted for believing in their own religion. For Christianity, it has been on and off for being able to believe in their religion without some sort of prosecution directed at them or getting blamed for all the problems Rome had.