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4 BCE
Jesus of Nazareth
At the age of thirty Jesus was Baptized in the Jordan River. He traveled around Judaea and spread hi beliefs to the poor. This spread the theory that God would take care of the poorest which gave them hope and courage. In 33 AD, Jesus traveled to Jerusalem for Jewish. Jesus was furious that this is what they were using the temple for. Jesus was a troublemaker and by executing him would let them start a new religion that spread across Rome. -
64
The Great Fire of Rome
60 - 70% of the city was burnt to the ground. The fire lasted 6 whole days of constant burning. The ruler at the time blamed Christianity for the fire. Nero used this fire as a time to try and rebuild Rome the way he wanted it. He launched the Christian prosecution as the effect of the fire -
64
Paul of Tarsus
Saul began to hear about Jesus who claimed to be the Messiah. People said he had risen from the dead and worked miracles as a sign that he had been sent by God. Saul began to persecute Jesus’ followers. He demanded that they give up their new faith. They even began to call themselves Christians! The man said that Jesus wanted Saul to believe in him and to be baptized. Saul was filled with the Holy Spirit. He began telling everyone that Jesus was the Son of God and that they should believe in him -
64
Roman Rule of Israel (begins)
In 64 B.C the Jewish Kingdom had power struggles which made them need help from the Romans. Under the Roman government the Jews became economically exploited and religious toward their own belief. This all resulted in The First Jewish Revolt. This helped Jewish gain self right to political rule. After Hadrian was in power in 118 A.D. he had many anti-Semitic attacks on the Jewish. These could even be the deportation of Jews to North Africa! -
203
Perpetua
When Emperor Septimius Severus became determined to cripple Christianity because he believed it undermined Roman patriotism. He focused his attention on North Africa. The first to be arrested were five new Christians taking classes to prepare for baptism. One of them was Perpetua. Her father wanted her to say she wasn’t Christian but instead she said she was to protect her baby. This left her to die in the arena. -
303
The Great Persecution
Diocletian ran these Persecutions of the Christians. These were for the legalization of practicing Christianity and the rules within it, Diocletian got a hold of Churches and the Church leaders to change them back to Paganism. Diocletian destroyed their churches because it is where the Christians met. They believed they were holding "secret meetings" there and did not want them to turn on the government. Many Christians were tortured, thrown in the dungeon, or put to their death. -
312
The Battle of Milivian
After Diocletian passed away there was a fight for the new emperor. Constantine had Gaul and Britain versus Glarius who seized control of Italy and Rome. Glarius died and Constantine invaded Italy. Constantine then had a sign of a cross from God. Using this sign on all the soldiers shields, they won and carried Maxentius head on a spear into the city. Their soldiers were on boats and foot and fought until Constantine was the winner. -
313
Constantine the Great
He was preparing for battle and saw a sign in the sky. It was a cross of light. He thought it meant, "in this sign, conquer." This shows that the Christianity was showing him that by this cross, you will conquer. That night he had a dream that he should use the cross against his enemies. He marked the sign on the shields of his soldiers. When he obtained the victory he attribute it to the god of Christians.He played an influential role in the declaration to the Edict of Milan. -
313
Edict of Milan
There was a meeting between two leaders at the time that finally would result in peace. After the Great Persecution, Christians started to regain their churches and pride back. Licinius and Constantine agreed on Christianity tolerance. This granted all persons freedom to worship whatever they pleased, assured Christians of legal rights and even included the right to organize churches. -
400
Emperor Theodosius
When Theodosius got old enough he took a part in military campaigns. He fought many cities with his dad, Theodosius the Elder. His father was executed and his family retired to a different city. Theodosius’s first task was to secure security from the barbarians. He rebuilt their army and had peace between each other. A civil war broke out with Theodosius’s want for Christianity and Arbogast and Eugenius wants for the old Rome religion. Nicene Christianity was spread all across Rome.
