Rise of Christianity in the Romen Empire

Roman Rule of Israel (begins)

64 BCE

The Roman general named Pompey concurred and established Syria in year 64 BC. The Roman empire ruled most of the know world. Romes territory was stretched very far but very thin. They took Israel jut for strategy because lay between the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Romes empire was so big when people started practicing Christianity to spread very fast and got lot's of members also very fast.

Jesus of Nazareth

27

The Jesus of Nazareth was a Jewish preacher and religious leader. Many people and Christians believed he was the incarnation of God the son of Messiah (Christ) said in the Old Testament. He became a central figure of Christianity. People believed he was sent down as our salvation. He was one of the first people that others looked up to and thought he was a god that was sent to save them, he gave people hope and sent a good message causing more people to join the religion.

The Great Fire of Rome

64

Over 6 days 64% of the Roman Empire was burned to the Ground Many people believed that the emperor Nero started the fire. He wanted to redo Rome to make it look better so he burned it down to start over. To reduce the backlash he was getting he blamed the Christians. The Christians where sentence to death. These event started the killings of many Christians over the next 100 some years.

Paul of Tarsus

64

Paul of Tarsus was a young contemporary version of Jesus of Nazareth. He spent some part of his life rooting out Jewish Christians communities and prosecuting them. He used the roads Damascus and walked tens of thousands of miles around the Mediterranean spreading the word of Jesus. Thanks to him the word of Jesus, Christianity and it's message spread around the new world.

Perpetua

181

Perpetua was a young women that was killed by martyr. Martyr was a persecution or death of someone who advocates, renouncing, refusing to renounce, or refusing to advocate a belief or cause as demanded by group. Perpetua was a catechumens, a catechumen is kind of like a nun. She was killed because she was practicing her religion out in the open. She and her companions are some oldest and most notable early Christian texts. She and the event caused the stories we know in the bible today.

Great Persecution of 303 CE

303

The Great Persecution was the most severe persecutions toward Christians during the Roman Empire. The Emperor Diocletian used the persecutions to take some of the pressure off him. During this persecution over 1,000 Christians died by burning at the stake, and killed by animals. This event almost caused Christianity to die out but there where still people around to carry the message.

Battle of Milvian Bridge

312

On October 28 312 AD war broke out between Constantine the Great and Maxentius the Roman emperors at the time. The war happened because of 5 year long dispute. Constantine was out numbered 1 to 4, but as Constantine was sleeping he got a vision to put a symbol on his soldiers shield so he did. The next day they fought and Constantine came out victorious. Without him Christianity probably wouldn't be one of the main religions people practice.

Constantine the Great

313

Constantine defeated Maxentius and met Licinius and they started the Edict of Milan. The Edict of Milan allowed people the freedom of religion. By 313 churches started showing up all over Rome, and many people converted to Christianity because of it's message. Constantine let them worship God freely and openly. He really allowed Christianity to spread through Rome and the world.

Edict of Milan

313

The Edict of Milan was created by Constantine after Diocletian awful treatment toward the Christians. It also was created to stop the violence against Christians in the Roman Empire. This gave religious freedom to all religions. This helped Christianity grow and expand through the Roman Empire and around the world because they where allowed to practice freely.

Emperor Theodosius

379

Emperor Theodosius helped change the course of Christian history. Using his power as emperor he made Christianity the state religion. He successfully protected it against paganism and Arianism. He made sure the empire stayed in balance and safe. He made sure that Christianity stayed safe from outsiders and that made it spread like wildfire though the world.