Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire

Roman Rule of Israel

37 BCE

1. Herod became king appointed by Rome of Judea
2. He rose to become of the most powerful monarchs in the east of Rome
3. He set up a project being one of the most massive construction projects
4. Even through many great achievements, he still did not win over the trust of the Jews
5. After Herod's death Judea came into power

Jesus of Nazareth: The savior

4 BCE

1. Was a preacher in the Jewish religion
2. Believed he was God on earth, coming down to save everybody from our sins
3. He was from the Galilean Jew sorts, having John the Baptist baptize him
4. He was them arrested by the Jewish and was crucified under he order of Pontius Pilate
5. Three days later, the tomb was rolled away from his grave and had risen from the dead defeating hell.

Paul of Tarsus

64

1. Notorious for not only changing his name but converting from Judaism to Christianity
2. Considered to be one of the most important apostles
3. He was responsible for the founding of many christian churches around the Asia Minor area
4. Before converting to Christianity, he was noted for be a major persecutor of Christians
5. He started preaching the words of Christianity three days after he was became blind

Great Fire of Rome: The fire that took out most all of Rome

64

1. Began in some of the shops around the Circus Maximus, fanned by wind
2. Took 6 days to get a grasp on the fire
3. After that, the fire got started again, burning for an additional 3 days
4. During the aftermath, Augustus was quick to blame the Christians
5. The first blaming was soon to lead to the first persecutions against the Christian community

Perpetua: The woman who wrote one of the oldest christian texts known to man

181

1. One of the oldest texts about Christianity in this time period
2. Open page journal about the days in prison of a young mother named Perpetua
3. Also has the visions of Sartarus in his own accounts
4. Perpetua was one of the Martyrs in the Christian Faith
5. Her and a martyr named felicity were both killed in Carthage

Great Persecution of 303 CE: The most brutal of the persecutions against the Christians

303

1. Diocletian set about the last vital persecutions of the Christian Roman population
2. Some of the feats that he set upon the Christians included burning the churches and torture.
3. He did this because the Christian population failed to sacrifice to the Roman gods
4. The laws and rights of persecution soon changed at the hands of different emperors
5. It was normal to face discrimination in the earlier years of the empire, but no emperor was as harsh as Diocletian

Battle of Milvian Bridge: The battle that influenced Constantine to switch to Christianity

312

1. The Milvian Bridge was a bridge that was built above the Tiber River and was a very substantial convey
2. Constantine emerged victorious with a win against Maxentius
3. Paved the road for him becoming the sole ruler of all of Rome
4. Maxentius, after he lost, was beheaded and his head was paraded all over the city of Rome as the people of celebrated the victory.
5. It was said that he made the notorious change to Christianity

Edict of Milan: The edict signed freeing many religions in the Roman empire

313

1. The two Roman emperors were there, in Milan, to Licinus' wedding, the sister of Constantine.
2. A toleration edict had already been placed by a previous emperor, Galerius
3. It was an edict that they signed in order to be able to allow religious freedom in the empire
4. For a while, during the bill, Constantine started giving things and granting favors to the church
5. This thing that Constantine did kind of broke the words of the Edict

Constantine the Great: A great influential leader that allowed religions to flow in the Roman empire

324

1. His dad was Flavius Valerius Constantius an officer in the ranks of the Roman Army
2. His family shipped him east causing him to rise to the position of Military Tribune
3. After this he came back west to start campaigning under the power of his Father
4. His father died in 306 leaving him as one of the top options to take the position of emperor, which he did
5. After seeking many victories in many civil wars, he came to ultimate power over both the east and the west.

Emperor Theodosius: The emperor that tolerated many, bringing them in as allies

379

1. The final Emperor to have complete control over both parts of the empire, east + west
2. He was known to have some sorts of campaigning against people like goths/barbarians known for invading the empire
3. Instead of seeking to end these people, he made allies in them
4. This change in rules in the empire was a very consequential as the west had to control the unruly borders of the empire.
5. After this, he was encouraged to fight two catastrophic civil wars in which he turned out successful