Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire timeline

Roman Rule of Israel was a time in which the Romans replaced the the Seleucids and then the Romans became the greatest power in the region. After the Romans came into power they appointed someone by the name of Hyrcanus II governor over the state under Roman authority. Once Hasmonean rule came to an end, Herod, a son-in-law of Hyrcanus II, came into power of a southern area known as Judea and he eventually became one of the most powerful monarchs in all of the eastern part of Rome. Until 313 AD.

Jesus of was born as the son of God. He was born in 0 AD and 0 BC. His parents were St. Joseph, and The Virgin Mary. Christianity has the name "Christ" in it referring to the Belief in Christ. This means that you believe in who he was (the son of God) what he did, and what he preached. He Jesus was born in Bethlehem which was just a few miles away from the city Jerusalem. Jesus preached to the people of Nazareth and Jerusalem of the God of Abraham. Jesus brought about the New Testament of God.

Paul of Tarsus was considered by many to be possibly the most influential Christian after Jesus Christ. Of the many(27) books that the New Testament consist of, 13 of those are written under the name of St Paul, eventually called Paul of Tarsus. Born in Asia Minor in a major city called Tarsus, Paul was a Greek speaking Jew. Many believe that he was born around the same time of Jesus Christ, he was also though to have been converted to Christianity around 33 AD, and persecuted around 63 AD.

On July 18, 64 CE, a massive fire was started in Rome that destroyed more than half of the city. The Emperor at the time was Emperor Nero, it is believed that he was the one who actually started the fire. However, he blamed the fire and the destruction of the city on the Christians. It is also believed the Nero started the fire on purpose to create a common enemy among all Romans, and blame the Christians. The Fire lasted 6 days, and outraged the Romans.

Perpetua was a Christian martyr in 181. Perpetua
was a noblewoman, mother of an infant child who was being persecuted for embracing the Christian religion. Perpetua was initially going to be persecuted by being fed to a beast. However, through the grace of the Christian God, Perpetua survived the beast, and defeated it. The Romans decided that they must kill her, so they just decided to have her executed. It is even said that she helped the trembling hand of the executioner to her throat.

The Crisis of the Third century ended with the Emperor Diocletian, he created a tetrarch, this was a system of four Emperors. In order to unify the Romans Diocletian made sure that the Christians were persecuted. Diocletian started a time called the Great Persecution in 303 AD. He killed several thousand Christians who were openly Christian including many Christian leaders. This scared many people from becoming Christian, but none the less, there were still survivors of Christianity.

In 306 AD, Constantine came into power as the Emperor of Western Rome. In the year 312 AD Constantine was going to go into battle with the other ruler of western Rome, he was preparing for battle when he saw a vision of the cross, next to it said "In this sign, you will conquer". Constantine also had a dream which told he to put the first two letters of Christ's name in Greek on the shields of his warriors. Constantine eventually made the Edict of Milan with one of the Eastern Emperor's.

This Battle of Milvian Bridge was an extremely important battle between Emperor Constantine and Emperor Maxentius. This battle really was going to decide who took control of the Tiber river. Right before this battle the Emperor Constantine, who was a pagan praiser, saw a sign in the sky that was a Cross, and next to it said, "In this sign you will conquer," and eventually won the battle of Milvian Bridge and proclaimed Christianity to most all of the Romans. The battle lasted one day October 18.

The Edict of Milan was set in place by Emperor Constantine after his vision, dream, and victory of the Battle of Milvian Bridge. The Edict of Milan legalized Christianity, and allowed everyone to practice their own beliefs, no matter what it was. Constantine even praised Christianity, as he put the first two letters of Christ on all Roman soldier shields. After the Edict of Milan many Christians were no longer afraid to embrace Christianity for they would no longer be persecuted.

Emperor Theodosius came into power over Rome in 379 AD and his rule was ended in 395 AD. Emperor Theodosius was also the last emperor who was known to rule over the Eastern and Western Rome. Emperor Theodosius was also very well known for campaigning against many barbarians who many times invaded Rome. Emperor Theodosius even campaigned against Goths who were in the city of Rome. Emperor Theodosius was a great advocate for orthodoxy, which earned him praise from many Catholic writers.