Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire

Jesus of Nazareth

5 BCE

-He is what started Christianity through his teachings and followers
-Sacrificed on the cross and died in 30

Paul Of Tarsus

33

-On of Jesus followers (Apostle)
-Taught gospel of Christ to the first century world
-Taught until his death in 64

Roman Rule of Israel (begins)

37

-Herod became ruler of Rome after Hasmonean's defeat of Mattathias Antigonus
- Romans took over Israel

Great Fire of Rome

64

-Emperor Nero got mad because senate wouldn't let him rebuild Rome how he wanted so fire was said to be started by him so he would get to rebuild
-Nero blamed the fire on the Christians because their area wasn't affected by the fire
-Lead to persecution of Christians

Perpetua

203

-Christian follower that what was persecuted with her child and slave Felicity
-Most famous Christian martyr

Great Persecution of 303 CE

303

-Lead by Diocletian; he believed Rome needed to be unified and because the Christians were not worshiping the god's that was the reason for their hardship, so Diocletian lead a mass persecution of Christians
-Power switched to Constantine

Constantine The Great

306

-The first christian emperor.
-Had a vision of a cross in the sky with words of Christ
-Had a dream that Christianity would lead his battle to victory, so when he won the battle of The Milvian Bridge he owed it to Christianity and thus slowly converted to Christianity and lead the popularity of the religion
-ruled until 337

Battle of Milvian Bridge

312

This is the battle that Constantine won under the influence of Christ's words and eventually lead to the up rise of Christianity.

Edict Of Milan

313

-Legalized Christianity
-Stopped Christian persecution
-Christianity started growing after this

Emperor of Theodosius

379

-Made Christianity the official religion of Roman Empire
-Stopped persecution
-Ruled until 395