Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire

Roman Rule of Israel

64 BCE

At first, Jews were able to continue their religion, until rebellion in Judea. Jews were able to worship their own Synagogues. Soon there was a rebellion which almost lasted for 4 years and the Roman army destroyed the temple. After the Roman empire took over Israel, they were first introduced to Christianity because of the Jews.

Jesus of Nazareth

4 BCE

Jesus of Nazareth who is also famously known as Jesus Christ was the central figure of Christianity. He was a religious leader and many Christians believed and still believe that he is God's son. It is believed that he died on the cross for the peoples' sins

Paul of Tarsus

5

Paul of Tarsus who was also Saint Paul taught the gospel of Christ to the first century. He traveled thousands of miles around the Mediterranean spreading the word of Jesus and 13 of the 27 earliest Christian documents that we have, were written by him.

Great Fire of Rome

64

Emperor Nero had a goal to redo Rome's infrastructure but did not get the opportunity. So he purposefully lit Rome on fire. Only 1/3 of the city was left, this was the Christian section of the city. Nero blamed the fire on the Christians and persecuted many mercilessly.

Perpetua

200

Perpetua was a Christian noblewomen who lived in north Africa. The Emperor Septimius Severus despised Christianity and he arrested five new Christians were preparing for baptism and one of them was Perpetua. When she was imprisoned, her father visited her many times saying she should deny the fact that she is Christian to save herself and her infant child. Later, she denied to perform sacrifices to the emperor. The five girls were later put to death.

Great Persecution

303

During this time period, Rome was struggling. Emperor Diocletian blamed the Christians for Rome's situation. He started to persecute Christians in many horrifying ways and wanted to wipe out all ways of Christianity

Constantine the Great

305

Constantine was a Roman emperor who saw a vision the day before going to battle. He saw a cross in the clouds and he has dream telling him print the cross on the soldiers' shields in order attain victory. As said, he won the battle. Constantine wanted to honor this so he created a legislature called the Edict of Milan.

Battle of Milvian Bridge

312

This was the battle that Constantine won because of his vision and dream. The day before the Battle of Milvian Constantine got a vision and a dream that told him to print the cross on soldiers' shields. Constantine's army were able to triumph by doing so. After this event, Rome slowly adopted Christianity.

Edict of Milan

313

Freedom of religion was born out Constantine's vision, dream, and victory. This legislature gave Christians religious freedom. This was not just for Christians but for everyone. Due to the Edict of Milan, Christianity was spread throughout the Roman Empire.

Emperor Theodosius

380

Emperor Theodosius was one of Rome's emperors. He is known for the cause of spreading Christianity throughout Rome and other places in the world especially eastern Mediterranean. He also closed pagan temples, and passed laws against celebrating pagan rites. He made Nicene Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.