Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire

Roman Rule of Israel (63 BC)

63 BCE

-Roman general Pompey and his troops conquered Jeruselum in 63 BC
-The Roman's reign lasted until around 476 when the Byzantine Empire, finally gained control.
-Judea was ruled by a Roman who managed its political, military, and fiscal affairs.
- Though the Romans did maintian controll for a while, that ended after about 18 years because of the Byzantine Empire.

Jesus of Nazareth

4 BCE

-A religious leader who became a central person in Christianity, most people even consider him to be the god
-Others believe he is the incarnation of God the Sun
-Nazareth. the town in Lower Galilee, was the home of Jesus, from Hebrew Nazareth
-Jesus is the base of Christianity, he taught about his beliefs and is most likely the founder of all Christianity

Paul of Tarsus (5 AD)

5

-The second most important founder of Christianity is Paul
-The young contemporary of Jesus never met him but followed the religion, spend his early career rooting out Jewish-Christian communities
-Paul, unfortunately, died of decapitation after Nero condemned Paul to death due to him being Christian
-Paul was one of the earliest Christian missonaries and he spend his time trying to spread the religon around

Great Fire of Rome (64 AD)

64

-Nero started the fire because he wanted to rebuild the city of Rome -The Christians were blamed by Nero because of some of the -
Christians knew about the fire so they bettered their buildings so they didn't flourish. -The fire lasted for about 6 days until the city was left to a char -None of the fire was allowed to be put out because there were gangs going around, not letting civilians put out the fire.

Perpetua

182

-martyr who wrote The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity.
-The book written contains info for the time in when Perpetua was imprisoned and a slave
-one of the oldest and most notable Christian texts
- Key to Christians and it describes the struggles that the woman went through
-She was a martyr because she had believed so strongly in the relgion which led her to be imprisoned because the Romains saw it as only a sacrifice to the official gods.

Great Persecution of 303 CE

303

-Last most severe persecution of Christians where the rights of Christians were demanding, that Christians comply with traditional religious practices.
-Christians during this time were always subjected to discrimination
-This was the final persecution of Christians, after this one, they finally came to a halt.
-The persecution varied in how bad it was all over the empire, some areas were more sevear and others not as much

Constantine The Great (306-337 AD)

306

-Constantine was known best as the first Christian Roman Emporer
- When he ruled, Christianity started becoming a more dominant religion in Rome.
-He was also known for being so dedicated to the religion, dedicating one of the fights, putting Christian letters on the warrior's shields

Battle of Milvian Bridge (312)

312

-took place between two Roman emperors Constantine I and Maxentius
-the result was a decisive Constantinian victory
-against emperors of the west and east, mostly for power, it was crucial due to Constantine ending as the sole ruler for Rome
-Constantine supposedly ran in as Christian warriors, and with his hunches, that was why he thought they had won.
Constantine put the Christian letters on the shields to show devotion to the religion because he thought this would give them the advantage.

Edict of Milan (313 AD)

313

-The Edict of Milan was a letter signed by the Roman emperors Constantine and Licinius, it allowed religious toleration in the Roman Empire for all regions.
- stopped the unfair treatment of Christians. Right after the emperor, Diocletian ruled, this occurred.
-This paper allowed Christians to worship and celebrate religion without it being underground and hidden.
- This marks the Roman Empire’s final end of the policies that allowed persecution of Christians.

Emperor Theodosius (379-395 AD)

379

-Theodosius was the last to rule over both East and West halves together -He established Christianity as the state religion and then Christianity was even more accepted as a whole religion. -Theodosius also defended it against paganism and Arianism. -