Nero<\/a> famously captured and tortured Christians, possibly as a scapegoat for his involvement in the burning of Rome in 64 CE. Nero’s successors would not carry out the sort of pogroms their nefarious predecessor engaged in; Pliny the Younger’s remarks on Christianity were that its Asian believers should not be actively pursued but that any Roman Christian should be punished if they were publicly criticized and then refused to abandon their belief in the monotheistic religion.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe major shift toward Christianity’s acceptance within the Roman Empire began with Constantine’s Edict of Milan in 313 CE. This single edict decriminalized belief in the Christian faith and its practices. In less than a century’s time after the edict’s establishment, Emperors Theodosius I, Gratian and Valentinian II signed the Edict of Thessalonica in 380. This latter edict officially declared Nicene Orthodox Christianity as the state religion while simultaneously decrying non-Nicene denominations like Arianism; Arianism was the heretical belief that asserted Jesus, “the Son,” was a subordinate to the Father by coming into existence some amount of time after the Father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How Turbulent Was Rome’s Transition to Christianity?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Constantine’s rise to Emperor marked the transition to Christianity, with the man becoming a major patron of the faith. He funded the church, ordered the construction of basilicas, bestowed special privileges to the clergy, elevated Christians to influential positions in his government, returned property that had been seized during Diocletian’s Great Persecution and even constructed a “New Rome” in Constantinople. This city would start out with a Christian emphasis to its architecture, featuring churches that were contained within the city walls but featured not a single temple dedicated to other gods or religions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the establishment of this pro-Christian city also came a toll for its non-Christian visitors and residents. Soon, temples to the Roman gods were shuttered due to a lack of funding; all the offertory coinage was going into the coffers of Christian endeavors. March 7th, 321 CE, was a momentous day as it was both the day of Jesus’ resurrection and also a holy day to Sol Invictus; this was considered an official holiday with no work to be done beyond farming and the release of slaves from bondage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Legally, the capital punishment of crucifixion was abolished and hanging was chosen as its replacement. Prisoners were no longer kept in total darkness but allowed access to the outdoors and daylight. Condemned men could choose death in the arena but were only to be branded on the feet due to all visible elements of the human body considered made in God’s image. Public gladiatorial games were eliminated in 325 CE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Did The Christian Transition Reach Britain?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Records penned by Gildas the Wise in the 6th Century CE date the introduction of Christianity to Britain during the reign of Emperor Tiberius in the 1st Century CE. Other records point to a Christian presence among the Britons within the start of the 3rd Century CE. More thorough Christianization of Britain happened once Constantine the Great came to power and this surge only continued with his successors; Three Roman-British Bishops were accounted for at the Synod of Arles in 314 CE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Roman Gods vs Greek Gods. Their Similarities and Origins When discussing the mythologies of Rome and Greece, particularly the Roman Gods, it is often joked that the Romans copied the Greeks’ homework and only changed the names. A more accurate interpretation would be that the Romans appreciated the orderly ritual that went into worshiping the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3963,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3961"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3961"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4777,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3961\/revisions\/4777"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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