According to Lactantius’s On the Deaths of the Persecutors, in February 303 CE, Diocletian launched the last persecution of Christians which denied Christians of all legal rights. The persecution continued until 311 CE when Galerius, who was the Caesar of the Eastern Empire and was deathly ill, struck a deal with the Christian God. Galerius instituted an edict which granted Christians freedom of worship in exchange for their prayers for him. This was a major transformation of the Roman world
Christianity in the Roman Empire The rise of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire is one of the main contributing factors to its destruction circa 500 C.E. The teachings and morals portrayed in the letters of Paul of Tarsus (135-136) contradicted the Roman culture by preaching to follow the laws set forth by Christ rather than those set forth by the Roman Senate (136). The difference in belief caused tension between the Roman government and its citizens as more and more converted to Christianity and rebelled against Roman persecution. Paul of Tarsus was a very influential character in the story of Christianity. Thirteen letters are attributed to him in the writings that came to comprise the New Testament (134).
Christianity in the Roman Empire The rise of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire is one of the main contributing factors to its destruction circa 500 C.E. The teachings and morals portrayed in the letters of Paul of Tarsus (135-136) contradicted the Roman culture by preaching to follow the laws set forth by Christ rather than those set forth by the Roman Senate (136). The difference in belief caused tension between the Roman government and its citizens as more and more converted to Christianity and rebelled against Roman persecution. Paul of Tarsus was a very influential character in the story of Christianity. Thirteen letters are attributed to him in the writings that came to comprise the New Testament (134).
A major turning point in history is the ‘conversion’ of the emperor Constantine to Christianity in, or about, 312 AD. Historians have wondered at this idea. This occurred when the Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity. The result was the end of harassment of Christians and the beginning of Christendom. Emperors were not at all glad and felt indifferent to Christianity.
Occurring predominantly in Europe and the Middle East, the Crusades began in 1095 and officially ended in 1291 (History.com staff, 2010). This being said, the causes can be traced back to 1081 when Alexius Comnenus gained the Byzantine throne, becoming Emperor Alexius I, after years of chaos and invasions by the Seljuk Turks (History.com staff, 2010). In due time Emperor Alexius would begin to set his sights on reclaiming the Holy Land from the Muslims. Seeing that this task would require more than the Byzantine’s men, he reached out to Pope Urban II of the Roman Catholic Church asking him for troops (History.com staff, 2010). The Pope made his decision public at the 1095 Council of Clermont in Southern France where he raised the proposal for all able Western Christians to raise arms to aid the Byzantines.
Eventually the Islamic empire was weakened from civil war and political issues. Their growth was eventually stopped by the Christians in 1492. During the conquest of Syria and Palestine, the Muslims captured the rich Syrian trade center Damascus in 635, which became their capitol and the location of the caliphs. One year later Islam had took control of the Mediterranean coast reaching from Palestine to the Taurus Mountains. Islamic leaders decided not to advance any farther north, because they were opposed to climbing over the Taurus Mountains, and were intimidated by the military strength of the Byzantine that would be in the middle of the empire.
The role the military played in the expansion of Christianity differed from that of Islam. Christianity and Islam both made use of syncretism in the expansion of their religions. Christianity was influenced by much of Imperial Rome’s governmental structure and used the leadership of the bishop of Rome, called the pope. The celebration of Christ’s birth was moved to coincide with the winter solstice. This allowed the new faith to benefit from the power of selective older rituals and gave them remarkable strength and power.
From the late fourth century, the Church had consciously set out to destroy all knowledge that could distract people from devotion to god, thus ushering in the dark ages. Thus most important philosophical, medical, mathematical and scientific knowledge built up by the ancient Greeks and Romans had been lost to Europe forever. Some of the ancient Europe text had been retained by the arabs, who valued knowledge and expanded greatly on what had been preserved. Although Europe had been exposednto Islamic culture for centuries through contacts in Spain and Siciliy, much more Islamic thought was transferred to the west during the crusades. The need to raise, transport and supply large armies led to growth in trade throughout Europe.
There are many reasons for why the Roman Empire has fallen. One of the reasons is due to a new religion that had come about in the Roman Empire; Christianity. The beliefs of Christianity were so different from the Roman beliefs and values that people were being persecuted until Roman Emperor Constantine put a stop to it, and eventually legalized the religion in his empire. It caused many problems due to the drastic differences between Rome’s original religion, Paganism, which believed in many gods, and Christianity, which believed in only one god. Most Romans had considered their emperor to be a god, but the Romans who had converted to Christianity only believed in their own one god, and no longer respected, or even listened to their emperor.
It has been stated that the very success of the Roman Republic in war and imperial expansions led to its defeat. While this statement makes several valid points, it is likely that numerous other facets functioned in the fall of the Republic---especially that of Senatorial corruption and its ensuing lack of popularity. Gradually and with little warning, the surface of Roman life as a Republic began to transform at a rate that threatened the very fabric of the governing body. With the commencement of the second Punic war, a great disproportion of wealth grew evident. Whereas prior most plebeians were farmers or laborers who owned small but significant portions of property or earned adequate payment for their toils, upon the second Punic War, Hannibal destroyed this land, leaving plebeians homeless with little source of income.