Ancient Cultures Hour 7
The Spread of Christianity
30 May, 2013
The Spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire The spread of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire was made possible by many things including the birth of Jesus, apostles, poverty, travel, roads, language, and the Roman army (PBS, 2006). The major people who took part in the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire were Jesus, the apostle Paul, the Roman army, and Constantine (Thorpe, ND). After the death of Jesus, his word continued on through teachings to the Jewish communities around the empire. This was made possible by apostles such as Paul and the modern communications of the Roman Empire (PBS, 2006). Over the course of thirty years, Paul traveled …show more content…
Thousands of miles of roads connected major cities as well as the outlying areas of the Roman Empire (Thorpe, ND). The extensive transportation network of roads helped the apostles travel and preach the word of God as well as aided people from different cities to meet and communicate (Thorpe, ND). The Roman army was a major venue for spreading ideas (Mason Academic Research System, ND). The Roman army never had units based on their home country; many of the units based in Britain were from the Middle East, therefor Christianity spread quickly (PBS, …show more content…
The Christians were widely criticized after the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD. Emperor Nero had failed in his ruling and diverted the attention off of him onto the Christians, who were seen as an easy scapegoat. Christians were arrested and tortured, then executed harshly in public. Some were crucified, thrown to wild animals, and even burned alive (PBS, 2006). It was not until the rein of Constantine when Christians were accepted. In 312 AD, Constantine said that he had a dream where he was told to pain the Christian symbol on the shields of his soldiers. He did so and henceforth won the battle. He later in 337 AD decided that he would allow the entire empire to worship any religion