How Did Christianity Influence Roman Religion

In Europe today the most dominant religion is Christianity. This is thanks to the might and power of the Roman Empire. When we think of Rome what comes to mind is usually the might legions and senate that dominated the ancient world and influenced how we live today. Before Rome adopted the religion of Christianity they were a polytheistic society like many other ancient civilizations. This would affect all the other religions people practiced within the empire and would have grave consequences on their lives and the outcome of empire.

Early forms of the Roman religion were animistic in nature, believing that spirits inhabited everything around them, people included. A Capitoline Triad was added for the gods. Including Mars, the god of war,

In the year 64 AD a giant fire broke out in the city of Rome, and laid waste to much of the city. Rumors swelled that Nero himself was responsible for the fire because of a drunken party he had that night. Fearing a sense of reprisal Nero took advantage of the resulting devastation of the city and blamed the Christians, ordering the capture and killing of hundreds of them, having some of them being burned alive or even torn apart by dogs. The main reasons why Christians were prosecuted so heavily in Rome was because the Roman Emperors felt threatened by this new religion which could become more powerful than them and take power away from them. Also because when something bad happened like the fire that burnt down much of Rome they need a scape goat to have someone to blame that way the citizens did not blame the emperor for the

Until in the year 312 AD Emperor Constantine Augustus converted to Christianity himself. This was a shocker to the empire, an emperor converting to a religion started a dead Jewish criminal, executed under Roman perfect Pontius Pilate in the land of Judea. The reason why many people feel that Constantine converted is because during a civil war between him and his political rival Maxentius, he received a vision from God that his victory would be secured if he fought in the name of Christ. While under Constantine the new dominate religion of the empire became Christianity, while still knowing there was a lot of people who still followed the religion of the old Rome, and didn’t want to lose the support of them, he was the first emperor to permanently put into the place freedom of religion by enacting the Edict of Milan. This proclamation permanently established religious toleration for Christianity and all religions within the Roman Empire. It was the outcome of a political agreement in Milan between the Roman emperors Constantine and Licinius in February of 313. This allowed everyone freedom to worship whatever God they pleased, this finally allowed Christians legal rights, and returned confiscated property to Christians. All other edicts for toleration had been short. This time the edict effectively established religious toleration through the Empire and