Nero was one of the most dangerous threats to christianity during the age of the Roman emperor. As you will read throughout this essay paper i will be giving two examples of emperors that ruled over the great empire of rome in two different ways. let's start with Nero’s path to becoming an emperor. He was an insane Lunatic who would do anything (and when I say anything i really mean anything). He was born in A.D. 37, Nero was mentored by his helpful philosopher whose name was Seneca (he eventually forced to commit suicide). Nero murdered his way to the throne, which he occupied from approximately A.D. 54-68. His life was filled with violence (he had even caused his own mother to be killed!?!) and bloodshed. As you could tell he wasn't the …show more content…
Well one of Nero's first prosecution happened at the time of the fires that terrorized Rome in the summer of 64 A.D. The Fires were said to destroy approximately 70% that area.We do not know for sure but we have reason to believe that Nero was the one that started the fires because well he is a lunatic. When Nero was being blamed by his fellow people he used the christians as a scapegoat and pinned the blame on them. Later some jews were to be arrested, later be tortured and eventually die a gruesome death. During those times the Christians would have one of the worst reputation of those times as being know as the worst type of Jews. His reign of terror would get to other more noticeable characters in the bible such as Paul who payed a visit to christianity’s favorite emperor(sarcasm) not once but twice. On the second visit that he payed to Nero he would be beheaded. He later would lost it and eventually forced himself to commit suicide. Now I am going to talk about another emperor who definitely was not the same man that Nero was and he goes by the name of …show more content…
But even if it was just coincidence was really mattered is that constantine himself believed that it was god working with him to create a better rome.
The conversion of Constantine contributed to Christianity in many ways. Christians were now safe from persecution of others.But one negative(at least to us anyways) is that he also made Sunday an official Roman day to worship so that more people could attend church, and made church's tax-exempt. This of course is break one of the sacred commandments that specifically state that the sabbath must be kept as God’s holy day. Why did Constantine do this well it is because the resurrection of Jesus took place on the third day AKA sunday and that is why Constantine had changed the day of worship from saturday to sunday.
Whether Constantine’s conversion was genuine, Constantine's rule over rome was extremely important to Christians and their Christian church. After his vision, he had immediately declared Christianity legal using the very famous Edict of Milan. At this point in time it looked like he had completely abandoned paganism and their ways and hopped onto the “Christian bandwagon” to
From ages past, the actions of conquerors, kings and tyrants had brought the Roman Republic to a stance that opposed any idea of a singular leader, of a single man that held total power over the entirety of the state. Their rejection of the various ruthless Etruscan rulers that had previously dictated them brought the Republic to existence in 509 BC , and as a republic their prominence throughout the provinces of the world exponentially expanded. Throughout these years, the traditions of the Romans changed to varying degrees, most noticeably as a result of the cultural influence that its subject nations had upon the republic, as well as the ever-changing nature of Roman society in relation to then-current events. However, it was not until the rise of Augustus, the first of a long line of succeeding emperors, that many core aspects of the Republic were greatly changed. These were collectively known as the “Augustan Reforms”, and consisted of largely a variety of revisions to the social, religious, political, legal and administrative aspects of the republic’s infrastructure. Through Augustus, who revelled in the old traditional ways of the past, the immoral, unrestraint society that Rome was gradually falling to being was converted to a society where infidelities and corruption was harshly looked upon and judged. The Roman historian Suetonius states, “He corrected many ill practices, which, to the detriment of the public, had either survived the licentious habits of the late civil wars, or else originated in the long peace” . Through Augustus and his reforms, the Republic was transformed into an Empire, and through this transformation, Rome experienced one of its greatest and stabl...
But really, the Romans were trying to prevent people from sharing the Christian beliefs. As part of the religion, Augustus insisted that everyone should view him as God. Augustus didn’t want people to have their own beliefs.
Mullin, Robert. A Short World History of Christianity. Louisiville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008. http://books.google.com/books?id=2nWP0_6gkiYC&pg=PA54&dq=constantine's conversion to christianity&hl=en&sa=X&ei=gNgCU8_BFqXC0gHZ6oD4DQ&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAg
He cooled his temper by watching chariot racing, wrestling bouts and acting and singing competitions which was ‘appalling’ to the people of Rome. All of his executions were directed towards political opponents and unlike his immediate predecessors there is no reason to believe he enjoyed their deaths (Dennison, 2012). This however is very subjective as there are primary sources like Suetonius and Tacitus that say the opposite of this, that Nero did enjoy the executions of his rivals death. Nero reacted harshly to accusations of treason against himself and the senate and because of this people, if caught trying to overturn him, were exiled and executed ("Nero", 2017). One of the people Nero had executed was Seneca, Neros former tutor and mentor ("Who is Nero? Everything You Need to Know", 2017). By Nero executing his rivals, he made people scared to overturn him and changed future beliefs of emperors. It changed future emperors beliefs because they had less tolerance for conspirators making Nero an
However, this was different compared to Constantine who converted to Christianity and evangelized people to convert to Christianity as well. Constantine ruled as emperor from 306-337 A.D. and was the first Christian emperor of the time and credited
Constantine lived from 280-337 CE, and in 312 CE moved his army in on Rome and began his powerful uprising in the Mediterranean. Constantine looked to God in all his battles and it was said that he once saw an emblem and was told to put the symbol on his shield i...
Many Roman people believed that Tiberius’ later years damaged the carefully crafted political edifice put together by Augustus. They then realized that Tiberius was a glorious emperor compared to Caligula. As the people called him “our baby” and “our star”, it is ironic that his name later became synonymous with words such as hedonism, cruelty, tyranny, and insanity.
The first clear instance where Christianity is seen in Constantine's life is during his campaign against Maxentius. In the spring of 311, when Constantine was marching to Rome to battle against Maxentius, he saw a vision in the sky, a bright cross along with the words "by this sign conquer." Later that night, he had a dream in which God told him to use that sign as a safeguard to use in all of his future battles. Constantine awoke and immediately ordered his troops to inscribe the chi-rho, the sign he saw a combination of the Greek letters chi and rho, onto their shields (Constantine Converts to Christianity 312). Some historians have deemed it more appropriate to consider Constantine a patron of Christianity at this point rather than a convert as it appears that he is using it as a means to conquer and attributes his success to it rather being convicted and committed to Jesus Christ as a true Christian should (Legitimization Under Constantine). Meanwhile, at the same time that Constantine is having holy visions and dreams, Maxentius sought guidance and confirmation from pagan oracles and found a prophecy declaring the "the enemy of the Romans would parish." Emboldened by this prophecy, he left the defensive position of Rome and met Constantine at Milvian Bridge. Constantine was victorious despite having an army about a third of the size of Maxentius'. It is said that Maxentius' army became confused and scattered during the battle. Maxentius was drive...
In the early first century AD, the Roman Empire was subject to autocratic rule and the old Republic was long dead. Augustus had been ruling for forty years and most of that time he was loved and praised by the Senate and the people of Rome. Throughout his reign, Augustus had the one lingering problem of finding a successor to take over the role of Emperor. He had chosen 3 different heirs in his time of rule; however, they all passed before they had the chance to inherit Augustus’ esteemed power. His fourth choice, Tiberius, was the one to succeed Augustus. He was often referred to, by Augustus, as an outstanding general and the only one capable of defending Rome against her enemies. The statement, ‘Tiberius is condemned by many ancient historians (including Tacitus), and his reign is often portrayed as being detrimental to the welfare of the Roman Empire’ is invalid as he treated the senate fairly, created strong economics and security in the state and boosted the empire into an unprecedented state of prosperity. This hypothesis will be proven through this essay by analyzing factors such as Tiberius’ administration of the Empire, his relationship with the senate, his financial control, the effect of Sejanus over his rule and why were his last years as Emperor referred to as a ‘reign of terror’ by Tacitus.
As the greatest empire in the western world began to crumble one city at a time, the leader of the Roman Empire, Constantine, under pressure from external and internal sources moved the capital of Rome to Constantinople around 330 AD. The movement of the capital was after his conversion to Christianity in 312 AD, a growing religion throughout the empire despite being officially illegal. Constantine was not the devote saint that the church may speak of today, “from 312-320 Constantine was tolerant of paganism, keeping pagan gods on coins and retaining his pagan high priest title "Pontifex Maximus" in order to maintain popularity with his subjects, possibly indicating that he never understood the theology of Christianity” (Ferguson & Grupp, 1998). The first Christian Emperor claimed to have converted after a victorious battle with his brother and there are many that corroborate this story it appears highly suspicious to only promote Christian ideals and worship. Constantine was not even the Emperor that made Christianity the religion of the Roman people, but simply permitted religiou...
Emperor Nero, infamously known as one of the most malevolent, oppressive, and tyrannical leader throughout history, was the last ruler of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty. He was born outside Rome in Antium and his mother married his great uncle, Emperor Claudius, in order for her son to be the next Emperor of Rome. It wasn’t apparent that her son was to become one of the most feared and cruel leaders in Roman history from 54 CE to 68 CE. By examining his achievements and failures as an emperor, his influences and changes over the entire economic, political and social spectrum are revealed.
While Suetonius’s scriptures of Nero may pose a risk of bias, similar perversions were discussed within Edward Champlin’s ‘Nero Reconsidered’. Champlin discuses Nero’s descent into debauchery and malfeasance; how his personal exploits gradually began to corrupt his political and military affairs (Champlin, 1990). Nero began alienating and persecuting much of the elite for higher interests in personal concerns, as well as neglecting military advances and affairs completely. Nero’s exorbitant personal affairs and expenditures left the treasury thoroughly exhausted. His period was riddled with deflation as shortage of money began to emerge (Champlin, 1990). Nero’s adolescence and unruly upbringing was largely contributory to his inadequacy during his years as Roman Emperor. While Nero contributed significantly to the city, his reign demonstrated the unravelling of the Roman
By 313 A.D., Constantine had donated the property of Lateran, where a new cathedral, the Basilica Constantiniana was soon built, to the bishop of Rome. Constantine had an arch erected in his honour at Rome after the defeat of Maxentius, ascribed the victory to the “inspiration of the Divinity”. After his victory over Licinius in 324, Constantine wrote that he had come from the farthest shores of Britain as God’s chosen instrument for the suppression of impiety. Later, in a letter he proclaimed that he had come to bring peace and prosperity to all lands, with the help of God.
Constantine felt that the acceptance of Christianity would cause the religion to grow numerically and have greater influence in all areas of society. He also felt Christianity was the best religious choice for the people under his rule and beyond. Without the Edict of Milan, Christians would of been forced to continue secretly meeting in underground churches. Also, the pagan torture would have persisted and the confiscation and plundering of Christian churches would have still remained. Without the recognition of Christianity, the Christians would not have been able to maintain equal status with people from other religions.
Emperor Constantine (Flavius Valerius Constantinus) (272/3-337) ruled Rome during the acceptance of Christianity (307-337 AD), and was the first Roman Christian emperor. His impacts on the age in which he lived are manifold, but three of his most important contributions are his influence on the role of Christianity in the world, the development of the city of Constantinople, and the resulting impacts on architecture that are still seen today.