An outline, era by era

Rise of Christianity

Classical Antiquity · ~500 BCE – ~500 CE

Christianity began in the Roman province of Judea in the first century CE, among followers of Jesus of Nazareth, a Jewish teacher who was crucified under the governor Pontius Pilate around 30 CE. His followers proclaimed that he had risen from the dead. Through the missionary journeys of figures such as Paul of Tarsus, the movement spread along Roman roads and sea routes into the cities of the eastern Mediterranean, then to Rome and beyond.

For its first three centuries Christianity was a small and sometimes persecuted minority, though it grew steadily. Its position changed in the early fourth century, when Constantine favoured it and the Edict of Milan in 313 granted it toleration. In 380 the emperor Theodosius I declared Nicene Christianity the standard of orthodox belief for the empire's subjects. This did not end pagan worship at once, but further laws in the following years restricted it. The rise of Christianity shaped the religion, law, art and politics of Europe and the Mediterranean for the following centuries.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. The crucifixion of Jesus under Pontius Pilate

    Event

    What happened

    Around 30 CE Jesus of Nazareth, a Jewish preacher from Galilee, is executed by crucifixion in Jerusalem while Pontius Pilate is governor of Judea. The Roman historian Tacitus later records that Christ was put to death in the reign of Tiberius by Pilate. After his death, his followers in Jerusalem begin to proclaim that he has been raised from the dead.

    The rest is history

    This proclamation is the starting point of the Christian movement. The earliest followers were Jews who met in Jerusalem and kept Jewish practice. Historians agree that Jesus was crucified under Pilate, while the details of his life and the nature of the resurrection claims are discussed through faith and scholarship in different ways. The earliest surviving Christian writings, the letters of Paul, date from about 50 to 60 CE.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryTacitus. Annals 15.44. Latin history, early 2nd century CE. Loeb Classical Library.
    2. BookSanders, E. P. The Historical Figure of Jesus. London: Allen Lane, 1993.
    3. BookMeier, John P. A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus. New York: Doubleday, 1991.

  2. Paul's mission to the Gentiles

    Event

    What happened

    In the 30s CE Paul of Tarsus, a Pharisee who had opposed the new movement, becomes a follower of Jesus. From about the 40s to the 60s he travels through Asia Minor, Greece and beyond, founding small communities in cities and writing letters to them. Around the late 40s CE, Paul and leaders of the movement meet in Jerusalem to discuss whether non-Jewish converts must follow Jewish law. Acts describes a formal decision that they need not be circumcised, while Paul's own account in Galatians differs in emphasis and chronology, and the date and outcome are debated.

    The rest is history

    Whatever the exact course of that meeting, the movement came to admit non-Jews on a large scale, opening it to the wider Greek and Roman world rather than keeping it a Jewish sect. Paul's letters, such as those to the Romans, Corinthians and Galatians, are the earliest Christian texts and were later gathered into the New Testament. Tradition says Paul was executed in Rome under Nero in the 60s, though the sources are late. By 100 CE there were Christian communities in many major cities of the empire.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryPaul of Tarsus. Letter to the Galatians. Greek letter, c. 50s CE. New Testament.
    2. BookMeeks, Wayne A. The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983.
    3. BookSanders, E. P. Paul and Palestinian Judaism: A Comparison of Patterns of Religion. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1977.

  3. Nero and the first persecution at Rome

    Event

    What happened

    In 64 CE a great fire destroys much of Rome. Tacitus reports that Nero blamed the Christians, a group already disliked in the city, and had many of them arrested and executed in cruel ways. Tacitus himself doubts that they were guilty of the fire.

    The rest is history

    This was a local punishment in Rome, not an empire-wide campaign. Later, Christians were prosecuted at times in the provinces: around 112 CE Pliny the Younger wrote to Trajan asking how to treat them, and Trajan replied that they should not be hunted out but should be punished if they refused to sacrifice. Empire-wide persecutions came only in the third century under Decius in 250 and the Great Persecution under Diocletian from 303.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryTacitus. Annals 15.44. Latin history, early 2nd century CE. Loeb Classical Library.
    2. PrimaryPliny the Younger. Letters 10.96-97. Latin letters, c. 112 CE. Loeb Classical Library.
    3. BookFrend, W. H. C. Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church. Oxford: Blackwell, 1965.

  4. The Edict of Milan and the toleration of Christians

    Event

    What happened

    In 313 the emperors Constantine and Licinius agree at Milan on a policy of religious toleration, restoring property taken from Christians during the Great Persecution that began in 303. The settlement follows Constantine's victory over Maxentius in 312. Christians gain legal security after almost three centuries as an intermittently prosecuted group.

    The rest is history

    Imperial favour helped the church grow in wealth, buildings and influence. Some scholars question whether a single formal edict was issued at Milan, since the text survives as a letter preserved by Lactantius and Eusebius. Under Theodosius I, the Edict of Thessalonica in 380 declared Nicene Christianity the faith of the empire's subjects, and later laws restricted traditional cults. Constantine's own faith and policies are treated in the next entry.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryLactantius. On the Deaths of the Persecutors 48. Latin treatise, c. 315 CE, preserving the letter of Licinius.
    2. PrimaryEusebius of Caesarea. Ecclesiastical History 10.5. Greek history, c. 325 CE.
    3. BookBarnes, Timothy D. Constantine and Eusebius. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981.

  5. The Council of Nicaea

    Event

    What happened

    In 325 Constantine summons bishops from across the empire to Nicaea in Asia Minor to settle a dispute over the teaching of the priest Arius about the nature of Christ. The council produces a creed affirming that the Son is of the same substance as the Father. It also seeks agreement on the date of Easter, though no detailed calculation rule from the council survives.

    The rest is history

    Nicaea was the first general council of the church and set a pattern for later ones. The dispute did not end there, and Arian-leaning views remained influential for decades. Later reports and practice suggest the Easter question was only gradually settled. The Nicene Creed was expanded at the Council of Constantinople in 381 and is still used by many churches. The exact number of bishops present and the details of the debate rest on later sources.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryEusebius of Caesarea. Life of Constantine 3. Greek biography, c. 340 CE.
    2. BookAyres, Lewis. Nicaea and Its Legacy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
    3. BookHanson, R. P. C. The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1988.

  6. Constantine's vision of the cross

    Heroic tale

    The legend

    On the eve of the battle at the Milvian Bridge, Constantine sees a sign in the sky, and in a dream is told to mark his soldiers' shields. In the later version, he sees a cross of light with the words 'by this, conquer'. He wins the battle and becomes a Christian emperor.

    The rest is history

    Two accounts exist and they differ. Lactantius, writing around 315, says Constantine was told in a dream to put a sign of Christ on his soldiers' shields before the battle in 312. Eusebius, in his Life of Constantine written after the emperor's death in 337, says Constantine told him under oath, years after the event, of a cross of light seen in the sky before the campaign that ended at the Milvian Bridge. Scholars debate what lies behind the stories, and some link them to a solar halo vision reported in Gaul in 310. What is certain is that Constantine's victory in 312 began his support for the church. The Arch of Constantine in Rome, dedicated in 315, credits his victory to divine inspiration without naming Christ.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryLactantius. On the Deaths of the Persecutors 44. Latin treatise, c. 315 CE.
    2. PrimaryEusebius of Caesarea. Life of Constantine 1.28-31. Greek biography, c. 340 CE.
    3. BookDrake, H. A. Constantine and the Bishops: The Politics of Intolerance. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000.

  7. Peter, first bishop of Rome

    Origin story

    The legend

    Jesus gives Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and Peter goes to Rome, becoming its first bishop. He is crucified upside down under Nero and buried on the Vatican hill. All later popes are said to be his successors.

    The rest is history

    The New Testament says Jesus called Peter the rock on which he would build his church, and early tradition places Peter's death in Rome in the 60s. Early Roman Christian communities seem to have been led by groups of elders rather than a single bishop, and a single ruling bishop of Rome appears to have emerged in the second century. The list of early bishops was compiled later, by Irenaeus around 180 and Eusebius in the fourth century. Excavations under St Peter's Basilica in the 1940s found a second-century shrine on a burial ground, but whether Peter's bones lie there is still discussed.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryGospel of Matthew 16:18-19. Greek gospel, c. 80-90 CE. New Testament.
    2. PrimaryEusebius of Caesarea. Ecclesiastical History 2.25. Greek history, c. 325 CE.
    3. BookToynbee, Jocelyn, and John Ward-Perkins. The Shrine of St Peter and the Vatican Excavations. London: Longmans, 1956.

  8. Blood of the martyrs: Christians fed to the lions

    Popular belief

    The legend

    It is often said that Roman emperors regularly threw Christians to lions in the Colosseum, and that this went on constantly for three centuries until Constantine ended it.

    The rest is history

    Christians were indeed sometimes executed in arenas, and martyrs such as Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp and Perpetua were killed in public spectacles. But persecution was irregular and often local, driven by governors and crowds, with empire-wide campaigns only under Decius and Diocletian. There is no firm evidence of mass Christian executions in the Colosseum itself, and many Christians lived unmolested for long periods. Tertullian's line that the blood of Christians is seed was written around 197 in defence of the faith, and martyr stories did help the movement grow.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryMartyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity. Latin account, early 3rd century CE.
    2. PrimaryTertullian. Apologeticus 50. Latin defence, c. 197 CE.
    3. BookMoss, Candida. The Myth of Persecution. New York: HarperOne, 2013.

  9. Constantine's Donation and the sword of the church

    Popular belief

    The legend

    It is sometimes said that Constantine made Christianity the only religion of Rome and forced everyone to convert, and that he also gave the pope rule over the western empire.

    The rest is history

    Constantine did not outlaw other cults, and pagan worship continued openly for generations. The Edict of Milan was a grant of toleration, and it was Theodosius I who in 380 and the 390s moved to restrict traditional worship. The claim that Constantine gave Rome and the West to Pope Sylvester comes from the Donation of Constantine, a forged document written in the eighth century. In 1440 the humanist Lorenzo Valla showed from its Latin that it could not be from the fourth century.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryDonation of Constantine (Constitutum Constantini). Latin forgery, 8th century CE.
    2. BookValla, Lorenzo. On the Donation of Constantine. Latin treatise, 1440. Translated by G. W. Bowersock. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008.
    3. BookFowden, Garth. Empire to Commonwealth: Consequences of Monotheism in Late Antiquity. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993.

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