what was the event that led to the roman emperor constantine’s conversion to christianity?

Commencement in the eighth century B.C., Ancient Rome grew from a small boondocks on central Italia'due south Tiber River into an empire that at its top encompassed most of continental Europe, Britain, much of western asia, northern Africa and the Mediterranean islands. Amid the many legacies of Roman dominance are the widespread employ of the Romance languages (Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian) derived from Latin, the modern Western alphabet and calendar and the emergence of Christianity as a major world religion. After 450 years as a republic, Rome became an empire in the wake of Julius Caesar's rise and autumn in the first century B.C. The long and triumphant reign of its first emperor, Augustus, began a gilded historic period of peace and prosperity; by contrast, the Roman Empire'south decline and fall by the fifth century A.D. was one of the most dramatic implosions in the history of man civilisation.

Origins of Rome

As legend has it, Rome was founded in 753 B.C. past Romulus and Remus, twin sons of Mars, the god of war. Left to drown in a handbasket on the Tiber past a king of nearby Alba Longa and rescued by a she-wolf, the twins lived to defeat that king and found their own city on the river'south banks in 753 B.C. After killing his brother, Romulus became the first male monarch of Rome, which is named for him. A line of Sabine, Latin and Etruscan (earlier Italian civilizations) kings followed in a non-hereditary succession. At that place are seven legendary kings of Rome: Romulus, Numa Pompilius, Tullus Hostilius, Ancus Martius, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus (Tarquin the Elder), Servius Tullius and Tarquinius Superbus, or Tarquin the Proud (534-510 B.C.). While they were referred to as "Rex," or "King" in Latin, all the kings later on Romulus were elected by the senate.

Rome'due south era equally a monarchy ended in 509 B.C. with the overthrow of its seventh king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, whom aboriginal historians portrayed as cruel and tyrannical, compared to his benevolent predecessors. A popular uprising was said to have arisen over the rape of a virtuous noblewoman, Lucretia, by the king's son. Whatever the cause, Rome turned from a monarchy into a republic, a world derived from res publica, or "property of the people."

Rome was built on seven hills, known as "the seven hills of Rome"—Esquiline Hill, Palatine Loma, Aventine Hill, Capitoline Colina, Quirinal Loma, Viminal Hill and Caelian Colina.

The Early Republic

The power of the monarch passed to 2 annually elected magistrates called consuls. They likewise served as commanders in main of the regular army. The magistrates, though elected by the people, were drawn largely from the Senate, which was dominated by the patricians, or the descendants of the original senators from the time of Romulus. Politics in the early republic was marked by the long struggle between patricians and plebeians (the common people), who eventually attained some political power through years of concessions from patricians, including their own political bodies, the tribunes, which could initiate or veto legislation.

The Roman forum was more than than just abode to their Senate.

In 450 B.C., the beginning Roman law code was inscribed on 12 bronze tablets–known as the Twelve Tables–and publicly displayed in the Roman Forum. These laws included issues of legal process, civil rights and holding rights and provided the basis for all future Roman civil law. By around 300 B.C., real political ability in Rome was centered in the Senate, which at the time included only members of patrician and wealthy plebeian families.

Military Expansion

During the early republic, the Roman country grew exponentially in both size and power. Though the Gauls sacked and burned Rome in 390 B.C., the Romans rebounded under the leadership of the military hero Camillus, eventually gaining control of the unabridged Italian peninsula by 264 B.C. Rome then fought a series of wars known as the Punic Wars with Carthage, a powerful city-state in northern Africa. The first two Punic Wars concluded with Rome in total control of Sicily, the western Mediterranean and much of Espana. In the Third Punic State of war (149–146 B.C.), the Romans captured and destroyed the urban center of Carthage and sold its surviving inhabitants into slavery, making a department of northern Africa a Roman province. At the same time, Rome also spread its influence east, defeating King Philip V of Republic of macedonia in the Macedonian Wars and turning his kingdom into some other Roman province.

Rome's military conquests led direct to its cultural growth every bit a club, as the Romans benefited greatly from contact with such advanced cultures as the Greeks. The start Roman literature appeared effectually 240 B.C., with translations of Greek classics into Latin; Romans would eventually adopt much of Greek art, philosophy and religion.

Internal Struggles in the Late Democracy

Rome's complex political institutions began to crumble nether the weight of the growing empire, ushering in an era of internal turmoil and violence. The gap betwixt rich and poor widened as wealthy landowners drove small farmers from public state, while admission to authorities was increasingly limited to the more than privileged classes. Attempts to address these social problems, such every bit the reform movements of Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus (in 133 B.C. and 123-22 B.C., respectively) ended in the reformers' deaths at the easily of their opponents.

Gaius Marius, a commoner whose military prowess elevated him to the position of delegate (for the first of six terms) in 107 B.C., was the start of a series of warlords who would dominate Rome during the late democracy. By 91 B.C., Marius was struggling against attacks past his opponents, including his fellow general Sulla, who emerged as military dictator around 82 B.C. After Sulla retired, one of his former supporters, Pompey, briefly served equally consul earlier waging successful military campaigns against pirates in the Mediterranean and the forces of Mithridates in Asia. During this same period, Marcus Tullius Cicero, elected consul in 63 B.C., famously defeated the conspiracy of the patrician Cataline and won a reputation as one of Rome's greatest orators.

Julius Caesar's Rise

When the victorious Pompey returned to Rome, he formed an uneasy alliance known as the Starting time Triumvirate with the wealthy Marcus Licinius Crassus (who suppressed a slave rebellion led by Spartacus in 71 B.C.) and another rise star in Roman politics: Gaius Julius Caesar. After earning armed services glory in Spain, Caesar returned to Rome to vie for the consulship in 59 B.C. From his alliance with Pompey and Crassus, Caesar received the governorship of three wealthy provinces in Gaul beginning in 58 B.C.; he and then set about conquering the rest of the region for Rome.

After Pompey's married woman Julia (Caesar's daughter) died in 54 B.C. and Crassus was killed in boxing against Parthia (nowadays-twenty-four hour period Iran) the following year, the triumvirate was cleaved. With old-way Roman politics in disorder, Pompey stepped in as sole consul in 53 B.C. Caesar's armed services glory in Gaul and his increasing wealth had eclipsed Pompey's, and the latter teamed with his Senate allies to steadily undermine Caesar. In 49 B.C., Caesar and i of his legions crossed the Rubicon, a river on the edge betwixt Italy from Cisalpine Gaul. Caesar'southward invasion of Italy ignited a civil war from which he emerged as dictator of Rome for life in 45 B.C.

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From Caesar to Augustus

Less than a year after, Julius Caesar was murdered on the ides of March (March 15, 44 B.C.) by a group of his enemies (led by the republican nobles Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius). Consul Mark Antony and Caesar's great-nephew and adopted heir, Octavian, joined forces to crush Brutus and Cassius and divided power in Rome with ex-delegate Lepidus in what was known every bit the 2nd Triumvirate. With Octavian leading the western provinces, Antony the east, and Lepidus Africa, tensions adult past 36 B.C. and the triumvirate soon dissolved. In 31 B.C., Octavian triumped over the forces of Antony and Queen Cleopatra of Arab republic of egypt (also rumored to exist the onetime lover of Julius Caesar) in the Boxing of Actium. In the wake of this devastating defeat, Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide.

By 29 B.C., Octavian was the sole leader of Rome and all its provinces. To avoid meeting Caesar's fate, he fabricated certain to brand his position as accented ruler acceptable to the public past obviously restoring the political institutions of the Roman commonwealth while in reality retaining all real power for himself. In 27 B.C., Octavian assumed the title of Augustus, becoming the first emperor of Rome.

Age of the Roman Emperors

Augustus' rule restored morale in Rome subsequently a century of discord and corruption and ushered in the famous pax Romana–two full centuries of peace and prosperity. He instituted diverse social reforms, won numerous military victories and allowed Roman literature, art, compages and religion to flourish. Augustus ruled for 56 years, supported by his cracking army and by a growing cult of devotion to the emperor. When he died, the Senate elevated Augustus to the status of a god, beginning a long-running tradition of deification for pop emperors.

Augustus' dynasty included the unpopular Tiberius (14-37 A.D.), the bloodthirsty and unstable Caligula (37-41) and Claudius (41-54), who was best remembered for his army's conquest of Britain. The line concluded with Nero (54-68), whose excesses drained the Roman treasury and led to his downfall and eventual suicide. Four emperors took the throne in the tumultuous year later on Nero's death; the fourth, Vespasian (69-79), and his successors, Titus and Domitian, were known every bit the Flavians; they attempted to temper the excesses of the Roman court, restore Senate authority and promote public welfare. Titus (79-81) earned his people'south devotion with his handling of recovery efforts after the infamous eruption of Vesuvius, which destroyed the towns of Herculaneum and Pompeii.

The reign of Nerva (96-98), who was selected by the Senate to succeed Domitian, began another golden age in Roman history, during which 4 emperors–Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius–took the throne peacefully, succeeding one some other by adoption, as opposed to hereditary succession. Trajan (98-117) expanded Rome'south borders to the greatest extent in history with victories over the kingdoms of Dacia (now northwestern Romania) and Parthia. His successor Hadrian (117-138) solidified the empire'southward frontiers (famously building Hadrian's Wall in present-day England) and continued his predecessor's piece of work of establishing internal stability and instituting administrative reforms.

Under Antoninus Pius (138-161), Rome continued in peace and prosperity, but the reign of Marcus Aurelius (161–180) was dominated past conflict, including war against Parthia and Armenia and the invasion of Germanic tribes from the north. When Marcus fell ill and died most the battleground at Vindobona (Vienna), he broke with the tradition of non-hereditary succession and named his 19-year-old son Commodus every bit his successor.

Decline and Disintegration

The decadence and incompetence of Commodus (180-192) brought the golden historic period of the Roman emperors to a disappointing end. His death at the hands of his own ministers sparked another period of ceremonious war, from which Lucius Septimius Severus (193-211) emerged victorious. During the third century Rome suffered from a bicycle of well-nigh-constant disharmonize. A total of 22 emperors took the throne, many of them meeting violent ends at the hands of the same soldiers who had propelled them to power. Meanwhile, threats from exterior plagued the empire and depleted its riches, including continuing aggression from Germans and Parthians and raids by the Goths over the Aegean Bounding main.

The reign of Diocletian (284-305) temporarily restored peace and prosperity in Rome, but at a high cost to the unity of the empire. Diocletian divided power into the and so-called tetrarchy (dominion of four), sharing his title of Augustus (emperor) with Maximian. A pair of generals, Galerius and Constantius, were appointed as the assistants and chosen successors of Diocletian and Maximian; Diocletian and Galerius ruled the eastern Roman Empire, while Maximian and Constantius took power in the due west.

The stability of this system suffered greatly after Diocletian and Maximian retired from part. Constantine (the son of Constantius) emerged from the ensuing power struggles as sole emperor of a reunified Rome in 324. He moved the Roman capital to the Greek urban center of Byzantium, which he renamed Constantinople. At the Council of Nicaea in 325, Constantine made Christianity (once an obscure Jewish sect) Rome'southward official faith.

Roman unity nether Constantine proved illusory, and 30 years after his death the eastern and western empires were once more divided. Despite its standing battle against Persian forces, the eastern Roman Empire–later known every bit the Byzantine Empire–would remain largely intact for centuries to come up. An entirely different story played out in the west, where the empire was wracked by internal conflict equally well equally threats from abroad–especially from the Germanic tribes at present established inside the empire'south frontiers like the Vandals (their sack of Rome originated the phrase "vandalism")–and was steadily losing money due to abiding warfare.

Rome somewhen collapsed under the weight of its own bloated empire, losing its provinces one past one: Britain around 410; Spain and northern Africa by 430. Attila and his barbarous Huns invaded Gaul and Italy around 450, further shaking the foundations of the empire. In September 476, a Germanic prince named Odovacar won control of the Roman army in Italy. After deposing the last western emperor, Romulus Augustus, Odovacar'southward troops proclaimed him king of Italia, bringing an ignoble finish to the long, tumultuous history of ancient Rome. The fall of the Roman Empire was consummate.

Roman Compages

Roman architecture and applied science innovations accept had a lasting impact on the mod world. Roman aqueducts, first developed in 312 B.C., enabled the rise of cities by transporting water to urban areas, improving public health and sanitation. Some Roman aqueducts transported water upwardly to threescore miles from its source and the Fountain of Trevi in Rome nonetheless relies on an updated version of an original Roman aqueduct.

Roman cement and physical are role of the reason ancient buildings similar the Colosseum and Roman Forum are all the same continuing strong today. Roman arches, or segmented arches, improved upon before arches to build strong bridges and buildings, evenly distributing weight throughout the structure.

Roman roads, the most advanced roads in the ancient world, enabled the Roman Empire—which was over one.7 million square miles at the pinnacle of its ability—to stay connected. They included such modern-seeming innovations equally mile markers and drainage. Over 50,000 miles of route were built past 200 B.C. and several are nonetheless in apply today.

Photograph GALLERIES

Roman Leaders and Emperors

Roman Architecture and Engineering

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Source: https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-rome/ancient-rome

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