I

n 313C.E., there were two emperors

in the Roman world. One was

Constantine, who ruled the western

half of the Roman Empire. The other

was Licinius, who ruled the eastern

half. In the spring of 313, the two

emperors publicly made it known that

Christianity was to be allowed throughout the

empire. For centuries, Christians had been killed

simply because they were Christians. After 313,

they could practice their religion openly, they

could defend their religious practices at court, and

they could even build churches if they wanted.

AN END TO AN ERA

While 313C.E. saw the rise of Christianity, it also

saw the slow decline of the pagan religions.

Worship of the Christian God gradually replaced

the worship of the Greek and Roman gods. Neither

Constantine nor Licinius punished pagans — that

would come with future emperors — but it was

becoming clear that the pagan religions would

soon disappear from the ancient world. Their

beliefs represented a threat to Christianity, and the

Romans who still worshiped the old gods

represented a threat to the new emperors.

After 316C.E., the emperors Licinius and

Constantine turned against each other, partly

because of mistrust and partly because of religion.

Licinius tolerated Christianity but favored

paganism, going so far as to dismiss his Christian

government workers and demoting Christian

soldiers. Constantine took advantage of Licinius’

dislike of Christians and attacked him. After

many years of fighting, Constantine defeated and

killed Licinius in 324C.E. Christianity was now the

dominant religion of the Roman Empire.

Constantine died in 337C.E.— 24 years after he

legalized Christianity. He left the empire to his

three sons. During their reign, Pagan Rome felt its

first major blow. Constantine’s second son,

by Anthony Hollingsworth Constantius II, ordered the altar of the goddess

A royal naval battle!

The forces of two

Roman emperors,

Constantine and

Licinius, vie for

victory!

11