CLASSICS 219: THE ROMAN EMPIRE
Precept 10 : The Triumph of Christianity

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Readings
• Eusebius, History of the Church,
• Book 7. 31 (Penguin pp. 249-250)
• Books 8. 1 - 10. 2 (Penguin pp. 256-305);
• Book 10. 5-9 (pp. 322-333)
• L&R sec. 165 (pp. 548-550); 172-173 (pp. 566-575); 174 (pp. 577-580)
• Ward, 431-441.
• P. Brown, The World of Late Antiquity, pp. 49-112 [on reserve in Firestone]

How and why did Christianity conquer Rome?

1. The Edict against the Manichaeans is a crucial reflection of official religious views just before the Great Persecution of the Christian Church. To precisely what did the emperors object?
2. Why did the sporadic persecutions of the Principate become (or attempt to become) organized and universal in the later third and early fourth centuries?
3. In the Great Persecution begun by the Diocletian and his colleagues, note carefully which tetrarchs persecute and which do not, and what their motives are alleged to be in each case.
4. What are the main stages of the Great Persecution?
5. How successful was it and what were its effects?
6. How and why did Constantine ensure the triumph of Christianity between 306 and 337? What were the immediate effects of that triumph?
7. Finally Peter Brown offers a longer view of the religious development of the age, and of Christianity's place in it. Be prepared to summarize his main points.

What does Prof. Brown mean when he says
- that Christianity made the demons central to its view of the world?
- that paganism survived far longer in the East than in the West?
- that the emergence of the holy man at the expense of the temple marks the end of the classical world?

In this sign shalt thou conquer!

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Last Updated: 2004-04-28

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