How Did Christianity Influence Roman Culture

The early Romans believed themselves to be descended from the war god Mars, and their constant history of conquest demonstrates this ideal. However, when the Romans eventually adopted a new Christian God, one more focused on mercy than on violence, they quickly ceased to be a great military power and were eventually unable to defend themselves from threats both internal and external. There were many other factors that contributed to the fall of the empire, like barbarian invasions, economic collapse, and epidemics, but the switch from the ancient pagan religion to Christianity had such a big impact on Roman culture and way of life that they were no longer able to continue being Roman after adopting a totally new religion. Thus, the rise of

They didn't want their churches to resemble pagan temples and they had requirements for the churches. A church had to be big enough to hold everyone at once so that everyone could pray together (Moulton 125). They saw themselves as one of the first to believe in one God; basically they wanted to make themselves original and welcoming to people wanting to convert. After everything that happened the Christians rose to the top and received favor from the emperor, although over time the Christians changed and it became hard to tell the difference. The pagans tried define what made a Christian a Christian and how they were different than traditional Roman paganism, but it was not always so simple. It became necessary for Romans to ask how does Rome keep moving forward without sacrificing its own cultural identity? (Beard et al. [364]) It is hard to categorize different groups when the also share lots of similarities. The Roman Empire was changing its faith but unsure of what that faith was. They were essentially dismantling their entire culture while trying to make a new one out of the one that was already

As the new emperor took power and favored one religion more than the other religion, many people had a hard time adjusting. This was the transition period. Rome took a big step in moving toward becoming a Christian empire. "In 312 CE Constantine defeated Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge and became sole emperor of both the Western and Eastern Empires (ruling from 306-337 CE). Believing that Jesus Christ was responsible for his victory, Constantine initiated a series of laws such as the Edict of Milan (317 CE) which mandated religious tolerance throughout the empire and, specifically, tolerance for the faith which came to known as Christianity" (Ancient History). When Constantine devoted his life to Christ he gave imperial support to Christianity. The emperor had influential power on the people of the