Changes

==Introduction==

One of the most important figures in the ancient world was the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. He set the stage for Christianity to become the official state religion of the Roman Empire and in doing so he not only changed that Empire but also world history. This research will discuss the evidence for Constantine's "conversion" to Christianity and identify when he can be called an actual Christian. It will focus on Constantine's alleged conversion before the t Battle of the Milvian Bridge in October, 312 AD. There are many who have argued that Constantine did not really convert to Christianity at the time. There are those who doubt if Constantine did actually convert and that his beliefs were not those of an orthodox Christian until much later in life. The work will assert that Constantine did not have a conversion experience before the Milvian Bridge, as shown in the Christian sources and that he took many years to become a Christian.

==Background==

After the Third Century Crisis, the Roman Empire had been stabilized by a series of Illyrian Emperors. Christianity at this time had been growing more popular especially in the urban areas of the Empire, despite periodic bouts of persecution. At the time of Constantine’s birth, the empire was experiencing something of a revival under the system known as the Tetrarchy established by Diocletian. During this emperor’s reign, there was a prolonged persecution of the Christians. The Tetrarchy involved several co-Emperor’s cooperating in the administration of the far-flung Empire and its long borders </ref> Cameron, A. The later Roman Empire, AD 284-430 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. 1993), p 56</ref>. This system after the death of Diocletian’s main heir, Galerius, collapsed. The co-emperors who had under the Diocletian system worked together, now fought each other for supreme power and there was a civil war throughout the Empire. Constantine’s father had been one of the co-emperors. He had succeeded his father and was the de-facto ruler of much of western Europe. When Maxentius deposed the co-emperor in Italy, Constantine saw an opportunity to gain new territories. The Christian bishop Eusebius of Caesarea claimed that Constantine wanted to save Rome from a tyranny <ref> Eusebius, xviiii</ref>. Constantine had advanced quickly from his base in France but his army was significantly smaller than his enemy’s. He approached Rome and camped his army before the Milvian Bridge in 312 AD<ref>Cameron, p 113</ref>. Then according to Christian accounts, he had a dream or vision. The traditional account states that Constantine saw a Christian emblem in the sky. He saw this as a portent and this that led him to order his legionnaires to mark their shields with the Christian sign, the Chi Rho, similar to a cross. Lacentius relates how According to the Roman writer Lacentius Constantine ‘had marked on their shields the letter Χ, with a perpendicular line drawn through it and turned round thus at the top, being the cipher of CHRIST. <ref> Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum Chapter XLIV </ref>. Many have seen this as proof that Constantine converted to Christianity before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. Their argument is that after his vision that Constantine became totally committed to Christianity. The next day the army of Constantine inflicted a great defeat on Maxentius and he marched into Rome, the first Christian emperor <ref> Lactantius. X,IV</ref>. Later he defeated the ruler of the Eastern Empire and once more unified the Roman provinces under a single emperor. Constantine was a very effective ruler, he reformed the administration and rebuilt many cities, but he was an autocrat. He brought stability to the Roman empire after the civil wars and established a dynasty. Constantine also built the city of Constantinople (later Byzantium) and in doing so he laid the foundations for the medieval Byzantine Empire. His most important legacy was that he ended the persecution of Christians and legalized Christianity <ref> Cameron, p 114</ref>.