Essay about The Rule of Constantine

Constantine ruled Rome from 306 through 337 AD. Constantine was the first Christian ruler of Rome. Constantine usurped the throne after his father had died in 306 AD (Matyszak). Constantine married Minervina then Faustsa (Cowan). He co-ruled with a man named Licinius; he married his sister, Constantina, off to Licinius (Matyszak). Constantine said he was a Christian but what if in reality he was not. Constantine said he supported the trinity but the man who baptized him, Eusebius, did not believe in the trinity. Furthermore Constantine was not baptized till he was on his deathbed. Constantine used Christianity to get power in Rome and progress Rome. Christian's promoted a new way of thinking and helped Rome progress. Constantine introduced Christianity in battle to his troops to use it as a way to gain military power. Constantine also used Christian's wealth to gain great political power.

Constantine used Christianity to progress Rome and gain social support. The churches of God swayed many people in Rome. This gained the support of many people. Constantine also created the edict of Mulan. The edict protected freedom of religion, including Christianity. This progressed the rights of Roman citizens. Early Christians thought Constantine to be kind and intelligent (Matyszak). He made a good impression on them, but it is now argued that Constantine was nowhere close to that. In the early modern era Constantine is argued to be backstabbing and cruel (Matyszak). He was said to slaughter allies and family; he is also said to have known barely anything about Christianity. He fooled the Christians into believing him. 

Constantine used Christians in war and their ideals. Constantine used the symbol of Christ while he fought (Captivating History). Using the symbol of Christ increased morale. Morale gets the soldiers excited for battle. Also Constantine had dreamed that he had been told to put a heavenly figure on his soldier's shields (Captivating History). This claim is extremely unlikely. He was most likely using this to influence courage, and inspiration in his troops. 

Even when Constantine's army was outnumbered they were inspired by the divine and prevailed (Captivating History). Christianity gives soldiers something good to look forward to when they die. No matter how bad of a person they were. Most of the Army were pagan, so Constantine used the sun god to influence Christianity (Cowan).

Soldiers are very strong not only in physical power but religiously, so introducing Christ to the pagan soldiers might have persuaded them to either become Christians or they could have disliked Constantine.

Constantine was influenced by politics to be a Christian. One of the reasons Constantine and Licinius fought was for political supremacy (Captivating History). Attacking Christians is also a reason they fought. Commoners could relate Apollo to Jesus to help them with converting (Cowan). Not all people were easily converted. Christianity was still a minority and paganism was the majority. In 313 Constantine and Licinius agreed upon the Edict of Mulan. The edict granted freedom of religion (Cowan). They Agreed upon a law to help Christians against discrimination. He was not affected by religious hate  Many people believed Christians should be punished so the documents of persecution were watered down (Captivating History).

This would explain why we do not have many written documents on persecution. Law against persecution but did not enforce the law. If Constantine was really a Christian why was there still prosecution of Christians?  

To wrap up Constantine used Christianity. He used Christianity to gain social support and to progress Rome. Early Christians believed him to be kind but in reality he was vicious. He used Christians in war and their beliefs. He claimed to have been visited by God in a dream. He not only had enough Christian's support to get away with this, but he also had the priest's support. He used Christianity to gain political power. Not only Licinius saw what he was doing, The early modern Era did as well. Constantine manipulated Christians to gain power.