137- The Christian Emperor

Hey, Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. You know, one of the perks about having four kids that you know about is actually getting a direct line to the big man up north. Mhmm. And this year, he wants you to know the best gift that you can give someone is the gift of Mint Mobile's unlimited wireless for for $15 a month. Now you don't even need to wrap it. Give it a try at mintmobile.com/switch. Upfront payment of $45 per three month plan equivalent to $15 per month required. New customer offer for first three months only. Speed slow after 35 gigabytes if networks busy. Taxes and fees extra. See mintmobile.com. Hello, and welcome to the history of Rome. Episode one thirty seven, the Christian emperor. In the autumn of three twenty four AD, the Roman Empire awoke to discover that for the first time in forty years, the empire was ruled by a single man. Only the oldest members of the citizen body even had a memory of what that was like. The rest of the population had grown up in the shadow of Diocletian's tetrarchy, with its multiple emperors, multiple capitals, and multiple, sometimes conflicting policies. Now everything, every issue, every decision, every order was going to be funneled through a single man. Afar from shying away from what was, for this generation at least, an unprecedented load of responsibilities, Constantine relished the opportunity he now had to reshape the empire in his own image. Like the greatest of the great Roman leaders who had preceded him, Julius Caesar, Augustus, Hadrian, Diocletian, Constantine came to power full of ideas, full of confidence, and full of energy. But more important than all of that, Constantine came to power with the fervent belief that he was the instrument of the Christian God, and it was now his duty to convert Rome to the one true religion. Though the empire would not officially become Christian until the reign of Theodosius, it was right here in the months after the fall of Licinius that Constantine made that later switch just a matter of filing some paperwork. The now sole emperor's first order of business following his victory over Licinius was to parse through his defeated rivals innumerable laws, edicts, and commands to decide which ones would stand and which ones would be tossed out. Constantine and his ministers plowed through everything Licinius had done since taking over the East in 03/13, and did their best to cancel laws they considered unjust, and let stand rulings they thought wise. This was mostly done on a case by case basis, but there was one big area where Constantine uniformly rejected Licinius's policy, the status of Christianity. Just so he would not be misunderstood, Constantine wrote an open letter to the people of the eastern provinces announcing what his policy towards the Christians was going to be. With no one around to challenge him, Constantine could finally stop mincing words, and he announced …