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Constantine
What did Constantine do to show that he
accepted Christianity?
• Constantine allowed freedom of worship across the empire.
No more persecution of Christians
 Free to practice openly (freedom of worship)
 Could organize churches
 Property was returned

Constantine defeated Licinius, who was still persecuting
Christians
• Gave credit for his victory to the Christian church, and
established the church in his empire.
• Solved religious crisis when church was splitting in half
•
Planned and paid for churches, such as St. Peters in
Rome and church in Jerusalem
•
St. Peter’s Basilica in
Rome
(part of the Vatican City,
home of the leader of the
Catholic Churche, the
Pope)
Why did Constantine take steps to strengthen
the Christian church?
• Constantine believed the Christian God was working
with him.
What events led to the fall of Rome?
• Invasions by Germanic tribes overwhelmed the
empire.
• Rome could not stop invasions
• Rome, the capital, was captured.
Why was the Roman Army unable to resist the
invading armies?
• By the time the invading armies began invading the
empire, the Roman army was very weak.
• After Diocletian split the Roman empire into 2
parts, Constantine…
… won control of the Western part of the empire
… defeated Licinius to take control of the East
… reunited the eastern and western parts of the empire
… moved the capital of the empire from Rome
to the city of Byzantium
He called the city
“New Rome”
It was later renamed
“Constantinople”