CHRISTIANITY FROM 2nd to 4th Century AD

Christians suffered from sporadic and localized persecutions over a period of

two and a half centuries. Their refusal to participate in the Imperial cult was
considered an act of treason and was thus punishable by execution. The most
widespread official persecution was carried out by Diocletian.

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 Diocletian
(284 - 305 AD)

During the Great Persecution (303–

311), the emperor ordered Christian
buildings and the homes of Christians
torn down and their sacred books
collected and burned. Christians were
arrested, tortured, mutilated, burned,
starved, and condemned to gladiatorial
contests to amuse spectators.

During the Great Persecution (303–311), the emperor ordered Christian

buildings and the homes of Christians torn down and their sacred books
collected and burned. Christians were arrested, tortured, mutilated, burned,
starved, and condemned to gladiatorial contests to amuse spectators.[9] The
Great Persecution officially ended in April 311, when Galerius, senior emperor
of the Tetrarchy, issued an edict of toleration, which granted Christians the
right to practice their religion, although it did not restore any property to
them.[10] Constantine, Caesar in the Western empire, and Licinius, Caesar in
the East, also were signatories to the edict. It has been speculated that
Galerius' reversal of his long-standing policy of Christian persecution has been
attributable to one or both of these co-Caesars.

(The Tetrarchy was the system instituted by Roman Emperor Diocletian in

293 to govern the ancient Roman Empire by dividing it between two senior
emperors, the augusti, and their juniors and designated successors,
the caesares. This marked the end of the Crisis of the Third Century. Initially
Diocletian chose Maximian as his caesar in 285, raising him to co-
augustus the following year; Maximian was to govern the western provinces
and Diocletian would administer the eastern ones. The role of

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the augustus was likened to Jupiter, while his caesar was akin to Jupiter's
son Hercules. Galerius and Constantius were appointed caesares in March
293. Diocletian and Maximian retired on 1 May 305, raising Galerius and
Constantius to the rank of augustus. Their places as caesares were in turn
taken by Valerius Severus and Maximinus Daza.

The orderly system of two senior and two junior emperors endured until
Constantius died in July 306, and his son Constantine was unilaterally
acclaimed augustus and caesar by his father's army. Maximian's
son Maxentius contested Severus' title, styled himself princeps invictus, and
was appointed caesar by his retired father in 306. Severus surrendered to
Maximian and Maxentius in 307. Maxentius and Constantine were both
recognized as augusti by Maximian that same year. Galerius
appointed Licinius augustus for the west in 308 and elevated Maximinus Daza
to augustus in 310.)