Christianity and classical culture were similar in some ways but in many other ways they were different. The Christians humility was something very foreign to the world of the Romans. In the Roman world infanticide was often encouraged for weak or deformed babies, which was by the Christians. The stoics often admired suicide stating that if you could even control when you die you must have excellent control of your life. This was obviously also discouraged by the Christians. When the church took a strong hold in society the caring of the poor and widows became systematic unlike in the Roman empire where they had to rely on whatever someone might give them that day. The gladiatorial games showed a trivialization of life whereas the Christians cherished life. Under the Christian emperor Constantine these brutal games were abolished.

After Diocletian and Constantine were emperor the Roman empire was under strain from the barbarians the Germanic peoples to the north of Rome continually wanted land in the Roman empire and they became even more persistent with the arrival of the Huns taking their land and destroying the barbarians villages path. Finally in the mid 4^th century emperor Valens let the tribe called the Visigoths settle in Gaul which is modern day France. The Visigoths were treated horribly given barley enough food to survive and the inflation of money made prices even higher. The Visigoths revolted and the Romans were defeated at the battle of Adrianople. This lead to the Visigoths having more victories and while the Romans were away fighting the Visigoths other tribes of Germanic peoples poured into the empire including the extremely warlike and vicious Vandals. Over time the Germanic peoples conquered more and more of Rome until the western half of Rome was completely conquered in 376.

After the persecutions of the Christians stopped in the third century AD. Monasticism became very popular. People wanted to escape the world of the Romans and to seclude themselves to be devoted to God. There are two main types of monks, eremitec and cenobitic monks. Eremite monks were hermits who secluded themselves in the desert. The bishops of the church discouraged this kind of monasticism because it often lead to strange kinds of penance. There were also the Sarabite monks who lived on pillars for their entire lives. Children would climb up to give them food and people came to seek their advice since they were considered to be wise. The church did not approve of this kind of monasticism, but the kind of monasticism they preferred were the cenobitic monks.

This is where a group of monks seclude themselves to be devoted to God. They also contributed greatly to society. Many historians say that the monks probably saved agriculture, since the Roman view was that physical labor was bad and that only slaves did physical labor. The monks proved that labor was not bad and that it should instead be honored. The monasteries also became full of advanced crafts such as metallurgy, pottery, scribes and many other crafts that the monks used to support themselves. The cistern monasteries all had water wheels and machinery.

The average view that Christians took on Greek philosophy was that Greek philosophy could be read and practiced but that the things that went against Christianity would be ignored, such as Plato’s idea that the soul existed before your body. Many old Christian leaders admired the work of the old philosophers such as Saint. Justin Martyr. At one Christian school all old philosophy was taught except for the blatantly atheist ones like the atomists.

In 111A.D. the governor Pliny of Asia minor wrote to emperor Trajan with questions regarding the Christians. He wrote wondering weather to seek the Christians out, weather to punish those who denied they were Christians, and overall just what to do with them. The emperor Trajan responded that Pliny had been right not to seek the Christians out and that they should not do that. But if a Christian was denounced to them and they did not renounce their faith, that they should be executed. In the years that followed this remained mostly true they were not actively sought out but if someone turned them in they would be executed. But under some emperors such as Nero and Domitian more aggressive tactics were taken. If a Christian was found out Nero might have them lit on fire to act as a torch, or they might dress up in animal skins for Nero’s men to hunt. But by far the greatest persecution the Christians experienced was under the emperor Diocletian. This lasted from 303 – 305A.D. This systematic persecution of Christians was different in that the Roman officials went out seeking the Christians instead of waiting for them to be turned in. Oftentimes people would be ordered to pledge allegiance to the Roman gods and if the Christians refused they were killed.

But under the emperor Constantine (who ruled from 306 – 337) the edict of Milan was established which meant that the Christian persecutions had finally ended. Throughout his reign he did other things to show his Christian sympathies. He banned crucifixion and gladiatorial games. He also made lives better for slaves and women. At the end of his life he was baptized, which was not an uncommon thing to do in those days so that all your sins would be washed away before you could commit anymore great sins. After his death Christianity would continue to grow and spread becoming the dominant religion in the Roman empire.

In Homers epic poems the Odyssey and the Iliad show that the ancient Greeks valued duty and honor above most other things. In the Odyssey and the Iliad the gods were portrayed as often changing their minds, being petty or vain. Some philosopher strongly disagreed with this however. The pre Socratic philosopher Xenophanes said that if there were gods (or god) that they would be higher than human beings and more noble. Socrates and Plato did not openly oppose the Greek religion but they developed a moral philosophy so appealing that it made people wonder why they should worship their vain and petty gods. By the Roman times people were looking for a religion that would appeal to the heart and to the mind. Stoic philosophy was popular among the intellectual but it did not hold much appeal for the common man because of the detached way you were supposed to look at life. They were also wondering about life after death and what that might look like if it was real.

This paved the way for Christianity to come in and to be spread rapidly. Some of the great ancient thinkers, such as Socrates and Plato had alluded to the fact that there might be a higher power unlike the gods of that day. The values of the Greeks had been rather self centered focusing on your own honor and prosperity. These differed from the values of Christianity that you should be humble and to place others before yourself. The Greeks had hoped to be good people to get into the Elysian fields of the underworld where there were none of the tortures that there were for the wicked people. This contrasts with the Christian promise that if you put your faith in Jesus as your savior, you will be saved.

Tiberius succeeded Augustus as Roman emperor in 14 AD after the death of Augustus. Tiberius continued the centralization of power to the emperor. It became really only one man in charge of Rome when Tiberius went into seclusion after his sons death and the government came to a halt. The mentally unstable Gaius more commonly known as Caligula succeeded Tiberius as emperor. He ruled for four years, in which he ordered the heads of statues to be cut off so that he could put his own head on them. After a brutal four years the praetorian guard assassinated him. The more competent emperor Claudius succeeded him for a more peaceful 13 year reign. After him Nero became emperor for 14 years. The story goes that for the first five years of his reign he was more stable but after that he became vicious and brutal. In an invasion from Gaul he committed suicide believing that they were hopelessly outnumbered. This marked the end of the Julio – Claudian dynasty.

The year that followed became known as the year of the four emperors as emperors were announced and ousted in rapid succession. Then Vespasian stabilized Rome and he became emperor for 10 years. His son Titus succeeded him and ruled competently for two years. After the death of Titus Vespasians other son Domitian became emperor. He ruled for 15 years and started out fine but after a revolt lead by the governor of a Roman province he became suspicious of everyone. He demanded worship of him and his family and had extra priests for worship of himself. Finally his family assassinated him which brought an end to the Flavian dynasty. During this time there was no legitimate way of naming the emperor sometimes the praetorian guard decided, sometimes it passed from father to son, and sometimes legions appointed their generals as emperor. Because of this system brutal or incompetent people could be appointed which was often the case.