Early Christianity

Christianity was something that was extremely frowned upon. Most religions were tolerated and accepted by the population but not Christianity, Christianity was not even tolerated. This religion became somewhat of an 'underground religion' due to the strong dislike and even hate towards it. Most of the people that were of this religion were the lower class so bullying them was even easier, which most of them were. The reason there was so much distrust and dislike for the religion is that it posed somewhat of a threat to the rest of the religions. How, why one may ask. Christianity was a threat to the emperor because they could not claim divinity to the emperor, due to the fact that they believe Jesus Christ and God were the divine.

 This all changed when Constantine had a vision. Constantine was the Emperor in 313 CE when Christianity became a legal religion to practice. Now why would the Emperor take away his own divinity? This happened because Constantine believed he had received a sign from God right before his battle of Milvian Bridge. This caused him declare himself not divine and legalize Christianity as a religion, which made the religion flourish like nobody could have predicted.

This affects architecture because with a new religion spreading like wildfire there comes an extreme need for places to worship this new religion. New places comes with new styles, and the Christians are no exception to this rule. With the religion expanding like crazy they needed huge places for everyone to gather so they made St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome with an elaborate interior. This included masonry walls, clestory, windows, wood roof, and wood truss ceilings. The ceilings were extremely tall and the length was about 700 feet! Plus the window and interior were covered in frescos of biblical accounts.






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Extra Credit Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1HVlFQ-t3M