edict of thessalonica legalized the practice of christianity in the roman empire.
edict of thessalonica legalized the practice of christianity in the roman empire.
who legalized the practice of christianity in the roman empire?
edict of thessalonica
the edict of milan of 313 finally legalized christianity, with it gaining governmental privileges and a degree of official approval under constantine, who granted privileges such as tax exemptions to christian clergy. in the period of 313 to 391, both paganism and christianity were legal religions, with their respective adherents vying for power in the roman empire. this period of transition is also known as the constantinian shift. for the first two centuries of the byzantine empire, official policy towards paganism was cautious and tolerant. in 380, theodosius i made nicene christianity the state church of the roman empire. paganism was tolerated for another 12 years, until 392, when theodosius passed legislation prohibiting all pagan worship. pagan religions from this point were increasingly persecuted, a process which lasted throughout the 5th century. hover, even with the closing of the neoplatonic academy by decree of justinian i in 529, its philosophers were permitted to remain within the empire without converting to christianity,
christianity and paganism
italian fascists identified their ideology as being connected to the legacy of ancient rome and particularly the roman empire: julius caesar and augustus were idolized by italian fascists. italian fascism views the modern state of italy as the heir of the roman empire and emphasized the need for renovation of italian culture to "return to roman values". italian fascists identify the roman empire as being an ideal organic and stable society in contrast to contemporary individualist liberal society that they identify as being chaotic in comparison. julius caesar has been identified as a role model by fascists because he led a revolution that overthrew an old order to establish a new order based on a dictatorship in which julius caesar wielded absolute power. mussolini emphasized the need for dictatorship, activist leadership style and the leader cult like that of julius caesar that involved "the will to fix a unifying and balanced centre and a common will to action". italian fascists also idolized augustus as the champion who built the roman empire. the fasces – a symbol of roman authority – was the symbol of the italian fascists and was additionally adopted by many other national fascist movements formed in emulation of italian fascism. while a number of nazis rejected roman civilization because they saw it as incompatible with aryan germanic culture and they also believed that aryan germanic culture was outside roman culture, adolf hitler personally admired ancient rome. hitler focused on ancient rome during its rise to dominance and at the height of its power as a model to follow and hitler deeply admired the roman empire for its ability to forge a strong and unified civilization and in private conversations he blamed the fall of the roman empire on the roman adoption of christianity because he claimed that christianity authorized the racial intermixing that weakened rome and led to its destruction.
fascism and ideology