Rise of Christianity
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Christianity spread from a small Jewish sect in Roman Palestine to become the dominant religion of the Roman world in about three centuries. Jesus of Nazareth preached in Galilee and was crucified under the prefect Pontius Pilate around 30 CE; his followers claimed the resurrection and gathered first in Jerusalem and then in the diaspora communities of the eastern Mediterranean. The mission of Paul of Tarsus carried the message to the Greek cities of Asia Minor and Greece, and his letters defined much of early Christian teaching. Persecution was intermittent rather than constant: Nero blamed Christians for the fire of Rome in 64, local officials sometimes acted against them, but for long periods the movement grew unbothered, drawing support from urban artisans, merchants and women. The structure of the church took shape through bishops, presbyters and deacons, and the canon of scripture was gradually fixed. Under Diocletian the last and most severe persecution began in 303, yet within a decade the emperor Constantine had issued the edict of Milan tolerating the faith, and in 380 Theodosius I made Nicene Christianity the state religion. Monasticism spread in the fourth and fifth centuries, and by 400 Christianity shaped law, art, learning and identity across the Mediterranean and beyond.