Priest blessing people who have the plague Very soon after the crucifixion of Jesus, by around 40 or 50 AD, the early Christians began to choose leaders from among themselves. The Christians called these [...]
Peter and Paul, in a mosaic from Ravenna (500s AD) In the later Roman Empire and the Middle Ages, the Pope was the leader of the Catholic Church. Whenever there was a question [...]
The Roman emperor Trajan (A.D. 98-117) in the Vatican. By the time that Trajan was the Roman Emperor, around 100 AD, Christianity was definitely illegal. We have some letters written by Pliny, the governor [...]
An early Christian house church at Dura Europos, in Syria (200s AD) Christian persecution pauses During the forty years between 261 AD and 303 AD, the Roman government did not officially [...]
Oldest known portrait of Paul (catacomb of Thecla, Rome, 300s AD) Paul starts out as Saul Saul was a Jewish man who converted to Christianity near the very beginning of the new religion. [...]
Nicholas hands the purses through the window to the poor girls (Chartres Cathedral, about 1200 AD) St. Nicholas is a Christian saint who is one source for the idea of Santa Claus. According [...]
A Nestorian cross on a tombstone from Kazakhstan (1300s AD) In 428 AD, when Pulcheria and Eudocia were running the Roman Empire, a bishop named Nestorius became the Patriarch of Constantinople. That's like being the Pope but for people [...]
The Roman emperor Nero In the reign of the Roman Emperor Nero, during the night between the 18th and the 19th of July, 64 AD, there was a great fire in the city of [...]
Historical Jesus: One of the earliest drawings of Jesus - here he is healing a man who was paralyzed. Now he gets up and carries his own bed. (Dura Europos, Syria, [...]
Montanus and Montanism: This is the amphitheater in ancient Carthage where Romans killed Christians during the Decian persecution. What was Montanism? Montanism was a Christian heresy. A man named Montanus [...]
