| With over 900 churches in Rome alone, it's no surprise | | | | Christianity became tolerated and then it wasn't until |
| that the word Italy has such strong connotations of | | | | 380 AD that Christianity became the official religion |
| religion. It was thought that the Romans had a religion | | | | thanks to emperor Theodosius. This wasn't the only |
| that was unique to them although it was thought that | | | | religion that was available. As the empire the Romans |
| these did not come from a single source, but instead | | | | were creating was to continue expanding, so would |
| they were a mixture of the beliefs, traditions and | | | | the many number of people that have been |
| superstitions of those in power and a number of other | | | | conquered and into the mixing pot went all their Gods |
| providers. | | | | and many religious beliefs. |
| As the city grew and became more developed, the | | | | The ideas that were set out by the Christians spread |
| views that the leaders had, slowly became part of | | | | quickly around the city, and the common languages |
| everyday beliefs. At the very beginning, Rome had no | | | | that were spoken (Empire, Latin and Greek) throughout |
| religious structures or places to worship the spirits/ | | | | the area, helped make this process a lot faster. The |
| gods they believed in. It was the Etruscan kings who | | | | base for many Roman soldiers around this time was |
| first built such buildings around 500 BC. | | | | usually Britain so this helped the word of the Christians |
| When Christianity roughly began in the year AD 1, The | | | | spread over seas. If it wasn't for the Roman Empire, |
| leaders of Rome had priests who were in charge of | | | | some say Christianity may not have spread so fast or |
| the religious sites of Palestine but it took them a while | | | | even at all! |
| to figure out how they were going to continue form | | | | If you plan to take a trip to Italy to find out more |
| here. It was a difficult decision to make because the | | | | information on the history of Christianity and the |
| new Christians would not participate in the worship of | | | | Roman Empire, make sure you find out first what |
| Caesar. | | | | hotels in Rome are close to the historic areas you |
| After some difficult times between the Romans, the | | | | would like to visit. |
| Christians and the Jews, it wasn't until 260 AD that | | | | |