By about 400 AD, the old social and physical structures of Rome were in decline, the city losing power both within its own empire and within the West as a whole (Miles 41). The decline of the old order in Rome allowed a space for the ascension of Christianity, which began in the first century AD. For the first two centuries of the Christian era, Roman authorities classified Christianity as simply a sect of Judaism and so did not react to it as if it were its own distinct religion.

To the extent that Christians were persecuted in the first few centuries after the beginning of the Christian era, it was only by local officials, with the imperial government warning those officials not to do so. However, in the first century of the Christian era, there was considerable anger at Christians in some quarters of Rome, especially after the Emperor...
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