ABSTRACT

On 28 October 312, Constantine defeated his rival Maxentius just outside the city of Rome, across the Milvian Bridge. In Rome, Pope Marcellinus handed over the scriptures in obedience to the edict. In Egypt, Peter the Bishop of Alexandria fled the city, while a number of other bishops were imprisoned leaving the Church without ecclesiastical leadership. Constantine seems to have been the first of the emperors to order a cessation of official hostilities and a restoration of property to the churches. In 308, Galerius sought to renegotiate power-sharing arrangements at a conference at the city of Carnuntum. The Great Persecution bequeathed to the Christian churches a rich martyrological heritage. Graves of martyrs had become holy places to Christians by the late third century and the Great Persecution provided a context for martyr narratives. The imperial family stood at the apex of the social pyramid of the empire.