Pivotal Incident: Explain what you think is a pivotal event in the emergence of Christianity between Jesus' exit from the scene and the end of the Roman Empire.
             Perhaps the pivotal incident in the history of early Christianity, and its enforced acceptance by the great majority of the Western world as the one true religion, as opposed to a persecuted cult, is the vision of the Emperor Constantine. "The emperor Constantine has rightly been called the most important emperor of Late Antiquity. His powerful personality laid the foundations of post-classical European civilization; his reign was eventful and highly dramatic. His victory at the Milvian Bridge counts among the most decisive moments in world history, while his legalization and support of Christianity and his foundation of a 'New Rome' at Byzantium rank among the most momentous decisions ever made by a European ruler" (Pohlsander, 1999).
             After the last pagan emperor Diocletian died, there was a scramble for power between the general Constantine, who had distinguished himself in Britain, and Maxentius, who like Constantine was the son of one of the former emperor's three main administrators. Before Constantine won at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, making Constantine ruler of the Western Roman Empire, Constantine had a dream before the battle (the ancient Romans placed great faith in dreams). The dream consisted of either, early accounts suggest, that he must place the sign of Christ on the shields of his soldiers, or, according to later and perhaps less reliable accounts, he saw a cross heralding that by "this sign" he should conquer his enemy. Had Constantine not won the battle of Milvian Bridge and Maxentius had triumphed, because Maxentius was hostile to Christianity, this man would likely have marginalized adherents of Christianity and made the imperial cult once again the religion of the empire.
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