The AD 312 Battle of the Milvian Bridge, just outside Rome,
marked the start of a monumental change for Rome and her empire. This battle
was the figurative bridge between old pagan Rome and new Christian Rome. And once Constantine had crossed that bridge, there was no turning back.
After winning this battle against his brother-in-law
Maxentius and taking power at Rome, Constantine the Great—strongly influenced
by his mother—forcefully steered Romans away from the traditional worship of their classical gods toward Christianity, setting Rome on two paths: the adoption of Christianity as the state religion, and the relegation of the city
of Rome to obscurity as the Western Roman Empire collapsed within 175 years.
