Christianity and Islam, the Religions that Shaped the Course of World History

 

A Catholic cathedral in the Philippines

A son of a carpenter, Jesus was born at about 4 or 6 BC during the reign of Roman emperor Augustus Caesar. He assembled twelve disciples to represent the twelve tribes of Israel and started his ministry at about the age of 30. He preached about Jewish laws and religion and the eminent coming of the kingdom of God. His activities were not seen favorably by the Jewish religious leaders who considered him as a threat to the stability to the community. His claim as a son of God was deem unacceptable and highly blasphemous. The high priests plotted against him and succeeded in making Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea order Jesus’ crucifixion.

                              Jesus and Thomas after the Resurrection by Caravaggio (a public domain image)

Jewish and Roman authorities thought the death of Jesus would put an end to his following. But his disciples and his followers even became more devoted and firmer believer of him after his death. Jesus followers claimed that they saw him resurrected as he had said and promised. And they were willing to suffer or die for what they believed in. With their preaching and healing of the people, the early Christians were able to gain adherents, and soon they moved into the realm of the Roman Empire amid hardships and persecutions armed only with their willingness to sacrifice and the strength of their conviction. The promise of salvation, an eternal life for everyone and the reported miracles and healing convinced people that the one Christian God is superior to the pagans’ many gods which drove them to accept the new faith. And soon Christianity became the wave of belief whose rise in momentum could not be contained by the Roman Empire, the mightiest power on earth at that time.

Roman Emperor Constantine the Great who along with his forces saw a sign in the sky before the battle at Milvian Bridge against Maxentius on October AD 312 and attributed that vision for his victory in the battle. He adopted to the new faith and became the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. In AD 313 he issued an edict permitting Christians and people of other faith to profess their belief without fear of persecution. In AD 380 Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, and this made the religion spread massively across the Middle East and much of Europe.

The extent of the Roman Empire during the reign of Emperor Trajan. Photo credit: Tataryn at Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0Unported

In AD 570 in Mecca, in Arabia Muhammad the prophet of Islam was born. At age 25 he married a wealthy widow named Kadijah. In his retreats in a cave in Mount Hira he encountered a being who told him to recite words. Afraid and thinking that he was becoming mad, he told the matter to Kadijah who in turn took him to Nofil, her Christian cousin. Nofil reassured Muhammad that what he saw was Angel Gabriel and that what he told him was message from Allah or God. Her words convinced Muhammad that he was indeed a messenger of Allah and that he had a mission to spread Allah's words.

Muhammad started to establish his new religion called Islam at Mecca at first. But locals as well the rulers were not interested, and they were even hostile to him and his few followers so that they feared for their safety. Muhammad and his followers fled to Medina in what Muslims called the event as Hegira. In Medina he was able to convert people to Islam and soon he was able to gain many followers. From Medina he returned triumphantly to Mecca where people now accepted Islam as their faith. Muhammad died in AD 632, and at that time Islam had already widely spread in Arabia. His successors called the caliphs then took the task of spreading the message of Allah and Islam beyond the borders of the Arabian Peninsula.

The caliphs propagated Islam by persuasion or by the sword overrunning Christian territories in most of the Middle East. They also marched toward northern India, Africa and Anatolia in present day Turkey. Christian Europe would be a prize target for Islamic conquest.

Muslims under the Umayyad Caliphate composed of Moors, Berbers and Arabs led by Tariq Ibn Ziyad crossed the strait of Gibraltar at about AD 711. They then conquered the Visigothic Christian Kingdom of Spain and in series of military campaigns controlled a vast region which they called Al-Andalus or Andalusia. To spread Islam farther, the Muslim Moors advanced north but they were defeated by Charles Martel, the Frankish leader in the Battle of tours in France on October AD 732. Defeated, the Moors retreated to Spain where they ruled in large part of that country for almost 800 years.

To protect pilgrims in the holy lands, to stop Muslim incursions into Christian territories and to recover places conquered by the Muslims in the Middle East, Christian kingdoms in Europe with the blessing of the pope launched military expeditions or crusades to execute those missions. The crusades were conducted from 1095 until 1291. However, the effort failed and the Holy Land and the Middle East remained firmly under Muslim control.  

Over time, in Spain the Christian kingdoms slowly regained much of their lost territories from the Muslims in a crusade known as Reconquista. The last straw for the Moors came with the marriage of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castille. Their combined forces defeated Boabdil or Sultan Muhammad XII of Granada on January 2, 1492.  In the aftermath, the Moorish Sultan was sent back to Morocco and all Muslims and Jews who would not convert to Catholicism were expelled from Spain.

On May 29, 1453, Constantinople, Christendom’s second most important city after Rome and the seat of the eastern Roman Empire which was also known as the Byzantine Empire fell into the hands of the Muslim Ottoman Turks under the leadership of the 21-year-old Sultan Mehmed II.

A picture of the Hagia Sophia, a Christian Cathedral turned into a mosque after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. A photo by Dennis Jarvis at Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 20 Generic.

The event had a far-reaching impact to the world since Constantinople is situated strategically in the southeastern tip of Europe and beyond its coast not far away is the northern tip of Anatolia or Asia Minor. Both places are separated only by the narrow Strait of Bosporus which made that city an ideal transport point for goods and people coming from Europe to Asia or vice versa for military, commercial or other purposes. Muslim control of lands in the Middle East and the fall of Constantinople made it difficult for goods such as silks, porcelains and spices from India, China and the Far East to be transported to Europe via the traditional silk route. And those that made their way into Europe became expensive.

European kingdoms particularly Spain and Portugal looked for ways to get around the traditional but perilous routes to procure those desired goods coming from the east. And they came up with the idea of sea travels as the alternative. The execution of that concept ushered into the Age of Exploration or Age of Discovery.

Victoria, Ferdinand Magellan’s ship from a map of Ortelius (a public domain image)

An Age of Exploration era ship from a public domain image titled “Half Moon in Hudson”

The Age of Exploration which began in the 1400’s paved the way for the transport of goods and people from erstwhile unexplored lands to Europe and vice versa. This interaction also brought with it the exchange of ideas and technology as well as the transmission of communicable diseases. The Portuguese and the Spanish also discovered vast tracts of lands that they colonized. They brought people from Europe and had them settle in discovered new lands, and also profited from the slave trade which forcibly brought people from Africa to work as slave labor in the new world. This situation displaced the indigenous people and in some cases they were decimated by diseases carried by the Europeans. The movement of peoples from one place to another changed the demographic landscape of a place. The Age of Exploration was an era when European maritime powers spread their language, culture and the religion of Christianity to many parts of the world. Other European countries such as England, France and Netherland later participated in the exploration of uncharted or undeveloped land in continents such as the Americas, Australia and South East Asia. The exploration made by the Europeans gave rise to the birth of new countries in the New World and some of these countries such as the United States and others have even become stronger than their former mother countries.

Slave Trade by Auguste Francois Biard (a public domain image)

Jesus is one of the greatest and most adored historical figures who ever lived. His teachings and deeds have profound influence in the lives and culture of billions of people. Christians believe that he is God’s fulfillment of the promised messiah in the Bible and the Son of God. On the contrary the Jews claim that he is not because he did not satisfy the criteria of being the Messiah. Muslims say that he is just a mere prophet. Others say that he is just a man like the rest of us. Divine or not, Jesus Christ is undeniably a figure who we can draw inspiration and emulation. He was a pacifist par excellence. His teaching of loving God, your neighbor including your enemies; the forgiveness of people who wronged us, not judging others for their fault and other teachings are acts of kindness that will bring good even to people with the hardest of heart. These teachings will always remain relevant and will stand to the test of time for many generations.

The Resurrection, a Testament to the Divinity of Jesus

The Resurrected Jesus by Noel Coypel

The resurrection of Jesus is one of the most compelling doctrines of the Christian faith. According to this doctrine, Jesus, by rising from the dead, gave humanity hope of life after death in the kingdom of heaven. Without the resurrection Christianity would not have taken its roots after the death of Jesus on the cross.                                                                                                                                                                            

Jesus was the son of a carpenter named Joseph and Mary who the Bible said divinely conceived Jesus. Little was said about Jesus in his early childhood until he started his ministry in his 30’s. He organized 12 disciples in accordance with the 12 tribes of Israel. He preached in Capernaum and Bethsaida proclaiming the advent of the kingdom of God. He also helped those who were poor in physical resources and spirit and emphasized that moral sincerity was more important than strict adherence to Jewish rituals. Although he was appreciated by the common people, Jesus incurred the enmity of the priests because of his teachings. They thought that his activities might lead the people stray from the laws of the Torah, and that his’ influence to the people might prejudice the Jews’ relationship with their Roman administrators.

Jesus’ claim that he was the Son of God was not favorably received by some people. When words about it reached the ears of the priests and the Supreme Jewish Council, they conspired to kill him.  They bribed Judas Iscariot, one of the disciples of Jesus to betray him for 30 pieces of silver.

During the feast of the Jewish Passover, Jesus gathered his disciples for their meal. He blessed the unleavened bread and said that it was his body and the wine his blood. He told his disciples to follow what he did for his memory. In that occasion he told them of his coming death, and that one of them will betray him. Disturbed, his disciples individually asked if it was he who would betray him. When it was Judas turn to ask that question Jesus answered in the affirmative.

After the meal Jesus and his disciples retreated to the Mount of Olives to reflect and pray. There, he told them of his resurrection. They also went to the Garden of Gethsemane where later a group of people led by Judas Iscariot came. With a kiss, Judas handed Jesus over to the Jews. Jesus was brought to Annas, the father-in- law of Caiaphas, the high priest.and then to King Herod. Finally, he was made to face the high priest and the Supreme Council of the Jews for trial. When the high priest asked if he was the son of God and the Messiah, he admitted it. And the high priest then rent his vestment and said that there was no need for more evidence to prove Jesus’ guilt. And then they sentenced him to death for blasphemy.

Since only the Roman procurator had the power to impose capital punishment, they brought Jesus to Pontius Pilate. Not convinced of the truthfulness of the accusation against him, Pilate asked him if he is the King of the Jews. Jesus’ affirmative reply only aggravated his situation further. Unable to get him off the hook and concerned that the Jews might riot if he would not give the death penalty, Pilate made the last proposition for the Jews to choose between the criminal Barabbas and Jesus for the execution. But the people overwhelmingly demanded the blood of Jesus. Pilate then released the criminal from prison, washed his hands, and handed Jesus to the Jews.

While Jesus was consigned to his doomed fate, Peter, one of his most trusted disciples, watched from a distance. Then a woman asked him if he knew Jesus. Peter made a denial. After a while, another woman and later a man asked peter about Jesus, and he denied again knowing him. On his third denial a cock crowed and Peter remembered what had Jesus told him about that incident. Overwhelmed with a sense of guilt, Peter cried and stayed away from the place.

In the hands of his tormentors and executioners Jesus was whipped, beaten up, spat upon and ridiculed. They mocked him by putting on a crown of thorns on his head, a red cape on his back and handed to him a scepter of reed as “symbols or royalty”. On the top of the cross was the charge against him written on a wooden slab which read: “This is Jesus the King of the Jews”.  Jesus was made to carry his own cross all the way to the place called Golgotha. There, he was crucified together with two robbers whose crosses were at his sides. Even while Jesus was already suffering from great pain on the cross his tormentors continued to mock him saying that if he was truly the Son of God, he would save himself from death. “If he could save others, why couldn’t he save himself?”, a Jew said. While Jesus was on the cross darkness engulfed the land and when he died there was an earthquake. The veil of the temple was rent, and the wall cracked. A Roman centurion who was watching Jesus commented that he was truly the Son of God.                                                                                          

Since the following day was Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy man who was one of Jesus’ followers, asked Pilate for the body of Jesus to be laid to a tomb belonging to Joseph’s family, and he was granted with the request. On the other hand, the high priest and the Pharisees, concerned that Jesus’ followers might steal his body because of his statement that he would rise three days after his death, went to Pilate and told him about it.  Pilate assured them that guards would be posted to keep watch of the tomb within that period. 

On the third day of Jesus’ death, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James went to tomb to anoint his body for burial. Getting there, they were surprised to find out that the stone covering the sepulcher was gone and so too were the Romans soldiers who were guarding the tomb. When they entered the sepulcher they saw inside a young man and the linen that was used to wrap Jesus’ body.  The mysterious young man told them that Jesus had risen.

                                                    

Meanwhile, the soldiers who were shaken with what they had witnessed told the high priest of the incident at the tomb, and the high priest and the Supreme Council of the Jews then bribed them to tell people that the followers of Jesus stole his body.

As they were about to go to Galilee, the women met the risen Jesus. They hold him by the feet and worshiped him. The women later told the eleven disciples about the resurrection of Jesus. But some of them were doubtful of the report. On that same day as the disciples were gathered Jesus suddenly appeared to them and showed his wounds on the cross. He touched them and ate bread and drank with them. After the meal he suddenly disappeared.

Thomas one Jesus’ disciples who were not around at his first appearance doubted the claim and said that what they saw might just be a spirit. Then on one occasion where the disciples were gathered Jesus suddenly appeared even if the door was closed. He then told Thomas to come forward and touched his wounds. Thomas obeyed and did as he was told and then knelled before him and called him "my Lord and my God". On the 40^th day after Jesus death, he appeared for the last time to his disciples and he ascended to heaven.

The disciples’ obedience to Jesus words is their testimony that he was the son of God who was resurrected from the dead. Armed only with their convictions they were able to gain many followers who believed in Jesus. They converted to the new faith not only the Jews but also Greeks, Romans, Arabs and other nationalities.

The Romans saw the early Christians as a threat to their traditional polytheistic faith so that they persecuted them to nip their new faith in the bud. Some Roman officials believed that if the new faith was not divinely inspired it would just wither away with the passing of time. But the new faith founded by Jesus and propagated by his disciples and followers wouldn’t go away and gained more and more new adherents instead. Despite the repression of the early Christians, the people in the Roman Empire were converted to the new faith. Christianity spread like wildfire, and the greatest power on earth at that time, the Roman Empire, could not even prevent its advance despite mustering its available strength to stop it.

Christianity may have died simultaneously with the death of Jesus. The sight of him claiming to be the Son of God who was helpless to the humiliation, torture and abuses of his tormentors disheartened his disciples. His chief disciple, Peter even denied him and the others abandoned him and hid in fear of their lives. However, when Jesus was risen their fear turned into courage and commitment to follow him. Disregarding persecution, and death, and guided by the Holy Spirit, they followed what was told to them by Jesus. The disciples had no power and had no comfort or material resources to offer to people who would only be subjected to harassment and sufferings for their being identified with them. And yet, people believed in them and converted to the new faith. Jesus had told his disciples of his resurrection three days after his death. If this did not happen they would have thought that what he had said and taught were false. Although there are people who will die for a lie which they sincerely believe to be true, people will not die for something that they personally know to be false especially if they do not gain anything for doing so. The disciples personally witnessed the resurrection of Jesus, and that is why they were willing to become martyrs for their faith.

The resurrected Jesus was not the same mortal Jesus that the disciples used to be with before the crucifixion. Like a spirit, the resurrected Jesus could appear all of a sudden in a place, disappear just anytime, and enter a closed door. But he was not a spirit because he talked to the women and his disciples, ate with them and had physical contact with them. His actions are not that of a man or a spirit. It’s an affirmation of Jesus' claim that he is the Son of God. His death is a conclusion of the mission given to him by his father as foretold by the prophets many years before he was born. 

Hagia Sophia, a Beautiful, Historic World Monument

Photo by Bigdaddy (from Wikimedia Commons)

Hagia Sophia or the Church of the Holy Wisdom in Greek, Sancta Sophia in Latin and Aya Sofya in Turkish is a historic monument of two great empires that shaped the course of world history- the Roman and Ottoman Empires. It also served as a house of worship of adherents of two of the world’s largest religions- Christianity and Islam. It was the largest cathedral in the world until 1520. Hagia Sophia is famous for its massive dome.

Hagia Sophia was built on the site where Emperor Constantine built a wooden church. The second church was built by his son Constantius and the Emperor Theodosius the Great. That church was burned. Under the supervision of Justinian I, the church was rebuilt in its present form around 532 and 537 AD.

Constantine was the first Roman Emperor who became Christian. He later promoted Christianity and moved his capital from Rome to Byzantium, an ancient Greek city. After he defeated his rivals, Constantine rebuilt Byzantium and renamed it Constantinople. It later became the capital of the eastern half of the Roman Empire which was also called the Byzantine Empire. Its heartland was Asia Minor and the Balkans.

Constantinople was situated on the southern coastal tip of the Balkan Peninsula along the Strait of Bosporus that separates the continents of Europe and Asia. The city’s strategic location provided the Byzantine Empire easy economic and military access to its territories across Asia and Southern Europe.

Justinian hired architects Isodore Militus and Arthemius of Tralles, both teachers of Geometry to design the church. He imported materials from neighboring places such as Ephesus, Athens, Rome and Delphi. The original dome of the church which Militus and Arthemius designed collapsed in an earthquake in 558. The replacement of 563 had to be repaired after a partial collapse in the 9^th and 14^th centuries.

In 1204 Hagia Sophia was attacked and sacked by the crusaders and looted of its properties. They arrested the Patriarch of Constantinople and replaced him with a Latin bishop. This event irreconcilably divided the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches which had long standing disputes that started from the great schism of 1054.

Photo by Andreas Wahra (from Wikimedia Commons)

Islamic text inside Hagia Sophia

In May 1453, Constantinople, the seat of the Byzantine Empire and the greatest city of Eastern Christendom at that time fell to the Muslim Ottoman Turks under Sultan Mehmet II. Amazed by the architectural beauty of the church, he converted Hagia Sophia into a mosque. Since then it remained a principal mosque for about 500 years. Hagia Sophia’s design then served as model of many mosques built around Constantinople and its neighboring areas.

The prominent feature of the cathedral is its dome which measures 230 ft (70 m) in width and 246 ft (75 m) in height. The dome is supported by pendentives which are rested on a square of 4 columns below. The 48 windows around the base of the dome reflect sunlight everywhere into the interior of the nave.

A mosaic depicting Jesus (center)

Mosaic of Virgin Mary and child Jesus. Photo by Griffendor (from Wikimedia Commons) 

The changes made during the Turkish era had markedly altered the outer appearance of Hagia Sophia so that it was indistinguishable that it was once a church. There are buttresses built to support the outer walls to ensure their endurance over the century. Four minarets were added by the corners of the church. The mihrab, the fountain, and mausoleum give the Hagia Sophia a mosque appearance. However, the inside of the edifice reveals the original purpose of its building. There are 6^th century church features such as mosaics painted on the walls depicting various Christian religious scenes. When Hagia Sophia was a mosque some mosaics were covered with plaster because of Muslim prohibition of figurative imagery. Further renovations of the church that was turned into mosque were made by Abdulmecid in 1847 who invited Swiss architects Gaspare and Giuseppe Fossati to do the job.

After the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and following the establishment of Turkey as a nation, Constantinople was renamed Istanbul in 1930, and President Kemal Attaturk had the Hagia Sophia secularized by turning it into a museum in 1934.

Hagia Sophia is a masterpiece of Byzantine architecture. This priceless historic world monument is a UNESCO world cultural heritage site. Hagia Sophia is a major landmark and a tourist attraction of Turkey. All year round it is visited by tourists from different parts of the world.

Spices, the Food Commodity that Changed the World

Photo credit: Judepics

In ancient times spices and other goods from India, China and Africa passed through the silk routes in Asia into Europe. The conquest of Alexander the Great of the Persian Empire and his military campaigns in India saw the introduction of European Hellenistic language and culture to Asia. This also facilitated the exchange and trade of commodities such as silk, spices among others between Europe and Asia. The Roman Empire which supplanted the Greeks in Asia was also an instrument for the exchange of goods, culture and knowledge throughout the Roman Empire which spanned Europe, Asia and Northern Africa. The conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great facilitated the spread of Christianity throughout the ancient Roman world.

In the mid 7^th century AD, Islam a new religion swept across Asia. The Islamic army conquered Persia, Egypt, India, the Levant and other places. and an invasion of Europe was imminent. With the conquest came the introduction of Arab culture to the conquered lands and the conversion of their population to the Islamic faith. At the rise of Islam overland route to Europe for the transport of spices was severely restricted and the Arab merchants had the control of the lucrative spice trade, the spice being an expensive and in demand commodity. The Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad, the seat of the Islamic power grew rich with the situation.

The strategic city of Constantinople, the then Christendom’s second most important city after Rome and a gateway between Europe and Asia fell to the Muslim Ottoman Turks in 1453.The city states of Venice and Genoa being in good terms with the Ottoman Empire then gained financial benefits with the rise of power of the Ottomans. While Venice monopolized the spice trade and became fabulously rich with it, the Ottoman Empire imposed heavy taxation on spice and goods that were exported to Western Europe. As a result, spices which were imported from Asia particularly India became more expensive. 

Photo credit: Navy of Brazil

To avoid routes controlled by hostile and non-Christian power, European Kingdoms particularly Spain and Portugal looked for alternative routes to the seas for spice and other commodities. Their competition to dominate the seas for the lucrative spice trade ushered in the Age of Discovery and Exploration. 

Portugal pioneered the endeavor to sail the seas to reach India for the precious spices. An expedition by Bartolomeu Dias crossed the Cape of Good Hope in 1488. King Manuel I of Portugal sponsored four vessels under the command of Vasco da Gama that successfully reached India in 1497. In 1500 Pedro Alvares Cabral in his trip to India was blown westward to what is now Brazil. That incident made the Pacific Coast of the American continents open for explorations by the Europeans. 

Spain to be able to compete with Portugal had to find alternative sea route not controlled by the later. It had to find a westward sea route to reach India since the eastward route was already taken by Portugal. Queen Isabella of Spain sponsored and financed an expedition led by Christopher Columbus in 1492. Sailing westward, his fleet made a landfall on islands that are now called the Bahamas. Believing that he indeed reached India, he called the native there “Indians”. That event was of great significance because it led to the discovery of an unexplored vast track of land, a continent that is called America today.

The unsuccessful attempt of Columbus to reach India via the westward sea route was followed by Ferdinand Magellan in 1520. With a fleet of five ships he sailed from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean for Moluccas where famed Spice Islands were located. However, he was killed in the Philippines before he could reach his destination. Surviving crews commanded by Sebastian Elcano were able to successfully reach Moluccas. After settling conflicts with the Portuguese, the crews with their only remaining ship that was loaded with spices were able to return to Spain taking the Indian Ocean and Cape of Good Hope sea routes. The crews who made the return-home voyage were the first people to circumnavigate the world.

Other European powers such as Britain and Netherlands later joined the exploration of lands across the seas for the expansion of their territories and for search of treasures. The Spice trade resulted to the “discovery” of undeveloped lands in the American continents and other parts of the world. Later, the perilous voyage to the high seas was no longer a necessity since the Europeans were able to plant and propagate spices in many parts of the world that they had settled in. The spice trade emporiums in India and the Spice Islands in the Moluccas have now lost their economic importance. 

The Age of Discovery and Exploration brought about the wide transfer of peoples, plants, animals, knowledge, cultures and even communicable diseases across the world.  New nations were born or created. It also significantly changed the ethnic composition and the spoken languages of the settled lands. People of European and African descents, most of them speaking their mother tongue, are now in community with the natives in what was then called a “New World”.

The Age of Discovery and Exploration also spread the Christian and the Islamic religions in many parts of the world. Christianity spread largely to the American continent and parts of Asia particularly the Philippines. Islam was spread to South East Asia particularly in such countries as Indonesia and Malaysia by the Arab merchants who were trading with spice and other goods.

Constantine the Great, the First Christian Roman Emperor

Flavius Valerius Constantinus Augustus who was also called Constantine I was a Roman Emperor from 306 to 337 AD. He was born at about 277 AD in Nis, a town in what is now Serbia. He was the son of Saint Helena and Constantius Chlorus a Roman emperor at about 305-6 AD in the western part of the Roman Empire.  

Shortly before his father’s death in 306, Constantine was made emperor and successor to his father in the west which included such territories as Great Britain, Gaul, the Germanic provinces, Iberia and parts of Italy. At that time, the Roman Empire was a tetrarchy, a system in which there were two co-emperors with each having a subordinate emperor under them.

Constantine’s greatest rival and co-emperor was Maxentius who ruled the East. Maxentius’ differences and his power struggle with Constantine made the conflict between them inevitable.

It was said that Constantine had a dream of Jesus Christ. He had the vision of overlapped first two letters of Christ’s name in Greek which were “chi” and “rho” or “x” and “p” and telling him that he would become victorious with those symbols. The next day during the armed conflict against Maxintius, Constantine reportedly saw a figure of the cross superimposed on the sun and the words “In hoc signo vinces” which in English means “In this sign you will conquer”.

Instead of preparing for a siege, Maxentius decided to meet the forces of Constantine at the Milvian Bridge over the Tiber River in Rome. Maxentius’ troops, with their backs facing the river, met Constantine's troops whose shields and banners were inscribed with symbols that Constantine saw in his dream.  During the battle the cavalries and infantry of Maxentius were overwhelmed by the forces of Constantine forcing them to withdraw toward Rome by crossing the bridge. The mass of troops and horses caused the bridge to collapse bringing down with it Maxentius and some of his troops.

The defeat of Maxentius gave Constantine and Licinius the undisputed powers in the Roman Empire as co-emperors. The realm of Constantine was in the west while that of Licinius was in the east. The marriage of Licinius to Constantine’s sister Constantia strengthened the bond of the two rulers. They jointly defeated the forces of Maximinus Daia who tried to take away from Licinius the Eastern Roman Empire.

As co-emperors Constantine and Licinius jointly issued the Edict of Milan in 313 AD giving the Christians and other religious groups the free exercise of their religion in the Roman Empire. The edict also mandated the return of properties of the Christians which were confiscated by the previous emperors from them.

The unwieldy system of having an empire ruled by more than one ruler at the same time, have in the long run reared its ugly head in the struggle for power between Constantine and Licinius. As a result of it there were civil wars. Constantine proved to be the better military commander beating Licinius in battles. In the third civil war Licinius was again defeated. He was later captured and executed at the order of Constantine. With the elimination of Licinius the tetrarchy ended and Constantine became the undisputed ruler of the Roman Empire.

As a sole emperor, Constantine instituted reforms. He reorganized the army, separated civil and military authorities, gave back power to the senate, and issued new coins which became the standard of exchange for centuries. Constantine also built churches in the Holy land. His mother, Saint Helena, devoted much of her life to pilgrimage to that place and founded the Church of Holy Sepulcher and the Church of Nativity. She supposedly found in Palestine the true cross on which Jesus was crucified.                                                                                                                                            

Drifting towards Christianity, the new religion in the empire, Constantine involved himself in ecclesiastical affairs to achieve unity among Christians. In 325 AD Emperor Constantine called and presided over the First Council of Nicaea to settle dispute about the nature and divinity of Christ. The council came up with the Nicene Creed which defined the Son or Jesus Christ as consubstantial with God the Father. The declaration was adopted as the official position of the Church regarding the divinity and nature of Christ.  

During his reign Constantine moved his capital from Rome to the ancient Greek City called Byzantium which was along the strait of Bosporus. He developed the city which he founded by giving it Roman institution, and built structures that were beautified with Greek works of art. The city later became known as Constantinople. Years after the reign of Constantine, the eastern half of the Roman Empire became known as the Byzantine Empire with Constantinople as its capital.

 Although Constantine still observed some pagan practices after the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, he however, was undoubtedly sympathetic to the Christian cause which implied that he converted to the faith. He was baptized shortly before his death on May 22, 337.                                                                                                                           

The idea on Christianity which was first suppressed, but later allowed an unhampered growth during the reign of Constantine I. the first Christian emperor, greatly influenced and changed the way the inhabitants of the Roman Empire lived their lives. Some of the old and absurd beliefs and practices were discarded and replaced with new ones.  As the Old Roman Empire collapsed, its former territories notably in the west such as Spain, France, Portugal, Great Britain also became imperial powers of their own and brought along with them their Judeo-Christian culture as they went. The expansion of their territories from Europe to other lands made Christianity as the largest religion in the world. Perhaps Constantine the Great was one of the instruments of God to spread His words across the world through the Holy Bible.

Related topic:
Christianity and Islam, the Religions That Shape the Course of History

Latin, the Eternal Language

The ancient Romans were disciplined and hard working people who created one of the greatest empires the world has ever known. Their Empire that spanned Europe and some parts of Asia and Africa made an imprint on the history and culture of peoples in many places around the world.                               

Latin, the tongue of the ancient Romans, is an ancient language of the Italic branch of the Indo-European Language family that is closely related to Sanskrit, Greek, Germanic and Celtic. Latin which was the language of communication in the empire helped enhance the propagation of knowledge in commerce, law, medicine and other fields of science. The conversion of Roman Emperor Constantine to Christianity brought about the spread of that religion throughout the empire.  Latin was the Language of letters in Western Europe in the Middle Ages.  It was also the language of scholarship and diplomacy until the 18^th century and of the Roman Catholic liturgy until the 20^th century.                                                                    

The fall of the Roman Empire made no need for peoples across the empire to have a common language. And peoples in different places in the empire carved their own nations and brought with them their own distinct culture, ethnicities and beliefs. Slowly, the use of Latin as the medium of communication began to decline until it became a dead language.

However, Latin was deeply ingrained in the tongue of peoples especially at places near Rome so that several languages that are derivatives of Latin called Romance Languages evolved. Therefore, the use of Latin in modified form lives on. Some of the Romance Languages are the Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Romanian, Catalan and Provencal. The colonization of the American continent by the Europeans of such places as Brazil, Mexico and others made the Romance Language such as Spanish and Portuguese as some of the most widely spoken languages of the world.

Great Britain was once a part of the Roman Empire. Its ancient inhabitants spoke an Indo-European Germanic Language. Roman occupation of Britain had a far reaching influence on the culture and language of the English people. Although English is a Germanic Language, It has borrowed many words from Greek and Latin. The English vocabulary contains words that have about 60% Latin roots,  

Following are 13 Latin nouns and their equivalent in English and their derived words. The examples are just some of the many words with Latin roots that have found their way in the English vocabulary. They help illustrate in some ways the impact made by Latin in the development of the English Language.

Latin roots	Basic meaning	Example words
amicus	friend	amiable, amity, amicable
aqua	water	aquatic, aquarium, aqueduct, aqueous, aquifer, aquanaut
aves	bird	avian, aviary, aviator, aviate, aviation, aviatrix, aviculture
caballus	horse	cavalry, chivalry, cavalier, cavalcade,
cor	heart	accord, discord, cordial, concord
dente	tooth	dental, dentist, dentate, denticle, dentifrice, dentin, dentition, denture
ignis	fire	ignite, ignition, igneous, ignescent
lac	milk	lactate, lactation, lacteal, lactic, lactose
manus	hand	manual, maneuver. manage, manacle, manufacture, manicure
mare	sea	marine, maritime, marina, mariner
ovum	egg	oval, ovate, ovary, ovarian, ovule, ovulation
sal	salt	salary, salami, salad, saline, salinity, salinize, saltine, salinometer, salsa
terra	earth	terrain, terrestrial, extra-terrestrial, terrace, territory

 Related posts:

Learning English as a Second Language

Sexy Idioms and Phrases

Idioms on Heart

Christianity and Islam, the Religions That Shape the Course of History

The belief of an almighty creator is an inherent nature of man. To cater to that belief, some people established religions that attracted large number of people. These religions even survive long after the death of their founders. By following a religion, a man has to suit his lifestyle in a way that his religion requires him. People’s collective adherence to a belief will somehow create a distinctive culture in a community. Indeed, religion has a profound impact on the social, political and cultural aspects of our lives. Since time immemorial many religions have been created and their struggle for expansion and dominance have resulted to the demise of empires, the change of the ethnic composition of a territory, the eruption of armed conflicts and the boom and decline of trade and commerce. Christianity and Islam are the two religions that in one way or the other affected the way many people live their lives in the past and present.

Jesus Christ and Christianity

The largest religion on earth was founded by a man named Jesus who was born in Bethlehem in Judea at around 6 AD during the reign of Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar. Little was known about his life in his younger age. He started his public ministry at the age of 30. With the help of his 12 disciples he preached to the people and healed the physically and spiritually sick. He told of the imminent coming of the Kingdom of God and of salvation. The Jewish high priests did not see Jesus’ activities in good light. For them he was a violator of the Jewish customs and traditions, and his claim to be the Messiah, the king of the Jews and the Son of God was highly blasphemous that called for a death penalty. The high priests plotted against him and put pressure on Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, to have him executed. To appease the Jews and to prevent them from rioting, Pontius Pilate had Jesus crucified.

Contrary to what the Jewish high priests and Roman authorities expected, the death of Jesus did not end the movement that he founded.  His disciples and other followers who denied and abandoned him when he was tried and executed became fearless even to the point of death to vouch for him. Many of them claimed to have seen the resurrected Jesus before his ascension to heaven. For Jesus disciples and followers he was what he claimed to be.

Christianity is a religion that believes that spiritual salvation can only be obtained through Jesus. Christians also believe that Jesus is God’s promise Messiah whose life, death and resurrection fulfilled the prophecies of the Holy Bible. Different Christian denominations however are in constant disagreement as to the nature and or divinity of Jesus.

The early Christians were persecuted by the Jews and Romans and were falsely accused of having caused the disasters and other unfavorable things that happened in their community. However, despite the hardships and difficulties, they continued to spread the teachings of Christ.

Things started to change for the better for the Christians during the reign of Roman Emperor Constantine I. He allowed freedom of worship in the empire. It was said that he saw a vision of the cross against the sun at the Battle of the Melvian Bridge in 312 AD, and that the sign would give him victory. Constantine later defeated his rivals and became the sole Roman emperor. The conversion of Constantine to Christianity which he made as the official religion of the empire enabled it to spread like wildfire within its territories. The Romans’ acceptance of Christianity also effectively eradicated their old polytheistic pagan belief.

During his reign Constantine transferred his capital from Rome to Byzantium, which was later called Constantinople in 330 AD. His move divided the empire into east and west, and the east became known as the Byzantine Empire.

Muhammad and Islam

Muhammad was born in 570 AD in Mecca. He became an orphan in his early childhood and at age 25 he married a rich widow named Khadija. Becoming a merchant, he traveled to Syria where he came into contact with Jews and Christians. At age 40 Muhammad had a vision of the Angel Gabriel in a cave which ordered him to go forth and preach. At first Muhammad was so afraid of the vision that he even believed that it was a malevolent spirit. However, his wife convinced him that it was from God.

Muhammad was later convinced that he was indeed a messenger of God. He started to preach, but was able only to get few converts. His activities put him in a collision course with the religious leaders of Mecca, who plotted for his life. Muhammad and his followers fled to Medina in 622 AD.  His departure was referred by Muslims as Hegira. Muhammad established an Islamic community in Medina and gained religious as well as political prominence. He was victorious in the Battle of Badr and Uhud and captured Mecca with little bloodshed. He then cleansed the Kaaba of idols and converted the people there of his new religion.                                                                                                                                                                          

During his lifetime Muhammad was able to convert all of Arabia to his new religion which is called Islam or submission. In the centuries after his death in 632 AD Muslim armies spread the faith by conquest and conversion and forged an Arab empire that stretched from Spain to India.                                                                                                                                                         

Islam is a monotheistic religion that has some component of Judaism and Christianity. Muslims live by abiding with the five pillars of their faith. They are: shahada- professing that  Allah is the only God and Muhammad is His prophet; salat- praying 5 times a day; zakat- giving alms to the poor; sawm of Ramadan- fasting during the holy month and haj- the pilgrimage to Mecca. Islam’s holy book is called the Koran which Muslims believe as the literal words of Allah. Muslims governs their action based on the Sharia, a legal system that is adopted from the Koran.

Muslims and Christian Conflicts

After Muhammad’s death, his armies conquered the Zoroastrians in Persia and the Pagans of Arabia and the Jews and the Christians in Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Palestine and in the process replacing the original dominant religions with Islam.

Having conquered much of the east, the Muslims trained their eyes on Europe. The Moors and the Arabs crossed into the Iberian Peninsula and occupied Spain. Advancing toward the north, they crossed the Pyrenees Mountains but were halted by Charles Martel who defeated them at the Battle of Tours in 732 AD and forced them to retreat back to Spain where they stayed and established their own dynasty. 

In Anatolia the Turks posed a grave threat to the Byzantine Empire. The Turks were nomadic people from central Asia who migrated to the Middle East and to Asia Minor. They were converted to Islam and championed the religion. Overtime, they became the power to be reckoned with in those areas. The Turks defeated the Byzantine forces at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 in which Emperor Romanus IV was captured by Turkish leader Alp Arslan. Their capture of Jerusalem made it difficult for Christian pilgrims to visit their holy places.

To eliminate the threat of the Turks on the Byzantine Empire and to free Palestine from them, Pope Urban organized the crusades to deal with the situation. The crusaders were composed of troops from different European nationalities. There were eight crusades that were launched from 1095 to 1270. But these military campaigns ended mostly in failures because of the mutual distrust among their leaders and the primary cause of the crusades was obscured by their selfish political and economic interests. The fourth crusade in 1204 was diverted to Constantinople and sacked the city and replaced the rulers there with Latin emperors, an action that alienated the Byzantine subjects from their Christian allies.

Victories and Defeats

The marriage of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile strengthened their Christians kingdoms in Spain.  Their combined forces defeated the last Moorish kingdom of Granada in 1492, and the Moors were expelled from Spain. At first the Muslims and the Jews who opted to stay in the country were treated fairly. But later, the inquisitions made many of them leave Spain.

The Ottoman Turks were able to take over large area of Asia Minor and conquered some countries in the Balkan Peninsula thereby surrounding the city of Constantinople the seat of the Byzantine Empire and Christendom’s second most important city after Rome. It was just a matter of time before the moribund Byzantine Empire with its capital city would fall to the Muslim Turks. Finally, on May 29, 1453, forces under Sultan Muhammad II laid siege to the city and successfully captured it. The fall of Constantinople marked the end of the Byzantine Empire which was supplanted by the Ottoman Empire which made Constantinople as its capital. The Ottomans wanted to take Europe for Islam. Led by Suleiman the Magnificent, they attempted to cross Western Europe through Vienna in 1529. However, they were driven back by the city’s defending troops.

Alternative Trade Routes to the Sea and the Age of Exploration

The control of important traditional trade routes by the Muslims made it difficult and expensive for goods such as spices from Asia to reach Europe. To get around the trade routes that were in the hands of the Arabs and Turks, Christian European kingdoms particularly Spain and Portugal looked to the sea to reach India where those goods were said to come from. Early explorers thought that the source of spices in the east could be reached through the sea by sailing westward, and around the Cape of Good Hope. Queen Isabella sponsored and financed the expedition of Christopher Columbus into the Indies in 1492. He was not able to reach India although he discovered a vast unexplored land that was later named the America.

Columbus exploration paved the way to the settlement of new lands that were at that time unknown to Europe. Other European powers such as Britain, France and Netherlands joined Spain and Portugal in the exploration of the New World. As a result, colonies were established which later became independent countries. New countries such as United States, Mexico, and Brazil among others were born. Their people are composed of indigenous inhabitants and settlers of divergent nationalities around the world.  Some countries such as the United States and Canada even became richer and greater than their former mother countries.

The discovery of new lands during the Age of Explorations enabled the European powers to extend their territories beyond the sea. It provided them economic benefit and enabled them to propagate their traditions, language, culture and religion in those lands. Somehow, the Age of Exploration has paved the way for the spread Christianity outside of Europe and the Middle East. Although many people believe in God and adhere to a religious belief, there are others who consider religion as absurdity. But it is an undeniable fact that religion is one of the factors that shaped the courses of events in history.

Related articles:

Spice Trade and the Discovery of America

El Cid (Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar)
Hagia Sophia, a Beautiful Historic World Monument