😀👇𝐑𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞:

The urban landscape of Rome is not one single snapshot that can be tied to the timeline of the city in its entirety. The city of Rome is a continuous changing urban landscape that develops in a multitude of stages over a long period of time.

One of the many changes in Rome came during the 4th-century ‘Christianisation’ of Rome by the emperor Constantine. Prior to his arrival it could be argued that the city was one that was largely holding on to tradition and the later emperors were keen to embellish their new imperial palaces outside of Rome and the latter lagged behind. However, Rome was no backwater of the empire and it largely retained its connections and beliefs to its ancient religions and gods. Therefore, the transformation under Constantine was far slower than many believe as he would have alienated his followers by presenting them with an overtly large-scale destruction and replacement of the traditional structures within Rome. The implementation of many churches has been said to have ‘Christianised’ Rome. However, most of these churches were on private lands outside of the city and only one was placed inside the walls, yet it remained outside of the sacred religious boundary of the city.

His overall building plan was more closely associated to reappropriation and when you consider some of these you can start to see why. Buildings such as the Church of St. John Lateran that was built on top of the barracks of the equites singulares, an elite cavalry unit that heavily supported Maxentius. The Church of St. Marcellinus and Peter, a construction that displaced a cemetery used for members of the equites singulares. The Church of St. Agnes, another cemetery displaced that had been used for members of the praetorian guard.

Rather than any keen desire to promote Christianity, Constantine wished to erase the memory of his predecessor, the so-called usurper, Maxentius.