PD Dr. Dirk Rohmann lehrt Alte Geschichte und Geschichte des Frühmittelalters an der Universität Wuppertal.

Das Buch präsentiert eine Vielzahl an Quellen des 1. bis 7. Jh.s., welche das Problem der religiösen Gewalt hinsichtlich der Christianisierung des Römischen Reiches und der germanischen Nachfolgestaaten veranschaulichen. Die Quellen werden in den Originalsprachen und neuen Übersetzungen dargeboten und sind mit Einleitungen, Kommentaren und Kurzbibliographien versehen.

Table of Contents5Abbreviations 11Introduction 131. Early Christianity and the Roman Empire: The Age of Persecution (66-306) 15The Roman arena and the spectacle of power 172. An Emperor's Dream: Christianity Takes Centre Stage (311-384) 67'By this sign you shall conquer': Constantine's conversion 713. The Road to Christendom: Christianity from Theodosius to the Fall of Rome (379-476) 99Ambrose and Theodosius 1024. Men of Arms and Men of God: Latin Europe after the Fall of Rome (476-751) 1575. Bibliography 203

This volume brings together a large number of sources with which to illustrate the problem of religious violence in relation to the history of Christianity in the Roman Empire and post-Roman world. The sources are presented in both the original languages and in new English translation and are accompanied by introductions, comments, and short bibliographies. Thematically, Dirk Rohmann focuses on the ways in which Christians were subjected to violence by their pagan surroundings, on the development and scope of the very Christian ideas of martyrdom and of persecution, on how Christians thought about the nature of God and of holy wars, as well as on the problem of violence within the world of early monasticism and asceticism. Drawing on the amount of texts extant from the first to seventh centuries, this book will be of interest to both students and academics in the areas of ancient and early medieval history, classics, and religious studies.