This paper examines how the Roman Empire, while maintaining a measure of personal
freedom for many of its subjects, did not
allow religious
freedom to prosper under its rule. It looks at how Rome mingled the identity of the Caesar with that of its pantheon of gods and how, in order to be an accepted Roman citizen, a person had to be willing to bow down to the Emperor. It explores the spread of Christianity within the Roman Empire and attempts to understand the events that led up to Diocletian's
edict and Constantine's Edict of Milan, which reversed Diocletian's policy. It does this through an analysis of the political setting of Rome and the slow erosion of Roman authority.