What are the main contributions of Emperor valerian to Christianity?

Answer 1

There were several reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire. Each one connected with the other. Many even blame Christianity for the decline. Christianity made many Roman citizens into pacifists, making it more difficult to defend against the barbarian attackers. Also money used to build churches could have been used to maintain the Roman Empire. There were many public health and environmental problems. Many of the wealthy had water brought to their homes through lead pipes. Previously the aqueducts had even purified the water but at the end lead pipes were thought to be better. The wealthy Death Rate was very high. The blood and death spread disease. Those who lived on the streets in continuous contact allowed for a continues strain of disease much like the homeless in the poorer run shelters of today. Alcohol use increased. But one of the most difficult problems was choosing a new emperor. Unlike Greece, where transition may not have been smooth but was at least consistent, the Romans never created an effective system to determine how new emperors would be chosen. The choice was always open to debate between the old emperor, the Senate, the Praetorian Guard, and the army. Gradually, the Praetorian Guard gained complete authority to choose the new emperor. Maintaining an army to defend the border of the Empire from barbarian attacks was a constant drain on the government. The borders of Rome were Big and there was a lot of land that needed to be taken care of. Military spending left few resources for other activities, such as providing housing and maintaining roads. Frustrated, Romans lost their desire to defend the Empire. The empire had to begin hiring soldiers recruited from the unemployed city mobs or foreign counties. Such an army was not only unreliable, but very expensive. In order to keep the army happy they had to have gifts and money. Each emperor had to first gain the confidence of the army or outright bribe them and this lead to an uneasy peace within the Roman Empire. The emperors were forced to raise taxes often which in turned into increased inflation. For years, the disciplined Roman army held the barbarians of Germany back. Then in the third century A. D. the Roman soldiers were pulled back from the Rhine-Danube frontier to fight civil war in Italy. This left the Roman border open to attack. Gradually German hunters from the north began to overtake Roman lands in Greece and Gaul. Then in 476 A. D. the German general Odacer overthrew the last of the Roman Emperors. From then on the western part of the Empire was ruled by Germanic chieftain. Roads and bridges were left in disrepair and fields left not taken care of. Pirates made travel unsafe. Cities could not be maintained without goods from the farms, trade and business began to disappear. And Rome was no more in the West.