 Absolute Power Corrupt Good ideals/ Religion the Political instrument of Constantine

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Essay Title (Tentative):

Ø  Absolute Power Corrupt Good ideals/ Religion the Political instrument of Constantine

Ø  In this paper, I argue that absolute power indeed corrupts good ideals. (Constantine uses Christianity as political instruments)

*This is your paper’s core idea expressed in 1 sentence maximum.

Ø  The thesis directly relates to the essay prompt in that the need to amass and protect power has been deeply ingrained in the leaders of the empire. The tetrarchy rule was the onset of the erosion of the religious ideals of the people. The formation of the structure led to presumptive heirs and complications in the ruling of the empire hence leading to persecution of believers and burning of churches buildings. War arose between Constantine and Maxentius, which saw the rise of Constantine to be a powerful ruler who defended and protected the Martyrs from persecution by other wicked rulers.

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Ø  Constantine success and benefit derive from the favor of god.

Ø  Constantine is an emperor portrayed as being intimate with contact with god, who is his friend and protector.

Ø  Constantine introduce important changes into its civil and religious constitution

*All supporting points expressed in 1 sentence maximum.

**Hit “Enter” at the end of the last sentence to create new bullets for additional supporting points.

Alignment: Explain how this point supports your thesis (2–3 sentences):

Ø  I examine that tetrarchy rule or “the rule of the four” which was ordained by Diocletian and Maximian to bring stability within the empire but this did not pan out as planned because power rivalry between presumptive heirs became very chaotic.

Evidence: Primary and/or secondary support to demonstrate this point:

Ø  Maxentius and Constantine craved for a territory of their own to control and implement their ideas.

Ø  Maxentius had overthrown Severus who was Constantius Caesar and had taken control over Italy, North Africa while Constantine was in control of Britain, Gaul, and Spain.

Ø  The tetrarchy type of rule gave the power-seekers much room to fight for power within sub-divided kingdoms, hence instability that led to the erosion of the ideals of Christianity.

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Alignment: Explain how this point supports your thesis (2–3 sentences):

Ø  Martyrdom is a recurrent idea from the text in that Christian believers were persecuted by rogue rulers that dismissed the power of God. Thus all people were forced to make sacrifices to the idols or else they would be killed.

Evidence: Primary and/or secondary support to demonstrate this point:

Ø  Galerius had orchestrated the Anti-Christian policy against the will of Diocletian and was effected through several successive measures.

Ø  All Christians from the East side of the empire were forced to offer sacrifices with failure leading to torture and demise of many people.

Ø  These events led to the Martyr of Palestine, Nicomedia, and the Egyptians in Phoenicia. It brought destruction on the development of the church by Man because of power, they felt challenged by the presence of Christianity within their territories of the rule.

Alignment: Explain how this point supports your thesis (2–3 sentences):

Ø  Tyranny goes along with the theme in that power that corrupts a Man leads to a dictatorship type of rule. This has been portrayed by Maxentius who had a tyrannical type of rule in Rome.

Evidence: Primary and/or secondary support to demonstrate this point:

Ø  Maxentius started by feigning the Christian faith hence faking piety to portray himself as a good person.

Ø  Maxentius broke marriages of prominent men who held the first rank in the Roman Senate.

Ø  Maximinus, who is a tyrant from the East had held a secret alliance with Maxentius to further their tyrannical ideology but he was punished before it was too late.

Alignment: Explain how this point supports your thesis (2–3 sentences):

Ø  Murder is evident from the text many innocent lives were taken by rogue rulers simply because of deferring beliefs by their subjects People from the lowest social stratum i.e. servants and slaves were vulnerable to these killings to pave way for the strong to foster their will.

Evidence: Primary and/or secondary support to demonstrate this point:

Ø  Maxentius’s tyranny rule of Rome evidences how the vulnerable people were killed in the middle of the city.

Ø  On Egyptians in Phoenicia, the people were attacked by wild beast such as leopards, bears, wild pigs but were a bit helped by miraculous athletes who drew the wild beast’s attention to their direction.

Ø  Absolute power corrupts good ideal, this has been shown clearly and it should be known that too much power corrupts integrity.

Ø  True leadership which is ordained by God is always accepted by the people.

Ø  Rulers also need to be wise in that their power should be ordained from God, it is completely different from the text whereby the rulers fight over territories to enrich themselves.

*Direct conclusions expressed in 1 sentence maximum. Hit “Enter” after the past point to create new bullets for additional conclusions.

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