Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/250

 178 General History of Europe 282. Christianity placed on a Legal Basis. The Roman gov- ernment had often persecuted the Christians, and it was against the law to hold Christian services. Finally, in the time of Dio- cletian, his associate Galerius had issued a decree which permitted ANCIENT MONUMENTS IN CONSTANTINOPLE The obelisk in the foreground (nearly one hundred feet high) was first set up in Thebes, Egypt, by the conqueror Thutmose III ( 30) ; it was erected here by the Roman emperor Theodosius. The small spiral column at the right is the base of a bronze tripod set up by the Greeks at Delphi in commemoration of their victory over the Persians at Plataea ( in). The names of thirty-one Greek cities which took part in the battle are still to be read, engraved on this base. These monuments of ancient oriental and Greek supremacy stand in what was the Roman horse-race course when the earlier Greek city of Byzantium became the Eastern capital of Rome. Finally, the great mosque behind the obelisk, with its slender minarets, rep- resents the triumph of Islam under the Turks, who took the city A.D. 1453 the Christians openly to confess their faith and establish their places of worship. The followers of Christ were put on the same footing as the worshipers of the old gods. There were a great many Christians now, and in spite of the persecutions their churches had become powerful organizations. Constantine and