The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World | 
pickBefore the emperor Constantine became Christian he worshipped Helios. And here is an image of Helios surrounded by the signs of the Zodiac from a 5th century synagogue (!)
I really enjoyed this book on audio. Nothing crazy or controversial, but a nice summary of the history of Christianity from a tiny sect to an empire-wide religion of the underclasses, to the empire‘s official religion. Eventually more than half the empire was Christian.
Graywacke Among the things I learned: 1. Christians weren‘t really persecuted all that badly 2. Rejection of other gods may have been the most important thing in its spread, because it meant it eliminated other religions 3. Before Constantine Christians argued eloquently for freedom of religion. Under Constantine they won this! But then they persecuted... 4. Maybe Christianity originally spread as an eastern mystery cult. 5. It was really small a long time. 6y
Texreader I have always appreciated the fact that the first Christians were such rebels. 6y
Texreader Your no. 1: that‘s interesting and not quite what I‘ve read—always hard to know the truth with history; but even so I‘m not sure I‘d have the guts to put up with even a 10th of the persecution they endured, and that many faiths, Christian and otherwise, endure today. 6y
Graywacke @Texreader they were definitely rebels. The persecution history surprised me. Apparently the stories leave an exaggerated impression. There are only a handful of actually well-documented martyrs, for instance. 6y
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