Century of Miracles

The fourth century of our common era began and ended with a miracle. Traditionally in the year 312 the Roman emperor Constantine experienced a vision of the Cross that led him to convert to Christianity and to defeat his last rival to the imperial throne; and in 394 a divine wind carried the emperor Theodosius to victory at the battle of the Frigidus River. In <em>A Century of Miracles</em> historian H. A. Drake explores the role miracle stories such as these played in helping Christians pagans and Jews think about themselves and each other. These stories he concludes bolstered Christian belief that their god wanted the empire to be Christian. Most importantly they help explain how after a century of trumpeting the power of their god Christians were able to deal with their failure to protect the city of Rome from a barbarian sack by the Gothic army of Alaric in 410. Thoroughly researched within a wide range of faiths and belief systems <em>A Century of Miracles</em> provides an absorbing illumination of this complex polytheistic and decidedly mystical phenomenon.<br>