Earliest possible Christian Emperor?

First of all, we'll look at the direct answer: Any hypothetical alternate emperor after the development of the faith could adopt it, as an interesting and exotic eastern cult.

Now, lets look at the historical emperors, which could be the first to convert? I'd say Alexander Severus, as his mother knew Origen. However, given thst he came after another emperor that adopted an eastern cult, there could be issues...
 
Philip the Arab was rumored to be a Christian. He probably wasn't, but he was sympathetic, and if he established a dynasty his son might become one.
 
Nero had some dealings with Christians, who were reputed to do scandalous things, and he might therefore be interested in joining them ...


Nero might be too early. At time, as far as I know, the Bible wasn't even translated to Greek, and Saint Paul was still around preaching the new religion on Asia. Christianity was still seen be outsiders as some weird Jewish cult. It was still a long time before I gained it's appeal even in the eastern part of the Empire, and established a foothold on Egypt and Syria, for example.

I'd say an Emperor around the Crisis of the Third Century might be more feasible, even if I'm not able to point out which one. The fact Aurelian and some of his successors strived to consolidate the Imperial Cult with the religion of Sol Invictus might not be necessarily a prospect of moving to monotheism, but it demonstrated a conscious effort of associating specific religious figures with the Imperial authority, which was replicated by later Christian Emperors, well into Byzantine era.

Perhaps if one of pre-Constantinian Emperors somehow realizes how useful this allegiance between the fledgling Christian identity and the Imperial rule might be.

Anyways, its convenient to remember that IOTL there was a significant span of time between the legalization of the Christian cult and its straightforward adoption as official religion of the State.
 
Nero might be too early. At time, as far as I know, the Bible wasn't even translated to Greek, and Saint Paul was still around preaching the new religion on Asia.

Well, the Old Testament had been translated back in the Hellenistic days, and the New Testament was originally written in Greek. So, whatever had been written by Nero's day would have been in Greek.
 
Well, the Old Testament had been translated back in the Hellenistic days, and the New Testament was originally written in Greek. So, whatever had been written by Nero's day would have been in Greek.

Thanks for pointing this out. I actually messed things up, was thinking about the Septuagint, which was the main translation of the Bible to Koine Greek, and was compiled only by the 3rd Century.

Nevertheless, I still stand by my point that a until perhaps a century after the crucifixion Christianity was still identified by outsiders as part of the Jewish traditions, so it was much less likely to interest the Emperors personaly, much less to attract official sponsorship from the Imperial authorities as it happened by the 4th Century.
 
This might be sort of cheating, but I'm pretty sure you could use the justification of "Nero was crazy" to justify him associating with some weird Judaic cult. This wouldn't extend to making it the official religion of the Empire; it would begin and end with some ridiculous emperor being ridiculous.

If Christianity centuries later becomes a religion of note in the Roman Empire or, like in OTL, dominant, I wonder how this would affect a Christian Nero's reputation.
 
I was thinking that Paul did appear before nero. It would make an interesting timeline if Paul preached to nero and he converted.
 
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