In constructing the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Constantine was not only giving establishing Christianity’s roots in Jerusalem, but also giving the religion the imperial backing of Rome and paving the way for Christianity to become the official religion of Rome. Armstrong writes that “Constantine had taken possession of the center point of Roman Aelia and transformed it into a Christian holy place” (K. Armstrong 182). When the pilgrims visited Golgotha, they were also indirectly connecting with the imperial Byzantine power. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was fully funded by the Roman Empire and was representative of the economic and political might of the Romans in Jerusalem. A transformative, positive experience in Byzantine Jerusalem portrayed the Roman rulers in a favorable way in the eyes of Christian pilgrims. Additionally, Helena, Constantine’s mother, visited Jerusalem on a pilgrim journey throughout her son’s empire. She had arrived during the unearthing of the tomb of Jesus and participated in the festivities and celebrations, and is even portrayed by popular myth to have discovered the True Cross on which Jesus was