Did Melito's Accusation Against Yashar'al Exist Before Constantine?

Person: Melito of Sardis · Peri Pascha · 2nd century · Constantine: 4th century · Nicaea: 325 CE

What the ancient record says

Yes, Melito wrote in the second century; Constantine belongs to the fourth; Nicaea 325 CE. Melito's anti-Yahudi polemic predates Constantine by well over a century.

Prevents another oversimplification: "Constantine created all anti-Yahudi Christian rhetoric", he did not; second-century writers already provide documentary evidence for severe anti-Yahudi arguments (Justin one stream, Melito another). What changes under Constantine is the political environment: a writer can preach; an emperor has government, law, administration, military authority, imperial patronage.

The fourth-century question is not "did hostile ideas exist?" (they did) but "what happens when religious separation and anti-Yahudi rhetoric intersect with imperial power?" Timeline must be built correctly: not "Yahusha, then original movement, then Constantine suddenly invents everything"; developments already occurred in the second century, by Constantine's time, disputes over identity, the writings, circumcision, Shabbath, Pasakh, and Yashar'al were already documented. Constantine enters an existing history; he does not begin it.