Constantine I

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Constantine I
Emperor of the Roman Empire
Head of Constantine's colossal statue at the Capitoline Museums
Reign	25 July 306 – 29 October 312 (hailed as Augustus in the West, officially made Caesar by Galerius with Severus as Augustus, by agreement with Maximian, refused relegation to Caesar in 309) 29 October 312 – 19 September 324 (undisputed Augustus in the West, senior Augustus in the empire) 19 September 324 – 22 May 337 (emperor of united empire)
Full name	Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus
Born	27 February ca. 272[1]
Birthplace	Naissus (modern Niš, Serbia)
Died	22 May 337
Predecessor	Constantius Chlorus
Successor	Constantine II, Constantius II and Constans
Wives	Minervina, died or divorced before 307 Fausta
Dynasty	Constantinian
Father	Constantius Chlorus
Mother	Helena
Children	Constantina, Helena, Crispus, Constantine II, Constantius II and Constans

Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus^[2] (27 February ca. 272^[1] – 22 May 337), commonly known as Constantine I, Constantine the Great (among Roman Catholics), or Saint Constantine (among Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic Christians), was an Illyricum^[3]-born Roman Emperor. He was proclaimed Augustus by his troops in 306, ruled an ever-growing portion of the Roman Empire until his death. Best known for being the first Christian Roman Emperor, the Edict of Milan - issued by his co-emperor Licinius - helped to put an end to institutionalized persecution of Christians in the Empire.

The Byzantine liturgical calendar, observed by the Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Churches of Byzantine rite, lists both Constantine and his mother Helena as saints. Although he is not included in the Latin Church's list of saints, which does recognize several other Constantines as saints, he is revered under the title "The Great" for his contributions to Christianity.

In 324, Constantine announced his decision to transform Byzantium into Nova Roma and on May 11, 330, he officially proclaimed the city the new capital of the Roman Empire. The city was renamed Constantinople, The City of Constantine, after Constantine's death in 337. It would remain the capital of the Byzantine Empire for over a thousand years, a reign interrupted only briefly by its 1204 sacking and occupation in the Fourth Crusade, until it finally fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453.

[edit] Sources

There are no surviving histories or bigoraphies dealing with Constantine's life and rule.^[4] The nearest replacement is Eusebius of Caesarea's Vita Constantini, a work that is a mixture of eulogy and hagiography. Written between 335 and circa 339,^[5] the Vita extols the Christian emperor's moral virtues and religious faith.^[6] Written some time in the four years between 335 and circa 339,the work focuses on the religious and moral character of Constantine's life.^[7] The fullest secular life of Constantine is the anonymous Origo Constantini.^[8] A work of uncertain date,^[9] the Origo focuses on military and political events, to the neglect of cultural and religious matters.^[10]

Lactantius' De Mortibus Persecutorum, a polemical Christian pamphlet on the reigns of Diocletian and the Tetrarchy, provides valuable but tendentious detail on Constantine's predecessors and early life.^[11] The ecclesiastical histories of Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret describe the ecclesiastic disputes of Constantine's later reign.^[12] Written during the reign of Theodosius II (408–50), a century after Constantine's reign, these ecclesiastic historians obscure the events and theologies of the Constantinian period through misdirection, misrepresentation and deliberate obscurity.^[13] The contemporary writings of the Orthodox Christian Athanasius and the ecclesiastical history of the Arian Philostorgius also survive, though their biases are no less firm.^[14]

The epitomes of Aurelius Victor (De Caesaribus), Eutropius (Breviarium), Festus (Breviarium), and the anonymous author of the Epitome de Caesaribus offer compressed secular political and military histories of the period. Although pagan, the epitomes paint a favorable image of Constantine, but omit reference to Constantine's religious policies.^[15] The Panegyrici Latini, a collection of panegyrics from the late third and early fourth centuries, provide valuable information on the politics and ideology of the tetrarchic period and the early life of Constantine.^[16] Contemporary architecture, like the Arch of Constantine in Rome and palaces in Gamzigrad and Córdoba,^[17] epigraphic remains, and the coinage of the era complement the literary sources, preserving otherwise unattested details of chronology, hierarchy, and religious affairs within the Constantinian empire.^[18] The codices of Theodosius and Justinian, because of their use of dated rescripts, can be used to reconstruct Constantine's itinerary.^[19]

[edit] Early life

Replica of a head from a statue of Constantius, Constantine's father

Constantine, named Flavius Valerius Constantinus, was born in the Moesian military city of Naissus (Niš, Serbia) on the 27th of February of an uncertain year,^[20] probably near 272.^[21] His father was Flavius Constantius, a native of Moesia Superior (later Dacia Ripensis).^[22] Constantius was a tolerant and politically skilled man.^[23] Constantius was an officer in the Roman army in 272, part of the Emperor Aurelian's imperial bodyguard. Constantius advanced through the ranks, earning the governorship of Dalmatia from Emperor Diocletian, another of Aurelian's Illyrian companions, in 284 or 285.^[22] Constantine's mother was Helena, a Bithynian of humble origin. It is uncertain whether she was legally married to Constantius or merely his concubine.^[24]

Constantine's parents and siblings. Dates in square brackets indicate the possession of minor titles, such as the Caesar

As emperor, Diocletian effected a systematic and comprehensive division of the Empire. Two emperors would rule the Empire, one in the East and one in the West. Diocletian would rule the East from Nicomedia (İzmit), and another old colleague from Illyricum, Maximian, would rule the West from Mediolanum (Milan). Each emperor would have his own court, his own military and administrative faculties, and each would rule with a separate praetorian prefect as chief lieutenant.^[25] In 288, Maximian appointed Constantius to serve as his praetorian prefect in Gaul. Constantius left Helena and married Maximian's stepdaughter Flavia Maximiana Theodora ca. 288–89.^[26]

Diocletian divided the Empire again in 293, appointing two Caesars—junior emperors—to rule over further subdivisions of East and West. Each would be subordinate to their respective Augustus—senior emperor—but each would act with supreme authority in their assigned lands; a system that would later be called the tetrarchy. One of Diocletian's new appointees for 293 was Constantius; the other was Galerius, who, according to Lactantius' account, was a crude and animalistic man and a religious conservative.^[27] On March 1, Constantius was promoted to the office of Caesar, and given the task of suppressing the usurper Carausius' rebellion in Britain and Gaul.^[28] In spite of meritocratic quasi-republican overtones, the tetrarchic system retained the vestiges of hereditary privilege:^[29] Constantine became the prime candidate for future appointment as Caesar after his father's appointment to the position. Constantine moved on to the court of Diocletian, where he lived as heir presumptive to his father's throne.^[30]

[edit] At the court of Diocletian

Young Constantine benefited greatly from his father's position as Caesar. At the court of Diocletian, Constantine received a formidable education, gaining a skillful understanding of Latin literature, a capable proficiency in Greek, and an aptitude for philosophy.^[31] The cultural environment in Nicomedia was open, fluid and socially mobile, and Constantine could mix with intellectuals both pagan and Christian. It is possible that he may have seen the lectures of Lactantius, then a Christian scholar of Latin in the city, and a man he would later make his son Crispus' tutor.^[32] Because Diocletian did not completely trust Constantius—none of the tetrarchs fully trusted their colleagues—Constantine was held as something of a hostage at his court, kept under his thumb to ensure Constantius' best behavior. But Constantine was nonetheless a prominent member of the court, a full participant in the political life of the Empire: he fought for Diocletian and Galerius in Asia, serving in a variety of tribunates; he campaigned against barbarians on the Danube in 296, fought in the Persian wars under Diocletian in Syria (297) and Galerius in Mesopotamia (298–99). There, on his own testimony, he saw the ruins of Babylon in Mesopotamia and Memphis in Egypt.^[33] Returning from his Egyptian voyage in 301 or 302, he met Eusebius, his later biographer, in Caesarea Maritima in Palestine.^[34] By the spring of 303, Constantine had returned to Nicomedia, where he saw Diocletian's persecutions begin.^[35]

Head from a statue of Diocletian, Augustus of the East

Diocletian was conservative in matters of religion, a man faithful to the traditional Roman pantheon.^[36] Galerius was even more so.^[37] According to Lactantius, while wintering at Nicomedia in 302, Galerius, with the aid of the oracle of Apollo at Didyma, persuaded Diocletian to begin a universal persecution of the empire's Christians.^[38] Years later, Constantine would recall his presence at the palace when the oracle's report came in.^[39] On February 23, 303, Diocletian ordered that the newly-built Christian church at Nicomedia be razed, its scriptures set to flame, and the treasures of the church collected as treasure. The event inaugurated the "Great Persecution", a series of severe persecutions of Christians that continued for eight years after the initial declaration. Across the empire, churches and scriptures were to be destroyed, and Christians to be deprived of official rank, imprisoned, and tortured.^[40] Persecutions were not applied consistently across the empire: neither Maximian nor Constantius would enforce its later, harsher stipulations. Of the persecution's policy stipulations, only the destruction of churches would be followed by Constantius.^[41]

In his later writings Constantine would attempt to conceal the extent of his complicity in the events: he would describe himself in writing as a mere child when the persecutions began, when in fact he was nearer to thirty.^[42] No contemporary Christian would challenge Constantine on any aspect of his role in the persecutions, but his silence at Diocletian's court engendered continuing distrust among Christian clergy. They were reluctant to permit his participation in church government in later life.^[43]

On May 1, 305, Diocletian, still weathering a debilitating sickness he had acquired over the winter of 304–5, addressed an assembly of generals and his traditional companion troops, and informed them of his will to resign.^[44] Diocletian ordered that Constantius succeeded Maximian as Augustus of the West, and that Severus and Maximin be made Caesars. Although two legitimate sons of emperors were available (Constantine, as the son of Constantius, and Maxentius, as the son of Maximian), both were ignored in the transition of power. This perceived slight created instability within the tetrarchy, and inspired jealousy in Constantine and Maxentius. These feelings were intensified in the case of Constantine by the fact that familial ties had helped to elevate Maximin, as Galerius' nephew, but had not helped Constantine at all.^[45] Constantine's propagandists attest that Galerius, having recognized Constantine's discontent, sent him off to war in hopes of killing him. Constantine was sent to lead an advance unit in a cavalry charge through a swamp against the Sarmatians on the middle Danube. Against expectations, Constantine succeeded in leading his men to victory, and presented a Sarmatian captive to Galerius upon his return to Nicomedia.^[46] Constantine continued to rise in rank, reaching the level of tribune of the first order, tribunus ordinis primi, by late 305.^[47]

[edit] In the West

Constantine's recognized the implicit danger in remaining at Galerius' court, where he was held as a virtual hostage. His career depended on being rescued by his father in the west. Constantius, aware of the dangerous circumstances of his son, was quick to intervene.^[48] In the late spring or early summer of 305, Constantius requested leave for his son for help in combat operations against the Picts in Britain. Galerius, then in the middle of a long evening of drinking, granted Constantius' request. Constantine's later propaganda describes how Constantine fled the court in the night, so as not to allow Galerius to change his mind in the morning. In the tale, Constantine rides his horses from post-house to post-house at high speed, mutilating them at each stop, so as to prevent their re-use by those following him. He takes the route north of the Alps to avoid Severus, then in Italy. The tale concludes with Galerius waking late the following morning, and attempting to revoke the order, only to find that Constantine had already fled. Regardless of the exact nature of his departure, Constantine joined his father in Gaul, at Bononia (Boulogne) by the summer of 305.^[49]

From Bononia they crossed the Channel to Britain and made their way to Eboracum (York), capital of the province of Britannia Secunda in northern Britain and site of a large military base. Constantine was able to spend a year in northern Britain at his father's side, campaigning against the Picts beyond Hadrian's Wall in the summer and autumn.^[50] Constantius' campaign, like that of Septimius Severus before it, probably advanced far into the north without achieving great success.^[51] Constantius and Galerius took a Britannici maximi II victory title by January 7, 306, indicating campaigning in the second half of 305.^[52]

Bronze statue of Constantine I in York, England, near the spot where he was proclaimed Augustus in 306

Constantius had become severely sick over the course of his tenure, and died on July 25, 306 in Eboracum (York). Before dying, he declared his support for raising Constantine to the rank of full Augustus. The Alamannic king Chrocus, a man who had been defeated by and taken service under Constantius, then proclaimed Constantine as Augustus. The troops loyal to Constantius' memory followed him in acclamation. Word quickly spread of Constantine's accession to power, and soon the whole of Gaul pledged him its allegiance.^[53]

Constantine's succession was contrary to Diocletian's original plans for his father's office, and therefore somewhat insecure. With Constantius' support and the backing of his armies, however, it mattered little. Nonetheless, since Constantine was now working directly beneath Galerius, he sent him an official notice of Constantius' death and his own acclamation. Along with the notice, he included a traditional portrait of himself robed in the outfit of Augustus of the West, wearing the imperial wreath.^[54] He requested recognition as heir to his father's throne, and passed off responsibility for his unlawful ascension on his army, claiming they had "forced it upon him".^[55] Galerius was displeased with the message, and almost set the portrait on fire along with the messenger who had brought it in his discontent. With difficulty, his advisers convinced him of the necessity of peace, and the difficulty of challenging such a popular man. Galerius was compelled to compromise.^[56] Galerius, making it clear that he remained the true source of the new emperor's power, sent Constantine a purple vestment and granted him the title of Caesar.^[57] He gave the office of Augustus to Severus instead. Constantine accepted the decision, knowing that it would remove any lasting doubts as to his own legitimacy.^[58] He began appearing on imperial coinage as Flavius Valerius Constantius the Noble Caesar.^[59]

Constantine's share of the Empire consisted of Britain, Gaul, Germania, and Hispania. He therefore commanded one of the largest Roman armies, stationed along the important Rhine frontier. During his years in Gaul, from 306 to 316, Constantine continued his father's efforts to secure the Rhine frontier and rebuild the Gallic provinces.^[60] After his promotion to emperor, Constantine remained in Britain for a brief period of time, securing his control in the northwestern dioceses. While there, he completed the reconstruction of military bases begun under his father's rule, and ordered the repair of the region's roadways. Like all new emperors, he had busts made of his face to be set in major cities and military camps, and began printing currency with his profile.^[61] He soon returned to Augusta Treverorum (Trier) in Gaul, the tetrarchic capital of the northwest. In the winter of 306–7, he made his way to Gaul to quell an uprising by the Franks, who had begun raiding Roman towns in Constantius' absence. Constantine drove them back across the Rhine, slaughtered many of their number, and captured two of their kings, Ascaric and Merogaisus. In the victory celebrations that ensued in Trier, Constantine fed the kings and their warriors to beasts in the amphitheater.^[62]

Public baths (thermae) built in Trier by Constantine. More than 100 metres (328 ft) wide by 200 metres (656 ft) long, and capable of serving several thousands at a time, the baths were made to rival those of Rome.^[63]

After his victory, Constantine began a major expansion of Trier. He strengthened the circuit wall around the city with military towers and fortified gates, and erected the beginnings of a palace complex in the northeast of the city. Somewhat to the south of his palace, he ordered the construction of a large formal audience hall, and a massive imperial bathhouse. For the duration of his reign as emperor of the northwestern provinces, Constantine would sponsor many building projects, especially in Augustodunum (Autun) and Arelate (Arles).^[64] According to Lactantius, Constantine followed his father in following a tolerant policy towards Christianity. Although not yet a Christian, he probably judged it a more sensible policy than open persecution.^[65] In his first years as one of the tetrarchs, Constantine's image transformed from that of the "bloodthirsty son of a renowned father" into that of an "august and fatherly emperor" who had simply outgrown the need for his father.^[66]

[edit] Maxentius' rebellion

Following Galerius' recognition of Constantine as emperor, his portrait was brought to Rome, as was customary. Maxentius mocked the portrait's subject as the son of a harlot, and lamented his own powerlessness.^[67] Maxentius, jealous of Constantine's authority, would soon take the opportunity to seize an imperial throne for himself.^[68] Taking advantage of Roman discontent at Galerius' new tax impositions, Maxentius persuaded a cohort of imperial guardsmen to declare him emperor on October 28, 306. Where Galerius had seen Constantine as a qualified individual who filled an empty position in the tetrarchy, Galerius saw in Maxentius an unworthy and disrespectful man who could destabilize the whole tetrarchic system, taking up more thrones than were available. Galerius refused to recognize Maxentius, and sent the armies of Severus against his illegitimate government. Faced with a charismatic leader with deep pockets, the bulk of Severus' armies defected to Maxentius. Severus was seized, and brought under guard to a public villa south of Rome, to be there imprisoned. Galerius led a second force against Maxentius in the autumn of 307, but his forces again failed to take Rome. He retreated north with his army mostly intact.^[69]

Dresden bust of Maxentius. Maxentius' rule in Italy worsened political relations within the tetrarchy, and pushed its members towards open conflict.^[70] His ruling style and motivations have been likened to those of Constantine.^[71]

Constantine decided to depart from Gaul and visit Britain during the spring and summer of 307, avoiding the turmoil in Italy. Constantine remained decidedly neutral in the conflict between Maxentius and Galerius.^[72] Instead of sending his troops into a civil war, he used them against Germanic tribes along the Rhine. In 308, he raided the territory of the Bructeri, and made a bridge across the Rhine at Colonia Agrippinensium (Cologne). In 310, he marched to the northern Rhine and fought the Franks. When not campaigning, he toured his lands advertising his benevolence, and supporting the economy and the arts. His refusal to participate in the war increased his popularity among his people, and built him a stable power base in his provinces.^[73]

While Maxentius built up Rome's defenses, Maximian, brought out of retirement by his son's rebellion, made his way to Gaul to confer with Constantine. He offered to espouse his younger daughter Fausta to him, and elevate him to Augustan rank. By way of recompense, Constantine would reaffirm the old family alliance between Maximian and Constantius, and offer support to Maxentius' cause in Italy. Constantine accepted, and married Fausta in Trier in late summer 307. Despite his marriage into the alliance, Constantine offered little to Maximian in return: political recognition and military neutrality.^[74] Maximian returned to Rome in the winter of 307–8, but soon fell out with his son. He challenged Maxentius' right to rule in the spring of 308 before an assembly of Roman soldiers. The soldiers sided with Maxentius. Having failed to depose his son, Maximian left Italy in disgrace. In early 309 he returned to the court of Constantine in Gaul, the only court that would still accept him.^[75]

On November 11, 308, Galerius called a general council at the military city of Carnuntum on the upper Danube to resolve the instability in the western provinces. In attendance were Diocletian, briefly returned from retirement, Galerius and Maximian. Maximian was forced to abdicate again and Constantine was again demoted to Caesar. Licinius, a loyal military companion to Galerius, was appointed Augustus of the west. The new system was not amenable to its constituents. Constantine refused to accept his second demotion, and continued to style himself as Augustus on his coinage, even as other members of the tetrarchy referred to him as a Caesar on theirs. Maximinus was frustrated that he had been turned over for promotion while the newcomer Licinius had been raised to the office of Augustus, and demanded that Galerius promote him. Galerius could not assuage the anger of either Maximinus or Constantine, and so offered to call them both "sons of the Augusti". Where once there had been two Augusti, there were now four.^[76]

[edit] Maximian's rebellion and the sixth panegyric

A gold multiple of Constantine with Sol Invictus, printed in 313. The use of Sol's image appealed to both the educated citizens of Gaul, who would recognize in it Apollo's patronage of Augustus and the arts; and to Christians, who found solar monotheism less objectionable than the traditional pagan pantheon.^[77]

In 310, a dispossessed and power-hungry Maximian rebelled against Constantine while Constantine was away campaigning against the Franks. Maximian had been sent south to Arles with a contingent of Constantine's army, in preparation for any attacks by Maxentius in southern Gaul. He there announced that Constantine was dead, and took up the imperial purple. In spite of a large donative pledge to any who would support him as emperor, most of Constantine's army remained loyal to their emperor, and Maximian was soon compelled to leave. Constantine soon heard of the rebellion, abandoned his campaign against the Franks, and marched his army up the Rhine. He moved quickly from the front to the Saône, from the Saône to the Rhône, and from there on to southern Gaul, where he approached the fleeing Maximian at Massilia (Marseille). Massilia was better capable of withstanding a long siege than Arles, but it made little difference: the loyal citizens of Massilia opened the rear gates of the city to Constantine. Maximian was captured and reproved for his crimes. Constantine granted him some initial clemency, but his suicide was strongly encouraged. Maximian hanged himself in July 310.^[78]

In spite of the earlier rupture in their relations, Maxentius was eager to present himself as his father's devoted son after his death.^[79] He began printing coins with his father's deified image while proclaiming his desire to avenge his death.^[80] Constantine had initially presented Maximian's death as an unfortunate family tragedy. His death was voluntary, performed by his own hand in spite of Constantine's pardon. By 311, however, Constantine was promulgating another narrative of the events. In the tale, set in Massilia after Maximian's pardon, Maximian was planning to murder Constantine while the emperor slept. Fausta warned Constantine, and Constantine placed a eunuch in his bed in his own place. Maximian was apprehended when he killed the eunuch, and was then offered to hang himself in place of a public execution. Maximian complied.^[81] In addition to the propaganda, Constantine instituted a damnatio memoriae on Maximian, destroying all inscriptions referring to him and eliminating any public work bearing his image.^[82]

The death of Maximian necessitated a shift in Constantine's public image. He could no longer rely on his connection to the elder emperor Maximian, and needed a new source of legitimacy.^[83] In a speech delivered in Gaul on July 25, 310, the orator reveals a previously unknown dynastic connection to Claudius II, a third-century emperor famed for defeating the Goths and restoring order to the empire. Breaking away from tetrarchic models, the speech emphasizes Constantine's ancestral prerogative to rule, rather than principles of imperial equality. The new ideology expressed in the speech made Galerius and Maximian irrelevant to Constantine's right to rule.^[84] Indeed, the orator emphasizes ancestry to the exclusion of all other factors: "No chance agreement of men, nor some unexpected consequence of favor, made you emperor," the orator declares to Constantine.^[85]

The oration also moves away from the religious ideology of the tetrarchy, with its focus on twin dynasties of Jupiter and Hercules. Instead, the orator proclaims that Constantine experienced a divine vision of Apollo and Victory granting him laurel wreaths of health and a long reign. In the likeness of Apollo Constantine recognized himself as the saving figure to whom would be granted "rule of the whole world",^[86] as the poet Virgil had once foretold.^[87] The oration's religious shift is paralleled by a similar shift in Constantine's coinage. In his early reign, the coinage of Constantine advertised Mars as his patron. From 310 on, Mars was replaced by Sol Invictus, a god conventionally identified with Apollo.^[88] There is little reason to believe that either the dynastic connection or the divine vision are anything other than fiction, but their proclamation strengthened Constantine's claims to legitimacy and increased his popularity among the citizens of Gaul.^[89]

[edit] Death of Galerius and tetrarchic tensions

By the middle of 310 Galerius had become too ill to involve himself in imperial politics.^[90] As his last political act, Galerius decided to rescind his failed policies of persecution. In a letter to his provincials posted in Nicomedia on April 30, 311, Galerius proclaimed an end to the persecutions, and a resumption of official religious toleration.^[91] He died soon after.^[92] In spite of the edict, Maximin resumed persecution in his territories within six months of the its proclamation.^[93] Galerius' death destabilized what remained of the tetrarchic system.^[94] On hearing the news, Maximinus mobilized against Licinius, and seized Asia Minor before meeting Licinius on the Bosphorus to arrange terms for peace.^[95] At the time, Constantine was on tour in Britain and Gaul, providing tax concessions to his subjects, and ordering construction projects in selected urban areas.^[96] Meanwhile, Maxentius in Italy was fortifying northern Italy against potential invasions. He also strengthened his support among the Christians of Italy by allowing them to elect a new Bishop of Rome, Eusebius.^[97]

Maxentius was far from secure, however. His early support was dissolving into open protest;^[98] by 312, he was a man barely tolerated, not one actively supported.^[99] Without the revenues of the empire, Maxentius was forced to resume taxation in Italy to support his army and his building projects in Rome.^[100] The election of a bishop did not aid much, either, as Diocletian's persecution had split the Italian church into competing factions over the issue of apostasy. The Christians of Italy could easily see that Constantine was more sympathetic to their plight than Maxentius.^[101] In the summer of 311, Maxentius mobilized against Constantine while Licinius was occupied with affairs in the East. He declared war on Constantine, vowing to avenge his father's "murder".^[102] Constantine, in an attempt to prevent Maxentius from forming a hostile alliance with Licinius,^[103] forged his own alliance with the man over the winter of 311–12 by offering to him his sister Constantia in marriage. Maximin considered Constantine's arrangement with Licinius an affront to his authority. In response, he sent ambassadors to Rome, offering political recognition to Maxentius in exchange for a military support.^[104] Two alliances, Maximin and Maxentius, Constantine and Licinius, lined up against one another. The emperors prepared for war.^[105]

[edit] Civil wars

Maxentius expected an attack along his eastern flank from Licinius, and stationed an army in Verona.^[106] Constantine had smaller forces than his opponent: with his forces withdrawn from Africa, with the praetorian and Imperial Horse Guard, and with the troops he had taken from Severus, Maxentius had an army equal to approximately 100,000 soldiers to use against his opponents in the north. Many of these he used to garrison fortified towns across the region, keeping most stationed with him in Verona. Against this, Constantine could only bring a force of between twenty-five and forty thousand men. The bulk of his troops simply could not be withdrawn from the Rhine frontiers without negative consequences.^[107] It was against the recommendations of his advisers and generals, against popular expectation, that Constantine anticipated Maxentius, and struck first.^[108]

As early as weather permitted,^[109] late in the spring of 312,^[110] Constantine crossed the Alps with a quarter of his total army, a force equivalent to something less than forty thousand men.^[111] Having crossed the Cottian Alps at the Mont Cenis pass,^[112] he first came to Segusium (Susa, Italy), a heavily fortified town containing a military garrison, which shut its gates to him. Constantine ordered his forces set its gates on fire, scaled its walls, and took the town quickly. Constantine forbade the plunder of the town, and advanced into northern Italy.^[113] At the approach to the west of the important city of Augusta Taurinorum (Turin, Italy), Constantine encountered a large force of heavily armed Maxentian cavalry,^[114] labeled clibanarii or cataphracti in the ancient sources. In the ensuing battle Constantine spread his forces into a line, allowing Maxentius' cavalry to ride into the middle of his forces. As his forces broadly encircled the enemy cavalry, Constantine's own cavalry charged at the sides of the Maxentian cataphracts, beating them with iron-tipped clubs. Many Maxentian cavalrymen were dismounted, while most others were variously incapacitated by the blows. Constantine then commanded his foot soldiers to advance against the surviving Maxentian infantry, cutting them down as they fled.^[115] Victory, the panegyrist who speaks of the events declares, came easily.^[116] Turin refused to give refuge to the retreating forces of Maxentius. It opened its gates to Constantine instead. Other cities of the north Italian plain, recognizing Constantine's quick and clement victories, sent him embassies of congratulation for his victory. He moved on to Milan, where he was met with open gates and jubilant rejoicing. He resided there until the middle of the summer of 312 before moving on.^[117]

He quickly conquered Northern Italy in the battle Verona and then moved on to Rome. There he defeated Maxentius in the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, which resulted in his becoming Western Augustus, or ruler of the entire Western Roman Empire. During this epic battle Constantine had his soldiers place on their shields what Christians believed was the labarum symbol, although there is a dispute between historians whether this design was of Christian or solar pagan origins, or whether it perhaps originated in the meteorological occurrences on the date thereof.^[118] In a dream the night before the battle, wrote the Christian apologist Lactantius, Constantine was told by God to paint the labarum on his soldiers' shields. Eusebius attributes another vision to Constantine, although historians have tended to doubt its veracity more than that of Lactantius. When Constantine was praying about noon, a sign appeared in the heavens above the Sun: a cross of light with the message "In this sign, you will conquer". He and his whole army were struck with amazement at the sign.^[119] Constantine was uncertain of the meaning of the sign, but in his sleep the Christian God came to him with the same sign, and commanded him to make a likeness of it, and use it as a safeguard.^[120]

The Battle of the Milvian Bridge by Giulio Romano

Some have argued for a meteorological explanation of the vision, explaining it as either a "solar halo"^[121] or the tail of a meteor;^[122] but most historians have disputed either the details of the events or their very existence, arguing for an earlier or later conversion date and thereby avoiding the historiographic problems of miracles altogether.^[123] Some historians suggest that Lactantius' account, written from good sources soon after the battle, should be taken alone; that Constantine had the dream, but not the waking vision.^[124] In any event, the visions were part of Christians' common eschatological expectations in the period: beginning with the Gospel of Matthew and continuing on through the Didache, the Apocalypse of Peter, the Apocalypse of Elijah, the appearance of the "Sign of the Son of Man" in the heavens was a common motif preceding the Second Coming of Christ in Christian writings on the End Times.^[125] Lactantius and Constantine, in their other writings, show some awareness of this trend in eschatology.^[126]

In the following years, Constantine gradually consolidated his military superiority over his rivals in the crumbling tetrarchy. In 313, he met Licinius in Milan to secure their alliance by the marriage of Licinius and Constantine's half-sister Constantia. During this meeting, the emperors agreed on the so-called Edict of Milan (which, in its surviving forms, was neither an edict nor issued in Milan), officially granting full tolerance to all religions in the Empire.^[127] The document had special benefits for Christians, legalizing their religion and granting them restoration for all property seized during Diocletian's persecution. It repudiates past methods of religious coercion, accepting religious plurality and using only general terms—"Divinity" and "Supreme Divinity", summa divinitas—avoiding any exclusive specificity.^[128] The conference was cut short, however, when news reached Licinius that his rival Maximinus Daia had crossed the Bosporus and invaded Licinian territory. Licinius departed and eventually defeated Maximinus, gaining control over the entire eastern half of the Roman Empire. Relations between the two remaining emperors deteriorated, though, and either in 314 or 316, Constantine and Licinius fought against one another in the war of Cibalae, with Constantine being victorious. They clashed again in the Battle of Campus Ardiensis in 317, and agreed to a settlement in which Constantine's sons Crispus and Constantine II, and Licinius' son Licinianus were made caesars.^[129]

In the year 320, Licinius reneged on the religious freedom promised by the Edict of Milan in 313 and began another persecution of the Christians.^[130] It became a challenge to Constantine in the west, climaxing in the great civil war of 324. Licinius, aided by Goth mercenaries, represented the past and the ancient Pagan faiths. Constantine and his Franks marched under the Christian standard of the labarum, and both sides saw the battle in religious terms. Supposedly outnumbered, but fired by their zeal, Constantine's army emerged victorious in the battles of Adrianople, the Hellespont, and at Chrysopolis.^[131] With the defeat and death of Licinius a year later (he was accused of plotting against Constantine and executed), Constantine became the sole emperor of the Roman Empire.^[132]

[edit] Founding of New Rome

Coin struck by Constantine I to commemorate the founding of Constantinople

Licinius' defeat represented the passing of old Rome, and the beginning of the role of the Eastern Roman Empire as a center of learning, prosperity, and cultural preservation. Constantine rebuilt the city of Byzantium, and renamed it Nova Roma (New Rome) and issued special commemorative coins in 330 to honour the event. He provided Nova Roma with a Senate and civic offices similar to those of Rome. The new city was protected by the alleged True Cross, the Rod of Moses and other holy relics, though a cameo now at the Hermitage Museum also represented Constantine crowned by the tyche of the new city.^[133] The figures of old gods were replaced and often assimilated into Christian symbolism. On the site of a temple to Aphrodite was built the new Church of the Holy Apostles. Generations later there was the story that a Divine vision led Constantine to this spot, and an angel no one else could see, led him on a circuit of the new walls. After his death, his capital was renamed Nova Roma Constantinopolitana (Constantinople in English, "Constantine's City").^[132]

[edit] Religious policy

Further information: Constantine I and Christianity

Constantine the Great, mosaic in Hagia Sophia, c. 1000

Constantine is perhaps best known for being the first Christian Roman Emperor. His reign was a turning point for the Christian Church. In 313 Constantine announced toleration of Christianity in the Edict of Milan, which removed penalties for professing Christianity (under which many had been martyred in previous persecutions of Christians) and returned confiscated Church property. Though a similar edict had been issued in 311 by Galerius, then senior emperor of the tetrarchy,^[134] Constantine's lengthy rule, conversion, and patronage of the Church redefined the status of Christianity in the empire.

Scholars debate whether Constantine adopted his mother St. Helena's Christianity in his youth, or whether he adopted it gradually over the course of his life.^[135] Constantine was over 40 when he finally declared himself a Christian.^[136] Constantine however still maintained the title of Pontifex Maximus, which emperors bore as heads of the pagan priesthood. Writing to Christians, Constantine made clear that he believed he owed his successes to the protection of the Christian High God alone.^[137] Throughout his rule, Constantine supported the Church financially, built various basilicas, granted privileges (e.g. exemption from certain taxes) to clergy, promoted Christians to high ranking offices, and returned property confiscated during the Great Persecution of Diocletian.^[138] His most famous building projects include the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Old Saint Peter's Basilica.

The reign of Constantine established a precedent for the position of the Christian Emperor in the Church; Constantine considered himself responsible to God for the spiritual health of his subjects, and thus he had a duty to maintain orthodoxy.^{[139] [140]} The emperor ensured that God was properly worshipped in his empire; what proper worship consisted of was for the Church to determine.^[141]

In 316, Constantine acted as a judge in a North African dispute concerning the heresy of Donatism. More significantly, in 325 he summoned the Council of Nicaea, effectively the first Ecumenical Council (unless the Council of Jerusalem is so classified), to deal mostly with the heresy of Arianism.

Constantine also enforced the prohibition of the First Council of Nicaea against celebrating Easter on the day before the Jewish Passover (14 Nisan) (see Quartodecimanism and Easter controversy).^[142]

Constantine instituted several legislative measures which had an impact on Jews. They were forbidden to own Christian slaves or to circumcise their slaves. Conversion of Christians to Judaism was outlawed. Congregations for religious services were restricted, but Jews were allowed to enter Jerusalem on Tisha B'Av, the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple.

[edit] Executions of Crispus and Fausta

On some date between May 15 and June 17, 326, Constantine had his eldest son Crispus seized and put to death by "cold poison" at Pola (Pula, Croatia).^[143] In July, Constantine had his wife, the Empress Fausta, killed at the behest of his mother, Helena. Fausta was left to die in an over-heated bath.^{[144][145][146]} Their names were wiped from the face of many inscriptions, references to their lives in the literary record were erased, and the memory of both was condemned. Eusebius, for example, edited praise of Crispus out of later copies of his Historia Ecclesiastica, and his Vita Constantini contains no mention of Fausta or Crispus at all.^[147] Few ancient sources are willing to discuss possible motives for the events; those few that do offer unconvincing rationales, are of later provenance, and are generally unreliable. At the time of the executions, it was commonly believed that the Empress Fausta was either in an illicit relationship with Crispus, or was spreading rumors to that effect. A popular myth arose, modified to allude to Hippolytus–Phaedra legend, with the suggestion that Constantine killed Crispus and Fausta for their immoralities.^[148] One source, the largely fictional Passion of Artemius, probably penned in the eighth century by John of Damascus, makes the legendary connection explicit.^[149] As an interpretation of the executions, the myth rests on only "the slimmest of evidence": sources that allude to the relationship between Crispus and Fausta are late and unreliable, and the modern suggestion that Constantine's "godly" edicts of 326 and the irregularities of Crispus are somehow connected rests on no evidence at all.^[148]

[edit] Sickness and death

Eusebius's account resumes following the abortive Persian campaign, with Constantine set about building a martyrion for the apostles in Constantinople, and, within it, a final resting-place for himself.^[150] In the course of one Feast of Easter, Constantine fell seriously ill.^[151] He left Constantinople for the hot baths near his mother's city of Helenopolis (Altinova), on the southern shores of the Gulf of İzmit. There, in a church his mother built in honor of Lucian the Apostle, he prayed, and there he realized that he was dying. Seeking purification, he became a catechumen, and attempted a return to Constantinople, making it only as far as a suburb of Nicomedia.^[152] He summoned the bishops, and told them of his hope to be baptized in the River Jordan, where Christ was written to have been baptized. He requested the baptism right away, promising to live a more Christian life should he live through his illness. The bishops, Eusebius records, "performed the sacred ceremonies according to custom".^[153] He chose the Arianizing bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia as his baptizer.^[154] Constantine died soon after at a suburban villa called Achyron, on the last day of the fifty-day festival of Pentecost directly following Easter, on May 22, 337.^[155]

The Baptism of Constantine, as imagined by students of Raphael

Although Constantine's death follows the conclusion of the Persian campaign in Eusebius's account, most other sources report his death as occurring in its middle. Emperor Julian, writing in the mid-350s, observes that the Sassanians escaped punishment for their ill-deeds, because Constantine died "in the middle of his preparations for war".^[156] Similar accounts are given in the Origo Constantini, an anonymous document composed while Constantine was still living, and which has Constantine dying in Nicomedia;^[157] the Historiae abbreviatae of Sextus Aurelius Victor, written in 361, which has Constantine dying at an estate near Nicomedia called Achyrona while marching against the Persians;^[158] and the Breviarium of Eutropius, a handbook compiled in 369 for the Emperor Valens, which has Constantine dying in a nameless state villa in Nicomedia.^[159] From these and other accounts, some have concluded that Eusebius's Vita was edited to defend Constantine's reputation against what Eusebius saw as a less congenial version of the campaign.^[160]

The Constantinian dynasty down to Gratian (r. 367–383)

In postponing his baptism, he followed one custom at the time which postponed baptism until old age or death.^[161] Following his death, his body was transferred to Constantinople and buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles there.^[162] He was succeeded by his three sons born of Fausta, Constantine II, Constantius II and Constans. A number of relatives were killed by followers of Constantius. He also had two daughters, Constantina and Helena, wife of Emperor Julian.^[163]

[edit] Coinage

Coin of Constantine, with depiction of the sun god Sol Invictus, holding a globe and right hand raised. The legend on the reverse reads SOLI INVICTO COMITI, to (Constantine's) "companion, the unconquered Sol".

Coins struck for emperors often reveal details of their personal iconography. During the early part of Constantine's rule, representations first of Mars and then (from 310) of Apollo as Sun god consistently appear on the reverse of the coinage.^{[citation needed]} Mars had been associated with the tetrarchy, and Constantine's use of this symbolism served to emphasize the legitimacy of his rule. After his breach with his father's old colleague Maximian in 309–310, Constantine began to claim legitimate descent from the third century emperor Marcus Aurelius Claudius Gothicus (Claudius II), the hero of the Battle of Naissus (September, 268).^[164]

Follis by Constantine. On the reverse, a labarum.

Gothicus had claimed the divine protection of Apollo-Sol Invictus. Constantine also promoted an association of himself with Sol Invictus, which was the last deity to appear on his coinage.^[165] The reverses of his coinage were dominated for several years by his "companion, the unconquered Sol" — the inscriptions read SOLI INVICTO COMITI. The depiction represents Apollo with a solar halo, Helios-like, and the globe in his hands. In the 320s Constantine has a halo of his own. There are also coins depicting Apollo driving the chariot of the Sun on a shield Constantine is holding.^{[citation needed]} Elements of this association remained even after Constantine's famous conversion to Christianity in 312. Thereafter, Christian symbolism, albeit ambiguous in some instances, began to appear in Imperial iconography.^[166] A coin of ca 312, for example, shows the chi-rho, the first two letters of the name of Christ in Greek, on a helmet Constantine is wearing.^[167]

An example of "staring eyes" on later Constantine coinage.

A continuation of the iconographic precedent can be seen in the larger eye of the coin portrait. This suggests a more fundamental shift in official images. Beginning in the late third century, portraits began to become less realistic and more idealized.^{[citation needed]} The Emperor as Emperor, not merely as any particular individual, is of primary importance. The most common characteristics of this style are the broad jaw and cleft chin. The large staring eyes will loom larger as the fourth century progresses: compare the early fifth century silver coinage of Theodosius I, or the bust of Arcadius.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Courts and appointees

Constantine respected cultivation and Christianity, and his court was composed of older, respected, and honored men.^[168] Leading Roman families that refused Christianity were denied positions of power, yet two-thirds of his top government was non-Christian.^[169]

From Pagan temples Constantine had his statue removed. The repair of Pagan temples that had decayed was forbidden. These funds were given to the favored Christian clergy. Offensive forms of worship, either Christian or Pagan, were suppressed. At the dedication of Constantinople in 330 a ceremony half Pagan and half Christian was performed, in the market place, the Cross of Christ was placed over the head of the Sun-God's chariot. There was a singing of hymns.^[170]

[edit] Legislation

Constantine passed laws making the occupations of butcher and baker hereditary, and more importantly, supported converting the coloni (tenant farmers) into serfs — laying the foundation for European society during the Middle Ages.^{[citation needed]}

Constantine's laws in many ways improved those of his predecessors, though they also reflect his more violent age.^{[citation needed]} Some examples:

• For the first time, girls could not be abducted (this may actually refer to elopements, which were considered kidnapping because girls could not legally consent to the elopement).
• A punishment of death was mandated to anyone collecting taxes over the authorized amount.
• A prisoner was no longer to be kept in total darkness, but must be given the outdoors and daylight.
• A condemned man was allowed to die in the arena, but could not be branded on his "heavenly beautified" face, just on the feet (because God made man in His image).
• Slave "nurses" or chaperones caught allowing the girls they were responsible for to be seduced were to have molten lead poured down their throats.
• Gladiatorial games were ordered to be eliminated in 325, although this had little real effect.^[171]
• A slave master's rights were limited, but a slave could still be beaten to death.
• Crucifixion was abolished for reasons of Christian piety, but was replaced with hanging, to show there was Roman law and justice.
• Easter could be publicly celebrated.
• A Sunday law enforcing its public observation as a day of rest was enacted.

[edit] Legacy

Contemporary bronze head of Constantine.

Although he earned his honorific of "The Great" (= "Μέγας" in Greek) from Christian historians long after he had died, he could have claimed the title on his military achievements and victories alone. In addition to reuniting the Empire under one emperor, Constantine won major victories over the Franks and Alamanni in 306–308, the Franks again in 313–314, the Visigoths in 332 and the Sarmatians in 334. In fact, by 336, Constantine had actually reoccupied most of the long-lost province of Dacia, which Aurelian had been forced to abandon in 271. At the time of his death, he was planning a great expedition to put an end to raids on the eastern provinces from the Persian Empire.^[172]

The Byzantine Empire considered Constantine its founder and the Holy Roman Empire reckoned him among the venerable figures of its tradition. In the later Byzantine state, it had become a great honor for an emperor to be hailed as a "new Constantine". Ten Emperors, including the last emperor of Byzantium, carried the name.^[173] At the court of Charlemagne, the selected use of monumental Constantinian forms lent expression to conception of Charlemagne as Constantine's successor and equal. Constantine acquired a mythic role as a warrior against "heathens", a feature parodied in the fifteenth-century Chronicle of Pseudo-Turpin. The motif of the Romanesque equestrian, the mounted figure in the posture of a triumphant Roman emperor, came to be used as a visual metaphor in statuary in praise of local benefactors. The name "Constantine" itself enjoyed renewed popularity in western France in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.^[174] Most Eastern Christian churches consider Constantine a saint (Άγιος Κωνσταντίνος, Saint Constantine).^[175] In the Byzantine Church he was called isapostolos (Ισαπόστολος Κωνσταντίνος)—an equal of the Apostles.^[176]

[edit] Donation of Constantine

Main article: Donation of Constantine

Latin Rite Catholics of the Middle Ages considered it inappropriate that Constantine was baptized only on his death-bed and by a bishop of questionable orthodoxy, viewing it as a snub to the authority of the Papacy. Hence, by the early fourth century, a legend had emerged that Pope Sylvester I (314–35) had cured the pagan Emperor from leprosy. According to this legend, Constantine was soon baptized, and began the construction of a church in the Lateran Palace.^[177] In the eighth century, most likely during the pontificate of Stephen II (752–7), a document called the "Donation of Constantine" first appeared, in which the freshly converted Constantine hands the temporal rule over "the city of Rome and all the provinces, districts, and cities of Italy and the Western regions" to Stephen and his successors.^[178] In the High Middle Ages, this document was used and accepted as the basis for the Pope's temporal power, though it was denounced as a forgery by Emperor Otto III^[179] and lamented as the root of papal worldliness by the poet Dante Alighieri. The 15th century philologist Lorenzo Valla proved the document was indeed a forgery.^[180]

[edit] Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia

Because of his fame and his being proclaimed Emperor on the territory of Great Britain, Constantine was later also considered a British King. In the 11th century, the English writer Geoffrey of Monmouth published a fictional work called Historia Regum Britanniae, in which he narrates the supposed history of the Britons and their kings from the Trojan War, King Arthur and the Anglo-Saxon conquest. In this work, Geoffrey claimed that Constantine's mother Helena was actually the daughter of "King Cole", the mythical King of the Britons and eponymous founder of Colchester. A daughter for King Cole had not previously figured in the lore, at least not as it has survived in writing, and this pedigree is likely to reflect Geoffrey's desire to create a continuous line of regal descent. It was indecorous, Geoffrey considered, that a king might have less-than-noble ancestors. Geoffrey also said that Constantine was proclaimed "King of the Britons" at York, rather than Roman Emperor.^[181]

[edit] Notes

Essays from The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Constantine are marked with a "(CC)".

[edit] References

[edit] Primary sources

[edit] Secondary sources

[edit] See also

• Colossus of Constantine
• Constantinian shift
• Donatist

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Constantine I (emperor)

• Letters of Constantine: Book 1, Book 2, & Book 3
• Encyclopaedia Britannica, Constantine I
• 12 Byzantine Rulers by Lars Brownworth of Stony Brook School (grades 7-12). 40 minute audio lecture on Constantine.
• Constantine I in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
• Constantine the Great A site about Constantine the Great and his bronze coins emphasizing history using coins, with many resources including reverse types issued and reverse translations.
• House of Constantine bronze coins Illustrations and descriptions of coins of Constantine the Great and his relatives.
• BBC North Yorkshire's site on Roman York, Yorkshire and Constantine the Great