Home > Constantine I (emperor)
Flavius Valerius Constantinus ( 272– May 22, 337), commonly known as Constantine I or Constantine the Great, was proclaimed Augustus by his troops on July 25, 306 and ruled an ever-growing portion of the Roman Empire to his death. Constantine is famed for his refounding of Byzantium as "New Rome," which was always called "Constantine's City"— Constantinople. With the " Edict of Milan" in 313, Constantine and his co-Emperor removed all onus from Christianity. By taking the personal step of convoking the Council of Nicaea (325) Constantine began the Roman Empire's unofficial sponsoring of Christianity, which was a major factor in that religion's spread. His reputation as the "first Christian Emperor" was promulgated by Lactantius and Eusebius and gained ground in the succeeding generations. 1 Early life
He was born at Naissus in Upper Dacia to Constantius I Chlorus and an innkeeper's daughter, Helena. Constantine was well educated and served at the court of DiocletianGaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletian ( 245- 313), born Diocles was Roman Emperor from November 20, 284 to May 1, 305. An Illyrian of low birth, Diocles rose through the ranks to the consulship. He was chosen by the Army on November 20, 284 to replace Numeri in NicomediaNicomedes I of Bithynia founded the city of Nicomedia (modern Ismid), at the head of the Gulf of Astacus (which opens on the Propontis), in 264 BC The city has ever since been one of the chief towns in this part of Asia Minor. It was the metropolis of Bit as a kind of hostage after the appointment of his father Constantius, a general, as one of the two CaesariCaesar (p. Caesares is a title of imperial character. It derives from the cognomen of Gaius Iulius Caesar ("Julius Caesar"), the Roman dictator who was famously murdered on the Ides of March, 44 BC. The change from being a familial name to an imperial tit (at that time a junior emperor), in the TetrarchyThe Tetrarchy ( Greek: "leadership of four"; aka the Latin Quadrumvirate "government by four men") was a system of government created in 293 AD by the Roman Emperor Diocletian in order to solve serious military and economic problems in the Roman Empire. in 293Events March 1 Diocletian and Maximian appoint Constantius Chlorus and Galerius as Caesars. This is considered the beginning of the Tetrarchy. Probus succeeds Rufinus as Patriarch of Constantinople Sassanid Shah Bahram III succeeds Bahram II. Sassanid Sha. In 305Events May 1 Diocletian and Maximian, emperors of Rome, retire from office. Constantius Chlorus and Galerius declared Augusti; Flavius Valerius Severus and Maximinus Daia appointed Caesars. The Arch of Galerius is built. Births Deaths Hierocles, proconsul, the Augustus, Maximian, abdicated, and Constantius succeeded to the position. However, he died in 306. Constantine managed to be at his deathbed in Eburacum ( York), where troops loyal to his father's memory proclaimed him Emperor. For the next 18 years, he fought a series of battles and wars that left him first as emperor of the west, and then as supreme ruler of the Roman Empire.
Bronze statue of Constantine I outside York Minster, near where he was acclaimed Emperor in 306
2 Constantine and Christianity
Constantine is perhaps best known for being the first Roman Emperor to endorse Christianity, traditionally presented as a result of an omen — a chi and rho in the sky, with the inscription "By this sign shalt thou conquer" — before his victory in the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312, when Constantine is said to have instituted the new standard to be carried into battle, called the labarum.
Christian historians ever since Lactantius have adhered to the view that Constantine "adopted" Christianity as a kind of replacement for the official Roman paganism. Though the document called the " Donation of Constantine" was proved a forgery (though not until the 15th century, when the stories of Constantine's conversion were long-established "facts") it was attributed as documenting the conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity for centuries. Even Christian skeptics have accepted this formulation, though seeing Constantine's policy as a political rather than spiritual move.
By the end of the 3rd century, Christian communities and their bishops had become a force to contend with, in urban centers especially. Christians were preferred for high government positions; the Church was granted various special privileges; and churches like the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem were constructed. Christian bishops took aggressive public stances that were unknown among other cult leaders, even among the Jews. Proselytism had had to be publicly outlawed, simply to maintain public decorum. In the essential legions, however, Christianity was despised as womanish, and the soldiers followed Mithras and Isis. Since the Roman Emperors ruled by "divine right" and stayed in power through the support of the legions, it was important for them to be seen to support a strong state religion. The contumely of the Christians consisted in their public refusal to participate in official rites that no one deeply believed in, but which were an equivalent of an oath of allegiance. Refusal might easily bring upon all the Roman people the loss of the gods' support; such were the usual justifications for occasional lynchings of Christians by Roman soldiers, the fare of many martyrologies .
Constantine and Licinius' Edict of Milan (313) neither made paganism illegal nor made Christianity a state-sponsored religion. What it did was legalize Christianity, return confiscated Church property, and establish Sunday as a day of worship. Though the church prospered under Constantine's patronage, it also fell into the first of many public schisms. He called the First Council of Nicaea to settle the problem of Arianism, a dispute about the personhood and godhood of Jesus. It produced the Nicene Creed, which favoured the position of Athanasius, Arius's opponent, and became official doctrine.
When the Altar of Victory was desecrated and removed from its place of honor in the Senate, the Senate deputized Symmachus to appeal to the emperor for its return. Symmachus publicly characterized the late Emperor Constantine's policy, in a plea for freedom of religion:
- He diminished none of the privileges of the sacred virgins, he filled the priestly offices with nobles, he did not refuse the cost of the Roman ceremonies, and following the rejoicing Senate through all the streets of the eternal city, he contentedly beheld the shrines with unmoved countenance, he read the names of the gods inscribed on the pediments, he enquired about the origin of the temples, and expressed admiration for their builders. Although he himself followed another religion, he maintained its own for the empire, for everyone has his own customs, everyone his own rites. The divine mind has distributed different guardians and different cults to different cities. As souls are separately given to infants as they are born, so to peoples the genius of their destiny. (Possible Christian insertion in italics.)
- Medieval sourcebook: The Memorial of Symmachus, prefect of the City. (The Memorial has been emended to address three emperors, Valentinian II (died 392), Theodosius I, and Arcadius (began to rule 395), a historical impossibility. Thus there may be other Christian adulterations of the text. The reply of Ambrose, bishop of Milan is appended, which is highly revealing in the character of his argument in rebuttal.)
