| Constantine the Great (Latin:
Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus Augustus ;
27 February c. 272 – 22 May 337), also known as Constantine I or Saint
Constantine , was
Roman Emperor
from 306 to 337. Well known for
being the first Roman emperor to
be converted
to
Christianity
, Constantine and co-Emperor
Licinius
issued the
Edict of Milan
in 313, which proclaimed
tolerance of all religions
throughout the
empire.
Constantine defeated the emperors
Maxentius
and
Licinius
during civil wars. He also fought
successfully against the
Franks
,
Alamanni
,
Visigoths
, and
Sarmatians
during his reign — even resettling
parts of Dacia
which had been abandoned during the
previous century. Constantine built a new imperial residence at
Byzantium
, naming it
New Rome
. However, in Constantine's honor,
people called it
Constantinople
, which would later be the
capital of what is now known as the
Byzantine Empire
for over one thousand years.
Because of this, he is thought of as the founder of the Byzantine Empire.
Flavius Valerius Constantinus, as he was originally named, was born in the
city of Naissus,
Dardania
province of
Moesia
, in present-day
Niš,
Serbia
, on 27 February of an uncertain year,
probably near 272.
His father was
Flavius Constantius
, a native of
Dardania
province of Moesia (later
Dacia Ripensis
). Constantius was a tolerant and
politically skilled man. Constantine probably spent little time with his father.
Constantius was an officer in the Roman army, 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 companions
from
Illyricum
, in 284 or 285.Constantine's mother
was
Helena
, a
Bithynian
woman of low social standing.It is
uncertain whether she was legally married to Constantius or merely his concubine
Helena gave birth to the future emperor
Constantine I
on 27 February of an uncertain
year soon after 270 (probably around 272). At the time, she was in
Naissus
(Niš,
Serbia
). In order to obtain a wife more
consonant with his rising status, Constantius divorced Helena some time before
289, when he married
Theodora
, Maximian's daughter.(The narrative
sources date the marriage to 293, but the
Latin panegyric
of 289 refers to the couple as
already married). Helena and her son were dispatched to the court of
Diocletian
at Nicomedia, where Constantine grew
to be a member of the inner circle. Helena never remarried and lived for a time
in obscurity, though close to her only son, who had a deep regard and affection
for her.
She received the title of
Augusta
in 325 and died in 330 with her son
at her side. She was buried in the
Mausoleum of Helena
, outside
Rome on the
Via Labicana
. Her
sarcophagus
is on display in the
Pio-Clementine Vatican Museum
, although the
connection is often questioned, next to her is the sarcophagus of her
granddaughter Saint Constantina (Saint Constance). The elaborate reliefs contain
hunting scenes. During her life, she gave many presents to the poor, released
prisoners and mingled with the ordinary worshippers in modest attire.
Constantine received a formal education at Diocletian's court, where he
learned Latin literature, Greek, and philosophy.
On 1 May 305, Diocletian, as a result of a debilitating sickness taken in the
winter of 304–5, announced his resignation. In a parallel ceremony in Milan,
Maximian did the same. Lactantius states that Galerius manipulated the weakened
Diocletian into resigning, and forced him to accept Galerius' allies in the
imperial succession. According to Lactantius, the crowd listening to
Diocletian's resignation speech believed, until the very last moment, that
Diocletian would choose Constantine and
Maxentius
(Maximian's son) as his successors.
It was not to be: Constantius and Galerius were promoted to Augusti, while
Severus
and
Maximin
were appointed their Caesars
respectively. Constantine and Maxentius were ignored.
Constantine 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 was quick to intervene. In the late spring
or early summer of 305, Constantius requested leave for his son, to help him
campaign in Britain. After a long evening of drinking, Galerius granted the
request. Constantine's later propaganda describes how he fled the court in the
night, before Galerius could change his mind. He rode from
post-house
to post-house at high speed,
hamstringing
every horse in his wake.By the
time Galerius awoke the following morning, Constantine had fled too far to be
caught. Constantine joined his father in
Gaul
, at Bononia (Boulogne)
before the summer of 305.
From Bononia they crossed the
Channel
to Britain and made their way to
Eboracum
(York),
capital of the province of
Britannia Secunda
and home to 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.
Constantius's campaign, like that of
Septimius Severus
before it, probably advanced
far into the north without achieving great success. Constantius had become
severely sick over the course of his reign, and died on 25 July 306 in
Eboracum
(York).
Before dying, he declared his support for raising Constantine to the rank of
full Augustus. The
Alamannic
king
Chrocus
, a barbarian taken into service under
Constantius, then proclaimed Constantine as Augustus. The troops loyal to
Constantius' memory followed him in acclamation. Gaul and Britain quickly
accepted his rule; Iberia, which had been in his father's domain for less than a
year, rejected it.
Constantine sent Galerius an official notice of Constantius's death and his
own acclamation. Along with the notice, he included a portrait of himself in the
robes of an Augustus. The portrait was wreathed in
bay
. 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".Galerius was put into a fury by the
message; he almost set the portrait on fire. His advisers calmed him, and argued
that outright denial of Constantine's claims would mean certain war.Galerius was
compelled to compromise: he granted Constantine the title "Caesar" rather than
"Augustus" (the latter office went to Severus instead). Wishing to make it clear
that he alone gave Constantine legitimacy, Galerius personally sent Constantine
the emperor's traditional
purple robes
. Constantine accepted the
decision. Constantine's share of the Empire consisted of Britain, Gaul, and
Spain.
Because Constantine was still largely untried and had a hint of illegitimacy
about him, he relied on his father's reputation in his early propaganda: the
earliest panegyrics to Constantine give as much coverage to his father's deeds
as to those of Constantine himself.
Constantine's military skill and building projects soon gave
the panegyrist the opportunity to comment favorably on the similarities between
father and son, and Eusebius remarked that Constantine was a "renewal, as it
were, in his own person, of his father's life and reign". Constantinian coinage,
sculpture and oratory also shows a new tendency for disdain towards the
"barbarians" beyond the frontiers. After Constantine's victory over the
Alemanni, he minted a coin issue depicting weeping and begging Alemannic
tribesmen—"The Alemanni conquered"—beneath the phrase "Romans' rejoicing".There
was little sympathy for these enemies. As his panegyrist declared: "It is a
stupid clemency that spares the conquered foe."
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 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. At Cabillunum (Chalon-sur-Saône),
he moved his troops onto waiting boats to row down the slow waters of the
Saône
to the quicker waters of the
Rhone
. He disembarked at
Lugdunum
(Lyon).Maximian
fled to Massilia (Marseille),
a town better able to withstand a long siege than Arles. It made little
difference, however, as loyal citizens opened the rear gates to Constantine.
Maximian was captured and reproved for his crimes. Constantine granted some
clemency, but strongly encouraged his suicide. In July 310, Maximian hanged
himself.
The death of Maximian required 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.In a speech delivered in Gaul on 25 July 310, the
anonymous 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.
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.
A gold multiple of "Unconquered Constantine" with
Sol Invictus
, struck 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.
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", as the poet Virgil had once
foretold. 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.
By the middle of 310, Galerius had become too ill to involve himself in
imperial politics. His final act survives: a letter to the provincials posted in
Nicomedia on 30 April 311, proclaiming an end to the persecutions, and the
resumption of religious toleration. He died soon after the edict's proclamation,
destroying what little remained of the tetrarchy. Maximin mobilized against
Licinius, and seized Asia Minor. A hasty peace was signed on a boat in the
middle of the Bosphorus. While Constantine toured Britain and Gaul, Maxentius
prepared for war.He fortified northern Italy, and strengthened his support in
the Christian community by allowing it to elect a new
Bishop
of
Rome
,
Eusebius
.
Constantine's advisers and generals cautioned against preemptive attack on
Maxentius; even his soothsayers recommended against it, stating that the
sacrifices had produced unfavorable omens. Constantine, with a spirit that left
a deep impression on his followers, inspiring some to believe that he had some
form of supernatural guidance, ignored all these cautions. Early in the spring
of 312,Constantine crossed the
Cottian Alps
with a quarter of his army, a
force numbering about 40,000.The first town his army encountered was Segusium (Susa,
Italy
), a heavily fortified town that shut its
gates to him. Constantine ordered his men to set fire to its gates and scale its
walls. He took the town quickly. Constantine ordered his troops not to loot the
town, and advanced with them into northern Italy.
At the approach to the west of the important city of Augusta Taurinorum (Turin,
Italy), Constantine met a large force of heavily armed Maxentian cavalry. In the
ensuing
battle
Constantine's army encircled Maxentius'
cavalry, flanked them with his own cavalry, and dismounted them with blows from
his soldiers' iron-tipped clubs. Constantine's armies emerged victorious. Turin
refused to give refuge to Maxentius' retreating forces, opening its gates to
Constantine instead.
Other cities of the north Italian plain sent Constantine
embassies of congratulation for his victory. He moved on to Milan, where he was
met with open gates and jubilant rejoicing. Constantine rested his army in Milan
until mid-summer 312, when he moved on to
Brixia
(Brescia).
Brescia's army was easily dispersed, and Constantine quickly advanced to
Verona
, where a large Maxentian force was
camped. Ruricius Pompeianus, general of the Veronese forces and Maxentius'
praetorian prefect, was in a strong defensive position, since the town was
surrounded on three sides by the
Adige
. Constantine sent a small force north of
the town in an attempt to cross the river unnoticed. Ruricius sent a large
detachment to counter Constantine's expeditionary force, but was defeated.
Constantine's forces successfully surrounded the town and laid siege. Ruricius
gave Constantine the slip and returned with a larger force to oppose
Constantine. Constantine refused to let up on the siege, and sent only a small
force to oppose him. In the desperately fought
encounter
that followed, Ruricius was killed
and his army destroyed.Verona surrendered soon afterwards, followed by
Aquileia
, Mutina (Modena),
and
Ravenna
. The road to Rome was now wide open to
Constantine.
Maxentius prepared for the same type of war he had waged against Severus and
Galerius: he sat in Rome and prepared for a siege. He still controlled Rome's
praetorian guards, was well-stocked with African grain, and was surrounded on
all sides by the seemingly impregnable
Aurelian Walls
. He ordered all bridges across
the Tiber
cut, reportedly on the counsel of the
gods, and left the rest of central Italy undefended; Constantine secured that
region's support without challenge. Constantine progressed slowly along the
Via Flaminia
, allowing the weakness of
Maxentius to draw his regime further into turmoil. Maxentius' support continued
to weaken: at chariot races on 27 October, the crowd openly taunted Maxentius,
shouting that Constantine was invincible. Maxentius, no longer certain that he
would emerge from a siege victorious, built a temporary boat bridge across the
Tiber in preparation for a field battle against Constantine. On 28 October 312,
the sixth anniversary of his reign, he approached the keepers of the
Sibylline Books
for guidance. The keepers
prophesied that, on that very day, "the enemy of the Romans" would die.
Maxentius advanced north to meet Constantine in battle.
Maxentius organized his forces—still twice the size of Constantine's—in long
lines facing the battle plain, with their backs to the river. Constantine's army
arrived at the field bearing unfamiliar symbols on either its standards or its
soldiers' shields. Constantine was visited by a dream the night before the
battle, wherein he was advised "to mark the heavenly sign of God on the shields
of his soldiers...by means of a slanted letter X with the top of its head bent
round, he marked Christ on their shields." Eusebius describes the sign as
Chi
(Χ) traversed by
Rho
(Ρ): ☧, a symbol representing the first two
letters of the Greek spelling of the word Christos or Christ.
Constantine deployed his own forces along the whole length of Maxentius'
line. He ordered his cavalry to charge, and they broke Maxentius' cavalry. He
then sent his infantry against Maxentius' infantry, pushing many into the Tiber
where they were slaughtered and drowned. The battle was brief: Maxentius' troops
were broken before the first charge. Maxentius' horse guards and praetorians
initially held their position, but broke under the force of a Constantinian
cavalry charge; they also broke ranks and fled to the river. Maxentius rode with
them, and attempted to cross the bridge of boats, but he was pushed by the mass
of his fleeing soldiers into the Tiber, and drowned.
In Rome
Constantine entered Rome on 29 October.He staged a grand
adventus
in the city, and was met with
popular jubilation. Maxentius' body was fished out of the Tiber and decapitated.
His head was paraded through the streets for all to see. Unlike his
predecessors, Constantine neglected to make the trip to the
Capitoline Hill
and perform customary
sacrifices at the
Temple of Jupiter
. He did, however, choose to
honor the
Senatorial
Curia
with a visit, where he promised to
restore its ancestral privileges and give it a secure role in his reformed
government: there would be no revenge against Maxentius' supporters.In response,
the Senate decreed him "title of the first name", which meant his name would be
listed first in all official documents, and acclaimed him as "the greatest
Augustus". He issued decrees returning property lost under Maxentius, recalling
political exiles, and releasing Maxentius' imprisoned opponents.
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
,officially granting full
tolerance to Christianity and all religions in the Empire.The document had
special benefits for Christians, legalizing their religion and granting them
restoration for all property seized during Diocletian's persecution.
In the year 320,
Licinius
reneged on the religious freedom
promised by the
Edict of Milan
in 313 and began to oppress
Christians anew, generally without bloodshed, but resorting to confiscations and
sacking of Christian office-holders.That 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 standard of the
labarum
, and both sides saw the battle in
religious terms. Outnumbered, but fired by their zeal, Constantine's army
emerged victorious in the
Battle of Adrianople
. Licinius fled across the
Bosphorus and appointed
Martius Martinianus
, the commander of his
bodyguard, as Caesar, but Constantine next won the
Battle of the Hellespont
, and finally the
Battle of Chrysopolis
on 18 September
324.Licinius and Martinianus surrendered to Constantine at Nicomedia on the
promise their lives would be spared: they were sent to live as private citizens
in Thessalonica and Cappadocia respectively, but in 325 Constantine accused
Licinius of plotting against him and had them both arrested and hanged;
Licinius's son (the son of Constantine's half-sister) was also killed. Thus
Constantine became the sole emperor of the Roman Empire.
Foundation of
Constantinople
Licinius' defeat came to represent the defeat of a rival center of Pagan and
Greek-speaking political activity in the East, as opposed to the Christian and
Latin-speaking Rome, and it was proposed that a new Eastern capital should
represent the integration of the East into the Roman Empire as a whole, as a
center of learning, prosperity, and cultural preservation for the whole of the
Eastern Roman Empire
. Among the various
locations proposed for this alternative capital, Constantine appears to have
toyed earlier with
Serdica
(present-day
Sofia
), as he was reported saying that "Serdica
is my Rome ". Sirmium
and
Thessalonica
were also considered. Eventually,
however, Constantine decided to work on the Greek city of
Byzantium
, which offered the advantage of
having already been extensively rebuilt on Roman patterns of urbanism, during
the preceding century, by
Septimius Severus
and
Caracalla
, who had already acknowledged its
strategic importance. The city was then renamed Constantinopolis
("Constantine's City" or
Constantinople
in English), and issued special
commemorative coins in 330 to honor the event. The new city was protected by the
relics of the
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. The figures of old gods
were either replaced or assimilated into a framework of
Christian symbolism
. Constantine built the new
Church of the Holy Apostles
on the site of a
temple to Aphrodite
. 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. The capital would often be compared to the 'old' Rome
as Nova Roma Constantinopolitana , the "New Rome of Constantinople".
Constantine the Great , mosaic in
Hagia Sophia
, c. 1000
Religious policy
Constantine is perhaps best known for being the first "Christian" Roman
emperor. 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.
Constantine was over 40 when he finally declared himself a Christian, writing to
Christians to make clear that he believed he owed his successes to the
protection of the Christian High God alone.Throughout his rule, Constantine
supported the Church financially, built basilicas, granted privileges to clergy
(e.g. exemption from certain taxes), promoted Christians to high office, and
returned property confiscated during the Diocletianic persecution.His most
famous building projects include the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre
, and
Old Saint Peter's Basilica
.
However, Constantine certainly did not patronize Christianity alone. After
gaining victory in the Battle of the Milvian Bridge (312), a triumphal arch—the
Arch of Constantine
—was built (315) to
celebrate his triumph. The arch is most notably decorated with images of the
goddess
Victoria
and, at the time of its dedication,
sacrifices to gods like
Apollo
,
Diana
, and
Hercules
were made. Most notably absent from
the Arch are any depictions whatsoever regarding Christian symbolism.
Later in 321, Constantine instructed that Christians and non-Christians
should be united in observing the venerable day of the sun , referencing
the sun-worship
that
Aurelian
had established as an official cult.
Furthermore, and long after his oft alleged "conversion" to Christianity,
Constantine's coinage continued to carry the symbols of the sun. Even after the
pagan gods had disappeared from the coinage, Christian symbols appeared only as
Constantine's personal attributes: the
chi rho
between his hands or on his
labarum
, but never on the coin itself. Even
when Constantine dedicated the new capital of Constantinople, which became the
seat of Byzantine Christianity for a millennium, he did so wearing the
Apollonian
sun-rayed
Diadem
; no Christian symbols were present at
this dedication.
Constantine made new laws regarding the
Jews. They were forbidden to own Christian slaves or to
circumcise
their slaves.
Administrative reforms
Beginning in the mid-3rd century the emperors began to favor members of the
equestrian order
over senators, who had had a
monopoly on the most important offices of state. Senators were stripped of the
command of legions and most provincial governorships (as it was felt that they
lacked the specialized military upbringing needed in an age of acute defense
needs), such posts being given to equestrians by Diocletian and his
colleagues—following a practice enforced piecemeal by their predecessors. The
emperors however, still needed the talents and the help of the very rich, who
were relied on to maintain social order and cohesion by means of a web of
powerful influence and contacts at all levels. Exclusion of the old senatorial
aristocracy threatened this arrangement.
In 326, Constantine reversed this pro-equestrian trend, raising many
administrative positions to senatorial rank and thus opening these offices to
the old aristocracy, and at the same time elevating the rank of already existing
equestrians office-holders to senator, eventually wiping out the equestrian
order—at least as a bureaucratic rank—in the process. One could become a
senator, either by being elected
praetor
or (in most cases) by fulfilling a
function of senatorial rank: from then on, holding of actual power and social
status were melded together into a joint imperial hierarchy. At the same time,
Constantine gained with this the support of the old nobility, as the Senate was
allowed itself to elect praetors and
quaestors
, in place of the usual practice of
the emperors directly creating new magistrates (adlectio ).
The Senate as a body remained devoid of any significant power; nevertheless,
the senators, who had been marginalized as potential holders of imperial
functions during the 3rd century, could now dispute such positions alongside
more upstart bureaucrats. Some modern historians see in those administrative
reforms an attempt by Constantine at reintegrating the senatorial order into the
imperial administrative elite to counter the possibility of alienating pagan
senators from a Christianized imperial rule.
Constantine's reforms had to do only with the civilian administration: the
military chiefs, who since the
Crisis of the Third Century
had risen from the
ranks, remained outside the senate, in which they were included only by
Constantine's children.
Monetary reforms
After the
runaway inflation of the third century
,
associated with the production of
fiat money
to pay for public expenses,
Diocletian had tried unsuccessfully to reestablish trustworthy minting of silver
and
billon
coins. The failure of the various
Diocletianic attempts at the restoration of a functioning silver coin resided in
the fact that the silver currency was overvalued in terms of its actual metal
content, and therefore could only circulate at much discounted rates. Minting of
the Diocletianic "pure" silver
argenteus
ceased, therefore, soon after
305, while the billon currency continued to be used until the 360s. From the
early 300s on, Constantine forsook any attempts at restoring the silver
currency, preferring instead to concentrate on minting large quantities of good
standard gold pieces—the
solidus
, 72 of which made a pound of gold. New
(and highly debased) silver pieces would continue to be issued during
Constantine's later reign and after his death, in a continuous process of
retariffing, until this billon minting eventually ceased, de jure , in
367, with the silver piece being de facto continued by various
denominations of bronze coins, the most important being the
centenionalis
. Later emperors like
Julian the Apostate
tried to present themselves
as advocates of the humiles by insisting on trustworthy mintings of the
bronze currency.
Constantine's monetary policy were closely associated with his religious
ones, in that increased minting was associated with measures of
confiscation—taken since 331 and closed in 336—of all gold, silver and bronze
statues from pagan temples, who were declared as imperial property and, as such,
as monetary assets. Two imperial commissioners for each province had the task of
getting hold of the statues and having them melded for immediate minting—with
the exception of a number of bronze statues who were used as public monuments
for the beautification of the new capital in Constantinople.
Later campaigns
Constantine considered Constantinople as his capital and permanent residence.
He lived there for a good portion of his later life. He rebuilt Trajan's bridge
across the Danube, in hopes of reconquering
Dacia
, a province that had been abandoned under
Aurelian. In the late winter of 332, Constantine campaigned with the
Sarmatians
against the
Goths
. The weather and lack of food cost the
Goths dearly: reportedly, nearly one hundred thousand died before they submitted
to Rome. In 334, after Sarmatian commoners had overthrown their leaders,
Constantine led a campaign against the tribe. He won a victory in the war and
extended his control over the region, as remains of camps and fortifications in
the region indicate.Constantine resettled some Sarmatian exiles as farmers in
Illyrian and Roman districts, and conscripted the rest into the army.
Constantine took the title Dacicus maximus in 336.
Sickness and death
Constantine had known death would soon come. Within the Church of the Holy
Apostles, Constantine had secretly prepared a final resting-place for himself.It
came sooner than he had expected. Soon after the Feast of Easter 337,
Constantine fell seriously ill. 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. 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. The bishops, Eusebius
records, "performed the sacred ceremonies according to custom". He chose the
Arianizing bishop
Eusebius of Nicomedia
, bishop of the
city
where he lay dying, as his baptizer. In
postponing his baptism, he followed one custom at the time which postponed
baptism until after infancy. Constantine died soon after at a suburban villa
called Achyron, on the last day of the fifty-day festival of Pentecost directly
following Pascha (or Easter), on 22 May 337.
Following his death, his body was transferred to Constantinople and buried in
the
Church of the Holy Apostles
there. 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, notably Constantine's nephews
Dalmatius
(who held the rank of Caesar) and
Hannibalianus
, presumably to eliminate possible
contenders to an already complicated succession. He also had two daughters,
Constantina
and
Helena
, wife of
Emperor Julian
.
Legacy
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. Most Eastern
Christian churches consider Constantine a saint (Άγιος Κωνσταντίνος, Saint
Constantine). In the Byzantine Church he was called isapostolos (Ισαπόστολος
Κωνσταντίνος) —an
equal of the Apostles
.
Niš airport
is named Constantine the Great in
honor of his birth in Naissus. In ancient Roman religion, Victoria or Victory
was the personified goddess of victory. She is the Roman equivalent of
the Greek goddess Nike, and was associated with Bellona. She was adapted
from the Sabine agricultural goddess Vacuna and had a temple on the
Palatine Hill. The goddess Vica Pota was also sometimes identified with
Victoria. Unlike the Greek Nike , the goddess Victoria
(Latin for "victory") was a major part of Roman society. Multiple
temples were erected in her honor. When her statue was removed in 382 CE
by Emperor Gratianus there was much anger in Rome. She was normally
worshiped by triumphant generals returning from war. Also unlike
the Greek Nike, who was known for success in athletic games such as
chariot races, Victoria was a symbol of victory over death and
determined who would be successful during war. Victoria appears
widely on Roman coins, jewelry, architecture, and other arts. She is
often seen with or in a chariot, as in the late 18th-century sculpture
representing Victory in a quadriga on the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin,
Germany; "Il Vittoriano" in Rome has two. Winged figures, very
often in pairs, representing victory and referred to as "victories",
were common in Roman official iconography, typically hovering high in a
composition, and often filling spaces in spandrels or other gaps in
architecture. These represent the spirit of victory rather than the
goddess herself. They continued to appear after Christianization of the
Empire, and slowly mutated into Christian angels.
Valens - Roman Emperor : 364-378 A.D. Ruling in the West: Valentinian I (364-375), Gratian (367-383), and Valentinian II (375-392) | Brother of Valentinian I | Uncle of Gratian, Valentinian II and Galla (wife of Theodosius I ) | Flavius Julius Valens
(Latin: FLAVIUS IVLIVS VALENS AVGVSTVS; 328 - 9 August 378) was Roman
Emperor (364-378), after he was given the Eastern part of the empire by
his brother Valentinian I. Valens, sometimes known as the Last True Roman , was defeated and killed in the Battle of Adrianople, which marked the beginning of the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Appointment to emperor Valens
and his brother Flavius Valentinianus (Valentinian) were both born 48
miles west of Sirmium (modern Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia), in the town of
Cibalae (Vinkovci, Croatia) in 328 and 321, respectively. They had
grown up on estates purchased by their father, Gratian the Elder, in
Africa and Britain. While Valentinian had enjoyed a successful military
career prior to his appointment as emperor, Valens apparently had not.
He had spent much of his youth on the family's estate and only joined
the army in the 360s, participating with his brother in the Persian
campaign of Emperor Julian. He restored some religious persecution, and was Arian. In
February 364, reigning Emperor Jovian, while hastening to
Constantinople to secure his claim to the throne, was asphyxiated during
a stop at Dadastana, 100 miles east of Ankara. Among Jovian's agents
was Valentinian, a tribunus scutariorum . He was proclaimed
Augustus on 26 February, 364. Valentinian felt that he needed help to
govern the large and troublesome empire, and, on 28 March of the same
year, appointed his brother Valens as co-emperor in the palace of
Hebdomon. The two Augusti travelled together through Adrianople
and Naissus to Sirmium, where they divided their personnel, and
Valentinian went on to the West. Valens obtained
the eastern half of the Balkan Peninsula,Greece, Egypt, Syria and
Anatolia as far east as Persia. Valens was back in his capital of
Constantinople by December 364. Revolt of Procopius Valens
inherited the eastern portion of an empire that had recently retreated
from most of its holdings in Mesopotamia and Armenia because of a treaty
that his predecessor Jovian had made with Shapur II of the Sassanid
Empire. Valens's first priority after the winter of 365 was to move east
in hopes of shoring up the situation. By the autumn of 365 he had
reached Cappadocian Caesarea when he learned that a usurper had
proclaimed himself in Constantinople. When he died, Julian had left
behind one surviving relative, a maternal cousin named Procopius.
Procopius had been charged with overseeing a northern division of
Julian's army during the Persian expedition and had not been present
with the imperial elections when Julian's successor was named. Though
Jovian made accommodations to appease this potential claimant, Procopius
fell increasingly under suspicion in the first year of Valens' reign. After
narrowly escaping arrest, he went into hiding and reemerged at
Constantinople where he was able to convince two military units passing
through the capital to proclaim him emperor on 28 September 365. Though
his early reception in the city seems to have been lukewarm, Procopius
won favor quickly by using propaganda to his advantage: he sealed off
the city to outside reports and began spreading rumors that Valentinian
had died; he began minting coinage flaunting his connections to the
Constantinian dynasty; and he further exploited dynastic claims by using
the widow and daughter of Constantius II to act as showpieces for his
regime. This program met with some success, particularly among soldiers
loyal to the Constantinians and eastern intellectuals who had already
begun to feel persecuted by the Valentinians. Valens,
meanwhile, faltered. When news arrived that Procopius had revolted,
Valens considered abdication and perhaps even suicide. Even after he
steadied his resolve to fight, Valens's efforts to forestall Procopius
were hampered by the fact that most of his troops had already crossed
the Cilician gates into Syria when he learned of the revolt. Even so,
Valens sent two legions to march on Procopius, who easily persuaded them
to desert to him. Later that year, Valens himself was nearly captured
in a scramble near Chalcedon. Troubles were exacerbated by the refusal
of Valentinian to do any more than protect his own territory from
encroachment. The failure of imperial resistance in 365 allowed
Procopius to gain control of the dioceses of Thrace and Asiana by year's
end. Only in the spring of 366 had Valens
assembled enough troops to deal with Procopius effectively. Marching out
from Ancyra through Pessinus, Valens proceeded into Phrygia where he
defeated Procopius's general Gomoarius at the Battle of Thyatira. He
then met Procopius himself at Nacoleia and convinced his troops to
desert him. Procopius was executed on 27 May and his head sent to
Valentinian in Trier for inspection. War against the Goths The
Gothic people in the northern region had supported Procopius in his
revolt against Valens, and Valens had learned the Goths were planning an
uprising of their own. These Goths, more specifically the Tervingi,
were at the time under the leadership of Athanaric and had apparently
remained peaceful since their defeat under Constantine in 332. In the
spring of 367, Valens crossed the Danube and marched on Athanaric's
Goths. These fled into the Carpathian Mountains, and eluded Valens'
advance, forcing him to return later that summer. The following spring, a
Danube flood prevented Valens from crossing; instead the emperor
occupied his troops with the construction of fortifications. In 369,
Valens crossed again, from Noviodunum, and attacked the north-easterly
Gothic tribe of Greuthungi before facing Athanaric's Tervingi and
defeating them. Athanaric pled for treaty terms and Valens gladly
obliged. The treaty seems to have largely cut off relations between
Goths and Romans, including free trade and the exchange of troops for
tribute. Valens would feel this loss of military manpower in the
following years. Conflict with the Sassanids Among
Valens' reasons for contracting a hasty and not entirely favorable
peace in 369 was the deteriorating state of affairs in the East. Jovian
had surrendered Rome's much disputed claim to control over Armenia in
363, and Shapur II was eager to make good on this new opportunity. The
Sassanid ruler began enticing Armenian lords over to his camp and
eventually forced the defection of the Arsacid Armenian king, Arsakes
II, whom he quickly arrested and incarcerated. Shapur then sent an
invasion force to seize Caucasian Iberia and a second to besiege
Arsaces' son, Pap, in the fortress of Artogerassa, probably in 367. By
the following spring, Pap had engineered his escape from the fortress
and flight to Valens, whom he seems to have met at Marcianople while
campaigning against the Goths. Already in the
summer following his Gothic settlement, Valens sent his general
Arinthaeus to re-impose Pap on the Armenian throne. This provoked Shapur
himself to invade and lay waste to Armenia. Pap, however, once again
escaped and was restored a second time under escort of a much larger
force in 370. The following spring, larger forces were sent under
Terentius to regain Iberia and to garrison Armenia near Mount Npat. When
Shapur counterattacked into Armenia in 371, his forces were bested by
Valens' generals Traianus and Vadomarius at Bagavan. Valens had
overstepped the 363 treaty and then successfully defended his
transgression. A truce settled after the 371 victory held as a
quasi-peace for the next five years while Shapur was forced to deal with
a Kushan invasion on his eastern frontier. Meanwhile,
troubles broke out with the boy-king Pap, who began acting in
high-handed fashion, even executing the Armenian bishop Narses and
demanding control of a number of Roman cities, including Edessa. Pressed
by his generals and fearing that Pap would defect to the Persians,
Valens made an unsuccessful attempt to capture the prince and later had
him executed inside Armenia. In his stead, Valens imposed another
Arsacid, Varazdat, who ruled under the regency of the sparapet Musel
Mamikonean, a friend of Rome. None of this sat
well with the Persians, who began agitating again for compliance with
the 363 treaty. As the eastern frontier heated up in 375, Valens began
preparations for a major expedition. Meanwhile, trouble was brewing
elsewhere. In Isauria, the mountainous region of western Cilicia, a
major revolt had broken out in 375 which diverted troops formerly
stationed in the east. Furthermore, by 377, the Saracens under Queen
Mavia had broken into revolt and devastated a swath of territory
stretching from Phoenicia and Palestine as far as the Sinai. Though
Valens successfully brought both uprisings under control, the
opportunities for action on the eastern frontier were limited by these
skirmishes closer to home. In 375, Valens' older
brother Valentinian, while in Pannonia had suffered a burst blood vessel
in his skull, which resulted in his death on 17 November, 375. Gratian,
Valentinian's son and Valens' nephew, had already been associated with
his father in the imperial dignity and was joined by his half-brother
Valentinian II who was elevated, on their father's death, to Augustus by
the imperial troops in Pannonia. Gothic War Main article: Gothic War (376-382) Valens'
plans for an eastern campaign were never realized. A transfer of troops
to the western empire in 374 had left gaps in Valens' mobile forces. In
preparation for an eastern war, Valens initiated an ambitious
recruitment program designed to fill those gaps. It was thus not
unwelcome news when Valens learned that the Gothic tribes had been
displaced from their homeland by an invasion of Huns in 375 and were
seeking asylum from him. In 376, the Visigoths advanced to the far
shores of the lower Danube and sent an ambassador to Valens who had set
up his capitol in Antioch. The Goths requested shelter and land in the
Balkan peninsula. An estimated 200,000 Gothic Warriors and altogether
1,000,000 Gothic persons were along the Danube in Moesia and the ancient
land of Dacia. As Valens' advisers were quick to
point out, these Goths could supply troops who would at once swell
Valens' ranks and decrease his dependence on provincial troop levies -
thereby increasing revenues from the recruitment tax. Among the Goths
seeking asylum was a group led by the chieftain Fritigern. Fritigern had
enjoyed contact with Valens in the 370s when Valens supported him in a
struggle against Athanaric stemming from Athanaric's persecution of
Gothic Christians. Though a number of Gothic groups apparently requested
entry, Valens granted admission only to Fritigern and his followers.
This did not, however, prevent others from following. When
Fritigern and his Goths undertook the crossing, Valens's mobile forces
were tied down in the east, on the Persian frontier and in Isauria. This
meant that only riparian units were present to oversee the
Goths' settlement. The small number of imperial troops present prevented
the Romans from stopping a Danube crossing by a group of Goths and
later by Huns and Alans. What started out as a controlled resettlement
mushroomed into a massive influx. And the situation grew worse. When the
riparian commanders began abusing the Visigoths under their charge,
they revolted in early 377 and defeated the Roman units in Thrace
outside of Marcianople. After joining forces with
the Ostrogoths and eventually the Huns and Alans, the combined barbarian
group marched widely before facing an advance force of imperial
soldiers sent from both east and west. In a battle at Ad Salices ,
the Goths were once again victorious, winning free run of Thrace south
of the Haemus. By 378, Valens himself was able to march west from his
eastern base in Antioch. He withdrew all but a skeletal force - some of
them Goths - from the east and moved west, reaching Constantinople by 30
May, 378. Meanwhile, Valens' councilors, Comes Richomeres, and his
generals Frigerid, Sebastian, and Victor cautioned Valens and tried to
persuade him to wait for Gratian's arrival with his victorious
legionaries from Gaul, something that Gratian himself strenuously
advocated. What happened next is an example of hubris, the impact of
which was to be felt for years to come. Valens, jealous of his nephew
Gratian's success, decided he wanted this victory for himself. Battle of Adrianople and death of Valens Main article: Battle of Adrianople After
a brief stay aimed at building his troop strength and gaining a toehold
in Thrace, Valens moved out to Adrianople. From there, he marched
against the confederated barbarian army on 9 August 378 in what would
become known as the Battle of Adrianople. Although negotiations were
attempted, these broke down when a Roman unit sallied forth and carried
both sides into battle. The Romans held their own early on but were
crushed by the surprise arrival of Visigoth cavalry which split their
ranks. The primary source for the battle is
Ammianus Marcellinus. Valens had left a sizeable guard with his baggage
and treasures depleting his force. His right wing, cavalry, arrived at
the Gothic camp sometime before the left wing arrived. It was a very hot
day and the Roman cavalry was engaged without strategic support,
wasting its efforts while they suffered in the heat. Meanwhile
Fritigern once again sent an emissary of peace in his continued
manipulation of the situation. The resultant delay meant that the Romans
present on the field began to succumb to the heat. The army's resources
were further diminished when an ill timed attack by the Roman archers
made it necessary to recall Valens' emissary, Comes Richomeres. The
archers were beaten and retreated in humiliation. Gothic
cavalry under the command of Althaeus and Saphrax then struck and, with
what was probably the most decisive event of the battle, the Roman
cavalry fled. From here, Ammianus gives two accounts of Valen's demise.
In the first account, Ammianus states that Valens was "mortally wounded
by an arrow, and presently breathed his last breath," (XXXI.12) His body
was never found or given a proper burial. In the second account,
Ammianus states the Roman infantry was abandoned, surrounded and cut to
pieces. Valens was wounded and carried to a small wooden hut. The hut
was surrounded by the Goths who put it to the torch, evidently unaware
of the prize within. According to Ammianus, this is how Valens perished
(XXXI.13.14-6). The church historian Socrates likewise gives two accounts for the death of Valens. Some
have asserted that he was burnt to death in a village whither he had
retired, which the barbarians assaulted and set on fire. But others
affirm that having put off his imperial robe he ran into the midst of
the main body of infantry; and that when the cavalry revolted and
refused to engage, the infantry were surrounded by the barbarians, and
completely destroyed in a body. Among these it is said the emperor fell,
but could not be distinguished, in consequence of his not having on his
imperial habit. When the battle was
over, two-thirds of the eastern army lay dead. Many of their best
officers had also perished. What was left of the army of Valens was led
from the field under the cover of night by Comes Richomer and General
Victor. J.B. Bury, a noted historian of the
period, provides specific interpretation on the significance the battle:
it was "a disaster and disgrace that need not have occurred." For
Rome, the battle incapacitated the government. Emperor Gratian,
nineteen years old, was overcome by the debacle, and until he appointed
Theodosius I, unable to deal with the catastrophe which spread out of
control. Legacy Adrianople
was the most significant event in Valens' career. The battle of
Adrianople was significant for yet another reason: the evolution of
warfare. Until that time, the Roman infantry was considered invincible,
and the evidence for this was considerable. However, the Gothic cavalry
completely changed all that. Although J.B. Bury states that records are
incomplete for the 5th century, all during the 4th and 6th centuries,
history shows that the cavalry took over as the principal Roman weapon
of war on land. "Valens was utterly undistinguished, still only a protector ,
and possessed no military ability: he betrayed his consciousness of
inferiority by his nervous suspicion of plots and savage punishment of
alleged traitors," writes A.H.M. Jones. But Jones admits that "he was a
conscientious administrator, careful of the interests of the humble.
Like his brother, he was an ernest Christian." To have died in so
inglorious a battle has thus come to be regarded as the nadir of an
unfortunate career. This is especially true because of the profound
consequences of Valens' defeat. Adrianople spelled the beginning of the
end for Roman territorial integrity in the late empire and this fact was
recognized even by contemporaries. Ammianus understood that it was the
worst defeat in Roman history since the Battle of Cannae (31.13.19), and
Rufinus called it "the beginning of evils for the Roman empire then and
thereafter." Valens is also credited with the
commission of a short history of the Roman State. This work, produced by
Valens' secretary Eutropius, and known with the name Breviarium ab Urbe condita ,
tells the story of Rome from its founding. According to some
historians, Valens was motivated by the necessity of learning Roman
history, that he, the royal family and their appointees might better mix
with the Roman Senatorial class. Struggles with the religious nature of the empire During
his reign, Valens had to confront the theological diversity that was
beginning to create division in the Empire. Julian (361-363), had tried
to revive the pagan religions. His reactionary attempt took advantage of
the dissensions between the different factions among the Christians and
a largely Pagan rank and file military. However, in spite of broad
support, his actions were often viewed as excessive, and before he died
in a campaign against the Persians, he was often treated with disdain.
His death was considered a sign from God. Like the
brothers Constantius II and Constans, Valens and Valentinian I held
divergent theological views. Valens was an Arian and Valentinian I
upheld the Nicene Creed. When Valens died however, the cause of Arianism
in the Roman East was to come to an end. His successor Theodosius I
would endorse the Nicene Creed. Please make your payments on time.
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