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Constantine I
Emperor of the Roman Empire
Head of Constantine's colossal statue at the Capitoline Museums
Reign	306 - 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); 312 - 324 (undisputed Augustus in the West); 324 - 22 May 337 (emperor of the whole empire)
Predecessor	Constantius Chlorus
Successor	Constantine II, Constantius II and Constans
Burial	Constantinople
Wives	Minervina, died or divorced before 307 Fausta
Issue	Constantina, Helena, Crispus, Constantine II, Constantius II and Constans
Names Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus
Dynasty	Constantinian
Father	Constantius Chlorus
Mother	Helena

Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus (27 February c. 280 – 22 May 337 AD), commonly known as Constantine I, (among Roman Catholics) and Constantine the Great, or Saint Constantine (among Eastern Orthodox Christians), was a Roman Emperor, proclaimed Augustus by his troops in 306, who ruled an ever-growing portion of the Roman Empire until his death. Best known for being the first Christian Roman Emperor, his Edict of Milan 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.

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Constantine and Christianity

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, 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. Constantine was over 40 when he finally declared himself a Christian. Writing to Christians, Constantine made 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 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. 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. For Constantine, the emperor did not decide doctrine - that was the responsibility of the bishops - rather his role was to enforce doctrine, root out heresy, and uphold ecclesiastical unity. The emperor ensured that God was properly worshipped in his empire; what proper worship consisted of was for the Church to determine.

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 and the Jews

Constantine instituted several legislative measures regarding the 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. Constantine also enforced the prohibition of the First Council of Nicaea against celebrating Easter on the day before the Jewish Passover (nisan xiv), i.e. Quartodecimanism, see also Easter controversy.

Reforms

Constantine's iconography and ideology

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. 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).

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. 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. 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. 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.

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 away to become less realistic and more idealistic. 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.

Constantine's Courts and Appointees

constantine was the biggest liar know to all the emporores in the world. he commited suicide and killed 20000000000000 of his own people. he killed his wife like oj simpsonConstantine respected cultivation and Christianity, and his court was composed of older, respected, and honored men. Leading Roman families that refused Christianity were denied positions of power, yet two-thirds of his top government was non-Christian.

"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."

Constantine's legal legacy

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.

Constantine's laws in many ways improved those of his predecessors, though they also reflect his more violent age. 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 he 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.
• 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.

Constantine's legacy

Although he earned his honorific of "The Great" 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.

The Byzantine Empire considered Constantine its founder and also the Holy Roman Empire reckoned him among the venerable figures of its tradition. In both East and West, Emperors were sometimes hailed as a "new Constantine". Most Eastern Christian churches consider Constantine a saint. In the East he is sometimes called "isapostolos" or the "13th apostle".

Legend and Donation of Constantine

In later years, historical facts were clouded by legend. It was considered inappropriate that Constantine was baptized only on his death-bed and by a bishop of questionable orthodoxy, and hence a legend emerged that Pope Sylvester I (314-335) had cured the pagan Emperor from leprosy. According to this legend, Constantine was baptized after that and donated buildings to the Pope. In the eighth century, a document called the "Donation of Constantine" first appeared, in which the freshly converted Constantine hands the temporal rule over Rome, Italy and the Occident to the Pope. 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 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.

Constantine in 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.

Notes

1. ^ Birth dates vary but recent mainstream sources use "ca. 274" such as in "Constantine", Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007 Online edition; and "Constantine", Dictionary of the Middle Ages, volume 3, 1983.
2. In (Latin Constantine's official imperial title was IMPERATOR CAESAR FLAVIVS CONSTANTINVS PIVS FELIX INVICTVS AVGVSTVS, Imperator Caesar Flavius Constantine Augustus, the pious, the fortunate, the undefeated. After 312, he added MAXIMVS ("the greatest"), and after 325 replaced invictus ("undefeated") with VICTOR, as invictus reminded of Sol Invictus, the Sun God.
3. The edict granted Christians the right to practice their religion but did not restore any property to them; see Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum ("On the Deaths of the Persecutors")ch. 35-34
4. R. Gerberding and J. H. Moran Cruz, Medieval Worlds (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004) p. 55
5. Peter Brown, The Rise of Christendom 2nd edition (Oxford, Blackwell Publishing, 2003) p. 61
6. Peter Brown, The Rise of Christendom 2nd edition (Oxford, Blackwell Publishing, 2003) p. 60
7. R. Gerberding and J. H. Moran Cruz, Medieval Worlds (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004) pp. 55-56
8. Richards, Jeffrey. The Popes and the Papacy in the Early Middle Ages 476-752 (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979) pp. 14-15
9. Richards, Jeffrey. The Popes and the Papacy in the Early Middle Ages 476-752 (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979) q. 15
10. Richards, Jeffrey. The Popes and the Papacy in the Early Middle Ages 476-752 (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979) p. 16
11. Life of Constantine Vol. III Ch. XVIII by Eusebius; The Epistle of the Emperor Constantine, concerning the matters transacted at the Council, addressed to those Bishops who were not present
12. Pohlsander, Hans, The Emperor Constantine, pp. 22 & 62–63.
13. N. Hannestad Roman Art and Imperial Policy (Aarhus: 1988)
14. P. Bruun Studies in Constantinian numismatics : papers from 1954 to 1988
15. Pohlsander, Hans, The Emperor Constantine, p. 40 & p. 41, figure 4.
16. MacMullen 1969,1984, New Catholic Encyclopedia, 1908 Constantine
17. New Catholic Encyclopedia 1908
18. Pohlsander, Hans, The Emperor Constantine, p. 69.
19. Pohlsander, Hans, The Emperor Constantine, p. 72.
20. Pohlsander, Hans, The Emperor Constantine, pp. 83–87.
21. Geoffrey of Monmouth, The History of the Kings of Britain, pp. 132–133.

References and further reading

• The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Constantine (Cambridge Companions to the Ancient World), edited by Noel Lenski. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005 (hardcover, ISBN 0-521-81838-9; paperback, ISBN 0-521-52157-2).
• Barnes, T.D. 1981 Constantine and Eusebius. Cambridge, MA, London.
• Chuvin, Pierre; Archer, B. A. (translator). A Chronicle of the Last Pagans. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990 (ISBN 0-674-12970-9).
• Chapman, John. "Donatists", The Catholic Encyclopedia (1909).
• "Constantine", Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911).
• Dodds, Eric Robertson. The Greeks and the Irrational. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1964.
• Dodds, Eric Robertson. Pagan and Christian in an Age of Anxiety: Some Aspects of the Religious Experience from Marcus Aurelius to Constantine. Cambridge University Press, 1965.
• Eusebius of Caesarea. The Life of the blessed Emperor Constantine in four books from 306 to 337.
• Fowden, Garth. "The Last Days of Constantine: Oppositional Versions and Their Influence", The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 84. (1994), pp. 146–170.
• Herbermann, Charles G.; Grupp, Georg. "Constantine the Great", The Catholic Encyclopedia (1908).
• Holloway, R. Ross. Constantine and Rome. New Heaven, CT; London: Yale University Press, 2004 (hardcover, ISBN 0-300-10043-4).
• Jones, A.H.M. Constantine and the Conversion of Europe. London: English University Press, 1948; London: Macmillan, 1949.
• Kousoulas, D.G. The Life and Times of Constantine the Great: The First Christian Emperor. Bethesda, MD: Provost Books, 2003 (paperback, ISBN 1-887750-61-4).
• Lactantius, (240–320). Of the Manner the in Which the Persecutors Died.
• MacMullen, Ramsay. Constantine. Dial Press, 1969.
• MacMullen, Ramsay. Christianizing the Roman Empire A.D. 100–400. New Heaven, CT; London: Yale University Press, 1984.
• MacMullen, Ramsay. Changes in the Roman Empire: Essays in the Ordinary. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1990.
• MacMullen, Ramsay. Enemies of the Roman Order: Treason, Unrest, and Alienation, Harvard, 1966.
• Monmouth, Geoffrey of, The History of the Kings of Britain, translated by Lewis Thorpe. London: Penguin, 1966. ISBN 0-140-44170-0
• Odahl, Charles Matson. Constantine and the Christian Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004.
• Pohlansander, Hans. The Emperor Constantine. London & New York: Routledge, 1996. ISBN 0-415-13178-2
• Rassias, Vlassis R. Es Edafos Ferein, 2nd edition. Athens, 2000 (ISBN 960-7748-20-4).
• Wilken, Robert L., Christians As the Romans Saw Them. New Heaven, CT; London: Yale University Press, 1436.

• Sources on the Antonine Plague:
  • Galen. On the Natural Faculties.
  • Marcus Cornelius Fronto. Letters of Marcus Cornelius Fronto.

See also

• Ammianus Marcellinus
• Arch of Constantine, triumphal arch to the victory at Milvian Bridge.
• Christianity
• Colossus of Constantine
• Constantine I And Christianity
• Constantinian shift
• Donation of Constantine
• Donatist

External links

• The Edict of Milan AD 313
• Letters of Constantine: Book 1, Book 2, & Book 3
• Encyclopaedia Britannica, Constantine I
• RomanEmperors.org Vita of Constantine; with bibliography
• Ammianus Marcellinus on-line project
• 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

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• Constantinian dynasty
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• Eastern Orthodox saints
• Equal-to-apostles
• Flavii
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