Constantine the Great

Early life Remains of the luxurious residence palace of Mediana , erected by Constantine I near his birth town of Naissus (now Niš , Serbia) Constantine was born on 27 February 272. [ 1 ] While his official birthday is recorded in sources, his year of birth is not, and scholars have given several estimates between 271 and 280, with most leaning for 272 or 273. However, the evidence points to 272 being the correct year. [ 1 ] [ a ] He was born inside the city of Naissus, during a time when the unity of the Empire was threatened by the breakaway wars of the Palmyrene Empire . The city (modern Niš , Serbia) was located in Dardania within the province of Moesia Superior . [ 3 ] [ 4 ] His father was Flavius Constantius , [ b ] an Illyrian [ 8 ] [ 9 ] [ 5 ] [ c ] or, according to his nephew, Julian The Apostate , a Thracian . [ 11 ] [ 12 ] His original full name, as well as that of his father, is not known. [ 13 ] [ 14 ] His praenomen is variously given as Lucius , Marcus and Gaius . [ 14 ] [ d ] Whatever the case, praenomina had already disappeared from most public records by this time. [ 16 ] He also adopted the name "Valerius", the nomen of emperor Diocletian , following his father's ascension as caesar . [ 14 ] [ 13 ] Constantine probably spent little time with his father [ 17 ] who was an officer in the Roman army, part of Emperor Aurelian 's imperial bodyguard. Being described as a tolerant and politically skilled man, [ 18 ] [ 19 ] Constantius advanced through the ranks, earning the governorship of Dalmatia from Emperor Diocletian, another of Aurelian's companions from Illyricum , in 284 or 285. [ 20 ] Constantine's mother was Helena , a Greek woman of low social standing, possibly from Drepanum (later renamed Helenopolis ) of Bithynia , which would likely have made her a Greek -speaker. [ 21 ] [ 22 ] [ 23 ] It is uncertain whether she was legally married to Constantius or merely his concubine . [ 24 ] Constantine's own language was Latin , and during his public speeches in the church councils, which were held in Greek, he needed Greek translators. [ 25 ] In April 286 Diocletian declared Maximian , another colleague from Illyricum, his co-emperor. 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. [ 26 ] Maximian ruled in the West, from his capitals at Mediolanum ( Milan , Italy) or Augusta Treverorum ( Trier , Germany), while Diocletian ruled in the East, from Nicomedia ( İzmit , Turkey). The division was merely pragmatic: the empire was called "indivisible" in official panegyric, and both emperors could move freely throughout the empire. [ 27 ] In 288, Maximian appointed Constantius to serve as his praetorian prefect in Gaul . Constantius left Helena to marry Maximian's stepdaughter Theodora in 288 or 289. [ 28 ] Diocletian divided the empire again in 293, appointing two caesars to rule over further subdivisions of East and West. Each would be subordinate to his respective augustus but would act with supreme authority in his assigned lands. This system would later be called the Tetrarchy. Diocletian's first appointee for the office of Caesar was Constantius ; his second was Galerius , a native of Felix Romuliana . According to Lactantius , Galerius was a brutal, animalistic man. Although he shared the paganism of Rome's aristocracy, he seemed to them an alien figure, a semi-barbarian. [ 29 ] On 1 March, Constantius was promoted to the office of Caesar , and dispatched to Gaul to fight the rebels Carausius and Allectus . In spite of meritocratic overtones, the Tetrarchy retained vestiges of hereditary privilege, and Constantine became the prime candidate for future appointment as Caesar as soon as his father took the position. Constantine went to the court of Diocletian, where he lived as his father's heir presumptive . [ 30 ] In the East Constantine received a formal education at Diocletian's court, where he learned Latin literature, Greek, and philosophy. [ 31 ] The cultural environment in Nicomedia was open, fluid, and socially mobile; in it, Constantine could mix with intellectuals both pagan and Christian. He may have attended the lectures of Lactantius, a Christian scholar of Latin in the city. [ 32 ] Because Diocletian did not completely trust Constantius—none of the Tetrarchs fully trusted their colleagues—Constantine was held as something of a hostage, a tool to ensure Constantius' best behaviour. Constantine was nonetheless a prominent member of the court: he fought for Diocletian and Galerius in Asia and served in a variety of tribunates ; he campaigned against barbarians on the Danube in 296 and fought the Persians under Diocletian in Syria in 297, as well as under Galerius in Mesopotamia in 298–299. [ 33 ] [ 34 ] By late 305, according to some, he had become a tribune of the first order, a tribunus ordinis primi . [ 34 ] [ 35 ] Porphyry bust of Emperor Galerius Constantine had returned to Nicomedia from the eastern front by the spring of 303, in time to witness the beginnings of Diocletian's " Great Persecution ", the most severe persecution of Christians in Roman history. [ 36 ] [ 37 ] In late 302, Diocletian and Galerius sent a messenger to the oracle of Apollo at Didyma with an inquiry about Christians. [ 38 ] [ 39 ] Constantine could recall his presence at the palace when the messenger returned and Diocletian accepted the imperial court's demands for universal persecution. [ 40 ] [ 41 ] On 23 February 303, Diocletian ordered the destruction of Nicomedia's new church, condemned its scriptures to the flames, and had its treasures seized. In the months that followed, churches and scriptures were destroyed, Christians were deprived of official ranks, and priests were imprisoned. [ 42 ] It is unlikely that Constantine played any role in the persecution. [ 43 ] In his later writings, he attempted to present himself as an opponent of Diocletian's "sanguinary edicts" against the "Worshippers of God", [ 44 ] [ 45 ] but nothing indicates that he opposed it effectively at the time. Although no contemporary Christian challenged Constantine for his inaction during the persecutions, it remained a political liability throughout his life. [ 46 ] On 1 May 305 Diocletian, as a result of a debilitating sickness taken in the winter of 304–305, announced his resignation. In a parallel ceremony in Milan , Maximian did the same. [ 47 ] 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 last moment, that Diocletian would choose Constantine and Maxentius (Maximian's son) as his successors. [ 48 ] [ 49 ] It was not to be: Constantius and Galerius were promoted to augusti , while Severus and Maximinus , Galerius' nephew, were appointed their caesars respectively. Constantine and Maxentius were ignored. [ 50 ] Some of the ancient sources detail plots that Galerius made on Constantine's life in the months following Diocletian's abdication. They assert that Galerius assigned Constantine to lead an advance unit in a cavalry charge through a swamp on the middle Danube, made him enter into single combat with a lion, and attempted to kill him in hunts and wars. Constantine always emerged victorious: the lion emerged from the contest in a poorer condition than Constantine; Constantine returned to Nicomedia from the Danube with a Sarmatian captive to drop at Galerius' feet. [ 51 ] [ 52 ] It is uncertain how much these tales can be trusted. [ 53 ] In the West Constantine recognised 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. [ 54 ] Modern bronze statue of Constantine I in York , England, near the spot where he was proclaimed Augustus in 306 From Bononia they crossed the English Channel to Britain and made their way to Eboracum (modern 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. [ 55 ] Constantius' campaign, like that of Septimius Severus before it, probably advanced far into the north without achieving great success. [ 56 ] Constantius had become severely sick over the course of his reign and died on 25 July 306 in Eboracum. Before dying, he declared his support for raising Constantine as emperor. 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; [ 57 ] Hispania , which had been in his father's domain for less than a year, rejected it. [ 58 ] Constantine sent Galerius an official notice of Constantius' death and his own acclamation. Along with the notice, he included a portrait of himself in the robes of an Augustus. [ 57 ] The portrait was wreathed in bay . [ 59 ] 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". [ 60 ] Galerius was put into a fury by the message; he almost set the portrait and messenger on fire. [ 61 ] His advisers calmed him and argued that outright denial of Constantine's claims would mean certain war. [ 62 ] 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, knowing that it would remove doubts as to his legitimacy. [ 63 ] ^ a b c Doležal 2022 , pp. 221–237. ^ Bernard 2019 , p. 543. ^ Barnes 1981 , pp. 3, 39–42; Elliott 1996 , p. 17; Odahl 2001 , pp. 15–16; Pohlsander 2004b ; Southern 2001 , p. 169, 341; Barnes 1982 , pp. 39–42; Jones 1978 , pp. 13–14; Lenski et al. , p. 59; Pohlsander 2004a , p. 14; Rodgers 1989 ; Wright 1987 . ^ Wilkes, John (2012). "Dardani" . In Hornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Antony; Eidinow, Esther (eds.). The Oxford Classical Dictionary . Oxford University Press. p. 414. ISBN   978-0-19-954556-8 . ^ a b Kazhdan 1991 , pp. 524–525. ^ Jones, Martindale & Morris , p. 223. ^ Salway, Benet (1994). "What's in a Name? A Survey of Roman Onomastic Practice from c. 700 B.C. to A.D. 700" (PDF) . Journal of Roman Studies . 84 : 124– 145. doi : 10.2307/300873 . ISSN   0075-4358 . JSTOR   300873 . S2CID   162435434 . Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 April 2020. ^ Stanislav Doležal, The Reign of Constantine, 306–337. Continuity and Change in the Late Roman Empire . Palgrave Macmillan Cham, 2022; pp. 2–3: "In a sense, this book is dedicated to the " Illyrian Emperors ", i.e. those emperors who were born in the Western Balkans and saved, stabilised, and reformed the empire. This line begins with Claudius II (268— 270) and then moves on to Quintillus (270), Aurelian (270—275), and Probus (276—282).3 After a brief interruption by the reigns of Carus and his two sons (282—284), whose birthplace we do not know, the Illyr-ians continued their run with Diocletian (284—305) and three of his colleagues: Maximian (285—305), Constantius (293—306), and Galerius (293—311). A 4th-century historian said of them: "Illyricum was actually the native land of all of them: so although they were deficient in culture, they had nevertheless been sufficiently schooled by the hardships of the countryside and of military service to be the best men for the state". 4 This is not the end of the Illyrian Emperors: Severus (305—307), Maximinus Daia (305—313), Licinius (308—324), and Constantine himself (306—337) can also be counted among them." ^ Odahl 2001 , pp.  36–41 . ^ Barnes 2011 , p.  30 . ^ Julian . "Misopogon, or Beard-Hater" . Attalus . Translated by W. C. Wright . Retrieved 10 May 2026 . "the Mysians on the very banks of the Danube, from whom my own family is derived..." and "though my family is Thracian, I am a Greek in my habits". Note: Written by Emperor Julian, himself a grandson of Constantius Chlorus and nephew of Constantine the Great, he described his familial ancestry as Thraco-Moesian and identified himself as a Hellenised Thracian. ^ Tougher, Shaun (2007). Julian the Apostate . Edinburgh University Press. doi : 10.1515/9781474473286 . ISBN   9780748618873 . ^ a b Otto Seeck : " Constantius 1 " (in German) . In: Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft (RE). Vol. IV,1, Stuttgart, 1900, col. 1013–1026. ^ a b c Conrad Benjamin: " Constantinus 2 " (in German) . In: Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft (RE). Vol. IV,1, Stuttgart, 1900, col. 1013–1026. ^ Barnes 1982 , p. 5. ^ Wilson, Steven (2003). The Means Of Naming: A Social History . Routledge . p. 47. ISBN   978-1-135-36836-4 . ^ MacMullen 1969 , p. 21. ^ Panegyrici Latini 8(5), 9(4); Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 8.7; Eusebius, Vita Constantini 1.13.3 ^ Barnes 1981 , pp. 13, 290. ^ Barnes 1981 , p. 3; Lenski et al. , pp. 59–60; Odahl 2001 , pp. 16–17. ^ Hillner, Julia (2023). Helena Augusta: Mother of the Empire . Oxford University Press. p. 20. ISBN   978-0-19-087529-9 . ^ Drijvers, Jan Willem (1991). Helena Augusta . BRILL. pp.  9– 17. ISBN   978-90-04-24676-8 . ^ Stanton, Andrea L. (2012). Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa: An Encyclopedia . SAGE. p. 25. ISBN   978-1-4129-8176-7 . Constantine's mother, Helena, was a Greek from Asia Minor and also a devoted Christian who seemed to have influenced his choices. ^ Barnes 1981 , pp. 3, 39–42; Barnes 1982 , p. 39–40; Elliott 1996 , p. 17; Lenski et al. , pp. 59, 83; Odahl 2001 , p. 16; Pohlsander 2004a , p. 14. ^ Tejirian, Eleanor H.; Simon, Reeva Spector (2012). Conflict, conquest, and conversion: two thousand years of Christian missions in the Middle East . New York: Columbia University Press. p. 15. ISBN   978-0-231-51109-4 . ^ Barnes 1981 , pp. 8–14; Lenski et al. , pp. 46–50; Treadgold 1997 , pp. 14–15. ^ Bowman 2005 , p. 70; Potter 2004 , p. 283. ^ Barnes 1981 , p. 3; Elliott 1996 , p. 20; Lenski et al. , pp. 59–60; Odahl 2001 , pp. 47, 299; Pohlsander 2004a , p. 14. ^ Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 7.1; cited in Barnes 1981 , pp. 13, 290 ^ Barnes 1981 , pp. 3, 8–9; Lenski et al. , pp. 40–43, 54; Elliott 1996 , p. 20; Odahl 2001 , pp. 46–47, 56–57; Pohlsander 2004a , pp. 8–9, 14; Treadgold 1997 , p. 17. ^ Barnes 1981 , p. 73–74; Lenski et al. , pp. 60; Odahl 2001 , pp. 72, 301. ^ Barnes 1981 , p. 73–74; Fowden 1988 , pp. 175–176. ^ Constantine, Oratio ad Sanctorum Coetum , 16.2 ^ a b Elliott 1996 , pp. 29–30; Lenski et al. , p. 60; Odahl 2001 , pp. 72–74. ^ Pohlsander 2004a , p. 15. ^ Constantine, Oratio ad Sanctorum Coetum 25 ^ Elliott 1996 , p. 30; Odahl 2001 , p. 73. ^ Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 10.6–11 ^ Barnes 1981 , p. 21; Elliott 1996 , pp. 35–36; MacMullen 1969 , p. 24; Odahl 2001 , p. 67; Potter 2004 , p. 338. ^ Eusebius, Vita Constantini 2.49–52 ^ Barnes 1981 , p. 21; Odahl 2001 , pp. 67, 73, 304; Potter 2004 , p. 338. ^ Barnes 1981 , pp. 22–25; MacMullen 1969 , pp. 24–30; Odahl 2001 , pp. 67–69; Potter 2004 , p. 337. ^ MacMullen 1969 , pp. 24–25. ^ Oratio ad Sanctorum Coetum 25 ^ Odahl 2001 , p. 73. ^ Elliott 1987 , pp. 425–426; Lenski et al. , p. 126. ^ Barnes 1981 , pp. 25–27; Lenski et al. , p. 60; Odahl 2001 , pp. 69–72; Pohlsander 2004a , p. 15; Potter 2004 , pp. 341–342. ^ Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 19.2–6 ^ Barnes 1981 , p. 26; Potter 2004 , p. 342. ^ Lenski et al. , pp. 60–61; Odahl 2001 , pp. 72–74; Pohlsander 2004a , p. 15. ^ Origo 4; Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 24.3–9; Praxagoras fr. 1.2; Aurelius Victor 40.2–3; Epitome de Caesaribus 41.2; Zosimus 2.8.3; Eusebius, Vita Constantini 1.21 ^ Lenski et al. , p. 61; MacMullen 1969 , p. 32; Odahl 2001 , p. 73. ^ Lenski et al. , p. 61. ^ Barnes 1981 , p. 27; Elliott 1987 , pp. 39–40; Lenski et al. , p. 61; Odahl 2001 , p. 75–77; Pohlsander 2004a , pp. 15–16; Potter 2004 , pp. 344–345; Southern 2001 , pp. 169–170, 341; MacMullen 1969 , p. 32. ^ Barnes 1981 , pp. 27, 298; Elliott 1996 , p. 39; Odahl 2001 , p. 77–78, 309; Pohlsander 2004a , pp. 15–16. ^ Alföldi 1948 , pp. 233–234; Southern 2001 , pp. 170, 341. ^ a b Barnes 1981 , pp. 27–29; Jones 1978 , p. 59; Lenski et al. , pp. 61–62; Odahl 2001 , pp. 78–80. ^ Jones 1978 , p. 59. ^ Jones 1978 , p. 59; MacMullen 1969 , p. 39. ^ Treadgold 1997 , p. 28. ^ Gibbon, Edward (2018). History of The Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire . [Otbebookpublishing]. ISBN   978-3-96272-518-1 . OCLC   1059411020 . ^ Barnes 1981 , pp. 28–29; Rees 2002 , p. 160; Lenski et al. , p. 62; Odahl 2001 , pp. 78–80. ^ Barnes 1981 , p. 29; Elliott 1996 , p. 41; Jones 1978 , p. 41; MacMullen 1969 , p. 39; Odahl 2001 , pp. 79–80. Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page ).

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Assessment and legacy Reconstructed version of the Colossus of Constantine at the Capitoline Museum in 2024 Constantine reunited the empire under one emperor, and he won major victories over the Franks and Alamanni in 306–308, the Franks again in 313–314, the Goths in 332, and the Sarmatians in 334. By 336, he had 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 end raids on the eastern provinces from the Persian Empire. [ 1 ] Cretan Icon with Saints Constantine and Helena. Painted by Viktor. Mid. 17th cent. In the cultural sphere, Constantine revived the clean-shaven face fashion of earlier emperors, originally introduced among the Romans by Scipio Africanus (236–183 BC) and changed into the wearing of the beard by Hadrian (r. 117–138). With some departures, such as Julian the Apostate (r. 360–363), this new Roman imperial fashion lasted until the reign of Phocas (r. 602–610) in the 7th century. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ better source needed ] The Holy Roman Empire reckoned Constantine among the venerable figures of its tradition. In the later Byzantine state, it became a great honour for an emperor to be hailed as a "new Constantine"; ten emperors carried the name, including the last emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire. [ 4 ] Charlemagne used monumental Constantinian forms in his court to suggest that he was Constantine's successor and equal. Charlemagne, Henry VIII , Philip II of Spain , Godfrey of Bouillon , the House of Capet , the House of Habsburg , the House of Stuart , the Macedonian dynasty and the Phokas family claimed descent from Constantine. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ] Geoffrey of Monmouth embroidered a tale that the legendary king of Britain, King Arthur , was also a descendant of Constantine. [ 8 ] Constantine acquired a mythic role as a hero and warrior against heathens. In later Byzantine legend, Constantine's building activity was also projected beyond Constantinople. The medieval Patria of Constantinople says that, after subduing the Scythians , he founded Persthlaba , Distra , Pliskouba and Konstantia . [ 9 ] His reception as a saint seems to have spread within the Byzantine empire during wars against the Sasanian Persians and the Muslims in the late 6th and 7th century. [ 10 ] The motif of the Romanesque equestrian, the mounted figure in the posture of a triumphant Roman emperor, became a visual metaphor in statuary in praise of local benefactors. The name "Constantine" enjoyed renewed popularity in western France in the 11th and 12th centuries. [ 11 ] During the Fascist period in Italy in the 20th century , parallels between Constantine and Mussolini became especially popular after the signing of the Lateran Pacts by the Italian State and the Catholic Church in 1929. Mussolini's perceived role in bringing about the historic agreement was sometimes even explicitly compared to Constantine's Edict of Milan. For example, the archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Ildefonso Schuster , claimed that, after sixteen centuries, a second March on Rome had occurred and a second 'religious pact' had been established, linking Mussolini to the spiriti magni of both Constantine and Augustus . [ 12 ] The Niš Constantine the Great Airport is named in honour of him. A large cross was planned to be built on a hill overlooking Niš, but the project was cancelled. [ 13 ] In 2012, a memorial was erected in Niš in his honour. The Commemoration of the Edict of Milan was held in Niš in 2013. [ 14 ] Constantine is sometimes associated with the religiopolitical ideology known as Caesaropapism , which epitomises the unity of church and state. However, his association with this ideology has been debated. [ 15 ] Veneration as a saint Constantine is commemorated annually as a saint primarily by Eastern Christian Churches . The autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Eastern Catholic Churches of the Catholic Church venerate Saint Constantine (Άγιος Κωνσταντίνος) as isapostolos (ισαπόστολος Κωνσταντίνος)—an equal of the Apostles . [ 16 ] He and his mother, Saint Helena, are commemorated on 21 May, [ 17 ] with liturgical propers composed for the Horologion (e.g., Great Vespers ) [ 18 ] and Divine Liturgy . [ 19 ] Several Orthodox monasteries, shrines and churches claim to have first-class relics of Constantine. [ 20 ] The Coptic Orthodox Church commemorates Saint Constantine on 28 Parmouti . [ 21 ] Tha Maronite Catholic Church commemorates him along with Saint Helena on 21 May. The Armenian Apostolic Church commemorates Saint Constantine and Saint Helena on the Tuesday of the fourth week after Pentecost. [ 22 ] The Armenian Catholic Church commemorates both on 1 July. Constantine is not recognised officially as a saint in the Latin Church of the Catholic Church, although he had been referred to as piissimi Imperatoris (most pious Emperor) in editions of the Martyrologium Romanum up until the 1956 edition. Lutheran churches , such as the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod , commemorate Emperor Constantine alongside his mother, Helena, as saints on 21 May. [ 23 ] Historiography Constantius appoints Constantine as his successor by Peter Paul Rubens , 1622 During Constantine's lifetime, Praxagoras of Athens and Libanius , pagan authors, showered Constantine with praise, presenting him as a paragon of virtue. His nephew and son-in-law Julian the Apostate, however, wrote the satire Symposium, or the Saturnalia in 361, after the last of his sons died; it denigrated Constantine, calling him inferior to the great pagan emperors, and given over to luxury and greed. [ 24 ] Following Julian, Eunapius began – and Zosimus continued – a historiographic tradition that blamed Constantine for weakening the empire through his indulgence to the Christians. [ 25 ] During the Middle Ages , European and Near-East Byzantine writers presented Constantine as an ideal ruler, the standard against which any king or emperor could be measured. [ 25 ] The Renaissance rediscovery of anti-Constantinian sources prompted a re-evaluation of his career. German humanist Johannes Leunclavius discovered Zosimus' writings and published a Latin translation in 1576. In its preface, he argues that Zosimus' picture of Constantine offered a more balanced view than that of Eusebius and the Church historians. [ 26 ] Cardinal Caesar Baronius criticised Zosimus, favouring Eusebius' account of the Constantinian era. Baronius' Life of Constantine (1588) presents Constantine as the model of a Christian prince. [ 27 ] Edward Gibbon aimed to unite the two extremes of Constantinian scholarship in his work The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776–1789) by contrasting the portraits presented by Eusebius and Zosimus. [ 28 ] He presents a noble war hero who transforms into an Oriental despot in his old age, "degenerating into a cruel and dissolute monarch". [ 29 ] Modern interpretations of Constantine's rule begin with Jacob Burckhardt 's The Age of Constantine the Great (1853, rev. 1880). Burckhardt's Constantine is a scheming secularist, a politician who manipulates all parties in a quest to secure his own power. [ 30 ] Henri Grégoire followed Burckhardt's evaluation of Constantine in the 1930s, suggesting that Constantine developed an interest in Christianity only after witnessing its political usefulness. Grégoire was sceptical of the authenticity of Eusebius's Vita , and postulated a pseudo-Eusebius to assume responsibility for the vision and conversion narratives of that work. [ 31 ] Otto Seeck 's Geschichte des Untergangs der antiken Welt (1920–1923) and André Piganiol 's L'empereur Constantin (1932) go against this historiographic tradition. Seeck presents Constantine as a sincere war hero whose ambiguities were the product of his own naïve inconsistency. [ 32 ] Piganiol's Constantine is a philosophical monotheist, a child of his era's religious syncretism. [ 33 ] Related histories by Arnold Hugh Martin Jones ( Constantine and the Conversion of Europe , 1949) and Ramsay MacMullen ( Constantine , 1969) give portraits of a less visionary and more impulsive Constantine. [ 34 ] These later accounts were more willing to present Constantine as a genuine convert to Christianity. Norman H. Baynes began a historiographic tradition with Constantine the Great and the Christian Church (1929) which presents Constantine as a committed Christian, reinforced by Andreas Alföldi 's The Conversion of Constantine and Pagan Rome (1948), and Timothy Barnes 's Constantine and Eusebius (1981) is the culmination of this trend. Barnes' Constantine experienced a radical conversion which drove him on a personal crusade to convert his empire. [ 35 ] Charles Matson Odahl's Constantine and the Christian Empire (2004) takes much the same tack. [ 36 ] In spite of Barnes' work, arguments continue over the strength and depth of Constantine's religious conversion. [ 37 ] Certain themes in this school reached new extremes in T. G. Elliott's The Christianity of Constantine the Great (1996), which presented Constantine as a committed Christian from early childhood. [ 38 ] Paul Veyne 's 2007 work Quand notre monde est devenu chrétien holds a similar view which does not speculate on the origin of Constantine's Christian motivation, but presents him as a religious revolutionary who fervently believed that he was meant "to play a providential role in the millenary economy of the salvation of humanity". [ 39 ] Peter Heather argues that Constantine's father Constantius was probably a closet Christian who brought his son up in the religion, and that Constantine concealed his adherence so long as it was politically dangerous, gradually "coming out" in stages as he became more dominant. [ 40 ] Donation of Constantine Main article: Donation of Constantine Latin Christians considered it inappropriate that Constantine was baptised only on his death bed by an unorthodox bishop, and a legend emerged by the early 4th century that Pope Sylvester I had cured the pagan emperor from leprosy. According to this legend, Constantine was baptised and began the construction of a church in the Lateran Basilica . [ 41 ] [ 42 ] The Donation of Constantine appeared in the 8th century, most likely during the pontificate of Pope Stephen II , in which the freshly converted Constantine gives "the city of Rome and all the provinces, districts, and cities of Italy and the Western regions" to Sylvester and his successors. [ 43 ] In the High Middle Ages , [ 44 ] [ 45 ] 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 [ 46 ] and lamented as the root of papal worldliness by Dante Alighieri . [ 47 ] Philologist and Catholic priest Lorenzo Valla proved in 1440 that the document was indeed a forgery. [ 48 ] Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia During the medieval period, Britons regarded Constantine as a king of their own people, particularly associating him with Caernarfon in Gwynedd . While some of this is owed to his fame and his proclamation as emperor in Britain , there was also confusion of his family with Magnus Maximus 's supposed wife Elen and her son, another Constantine ( Welsh : Custennin ) . In the 12th century Henry of Huntingdon included a passage in his Historia Anglorum that the Emperor Constantine's mother was a Briton, making her the daughter of King Cole of Colchester . [ 49 ] Geoffrey of Monmouth expanded this story in his highly fictionalised Historia Regum Britanniae , an account of the supposed Kings of Britain from their Trojan origins to the Anglo-Saxon invasion . [ 50 ] According to Geoffrey, Cole was King of the Britons when Constantius, here a senator, came to Britain. Afraid of the Romans, Cole submits to Roman law so long as he retains his kingship. However, he dies only a month later, and Constantius takes the throne himself, marrying Cole's daughter Helena. They have their son Constantine, who succeeds his father as King of Britain before becoming Roman emperor. Historically, this series of events is extremely improbable. Constantius had already left Helena by the time he left for Britain. [ 51 ] Additionally, no earlier source mentions that Helena was born in Britain, let alone that she was a princess. Henry's source for the story is unknown, though it may have been a lost hagiography of Helena. [ 50 ] ^ Pohlsander, Emperor Constantine , 72. ^ Byzantine Chronicle. "Imperial first times/last times" . Retrieved 4 December 2024 . ^ "Barba – NumisWiki, The Collaborative Numismatics Project" . Forum Ancient Coins . Retrieved 7 November 2012 . ^ Pohlsander, Emperor Constantine , 91. ^ Jane E. Everson (2001). The Italian Romance Epic in the Age of Humanism: The Matter of Italy and the World of Rome . Oxford University Press. p. 34. ISBN   978-0-19-816015-1 . ^ Stewart James Mottram (2008). Empire and Nation in Early English Renaissance Literature . Boydell & Brewer Ltd. p. 17. ISBN   978-1-84384-182-1 . ^ Richard L. Kagan (2009). Clio and the Crown: The Politics of History in Medieval and Early Modern Spain . JHU Press. p. 135. ISBN   978-1-4214-0165-2 . ^ Mulligan, pp. 262–264. ^ Berger, Albrecht, ed. (2013). Accounts of Medieval Constantinople: The Patria . Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library. Vol. 24. Translated by Berger, Albrecht. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp.  150– 151. ISBN   978-0-674-72481-5 . See also the Greek text in Preger, Theodor, ed. (1901). Scriptores originum Constantinopolitanarum (in Ancient Greek). Vol. 1. Leipzig: B. G. Teubner. p. 150. ^ Fourlas 2020. ^ Seidel, 237–239. ^ Bettegazzi, Nicolò; Lamers, Han; Reitz-Joosse, Bettina (December 2019). "Viewing Rome in the Latin Literature of the Ventennio Fascista : Francesco Giammaria's Capitolium Novum " . Fascism . 8 (2). Brill: 172. doi : 10.1163/22116257-00802002 . hdl : 10852/76385 . ISSN   2211-6249 . ^ "Niš: Vinik osta pusto brdo" . NOVOSTI . ^ "Edict of Milan celebration to begin in Niš" . 17 January 2013. ^ Averil Cameron, "Introduction", in Constantine: History, Historiography, and Legend , ed. Samuel N. C. Lieu and Dominic Montserrat (New York: Routledge, 1998), 3; Pohlsander, Emperor Constantine , 91 ^ Lieu, "Constantine in Legendary Literature" (CC), 305. ^ Pohlsander, Emperor Constantine , 92–93. ^ "Holy Great Rulers Constantine and Helen, Equal to the Apostles: Great Vespers" (PDF) . Liturgical Texts and Music: Part of the Royal Doors Family . Retrieved 9 August 2025 . ^ "Holy Great Rulers Constantine and Helen, Equal to the Apostles: Divine Liturgy" (PDF) . Liturgical Texts and Music: Part of the Royal Doors Family . Retrieved 9 August 2025 . ^ "530 – Λεἰψανα του Μεγάλου Κωνσταντίνου" . Η ΛΕΙΨΑΝΟΘΗΚΗ (in Greek) . Retrieved 9 August 2025 . ^ "Commemorations for Baramhat 28" . CopticChurch.Net . Retrieved 9 August 2025 . ^ Findikyan, Bishop Daniel. "Liturgical Year of the Armenian Apostolic Church" . Armenian Apostolic Church of Holy Resurrection . Retrieved 9 August 2025 . ^ "Commemorations" . The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod . ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius , 272–223. ^ a b Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius , 273. ^ Johannes Leunclavius , Apologia pro Zosimo adversus Evagrii, Nicephori Callisti et aliorum acerbas criminationes ( Defence of Zosimus against the Unjustified Charges of Evagrius, Nicephorus Callistus, and Others ) (Basel, 1576), cited in Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius , 273, and Odahl, 282. ^ Caesar Baronius, Annales Ecclesiastici 3 (Antwerp, 1623), cited in Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius , 274, and Odahl, 282. ^ Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Chapter 18, cited in Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius , 274, and Odahl, 282. See also Lenski, "Introduction" (CC), 6–7. ^ Gibbon, Decline and Fall , 1.256; David P. Jordan, "Gibbon's 'Age of Constantine' and the Fall of Rome", History and Theory 8:1 (1969): 71–96. ^ Jacob Burckhardt, Die Zeit Constantins des Grossen (Basel, 1853; revised edition, Leipzig, 1880), cited in Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius , 274; Lenski, "Introduction" (CC), 7. ^ Lenski, "Introduction" (CC), 7. ^ Lenski, "Introduction" (CC), 7–8. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius , 274. ^ Lenski, "Introduction" (CC), 8. ^ Lenski, "Introduction" (CC), 8–9; Odahl, 283. ^ Odahl, 283; Mark Humphries, "Constantine", review of Constantine and the Christian Empire , by Charles Odahl, Classical Quarterly 56:2 (2006), 449. ^ Averil Cameron, "Introduction", in Constantine: History, Historiography, and Legend , ed. Samuel N. C. Lieu and Dominic Montserrat (New York: Routledge, 1998), 3. ^ Lenski, "Introduction" (CC), 10. ^ Quand notre monde est devenu chretien , Fabian E. Udoh, review, Theological Studies , June 2008. ^ Peter Heather, Christendom (London: Allen Lane, 2022), pp. 11–20. ^ Canella, Tessa. Gli Actus Silvestri fra Oriente e Occidente: Storia e diffusione di una leggenda Costantiniana . Academia. pp.  243– 244 . Retrieved 10 May 2021 . ^ Lieu, "Constantine in Legendary Literature" (CC), 298–301. ^ Constitutum Constantini 17, qtd. in Lieu, "Constantine in Legendary Literature" (CC), 301–303. ^ Gregory, A History of Byzantium , 49. ^ Van Dam, Remembering Constantine at the Milvian Bridge , 30. ^ Henry Charles Lea, "The 'Donation of Constantine'". The English Historical Review 10: 37 (1895), 86–87. ^ Inferno 19.115; Paradisio 20.55; cf. De Monarchia 3.10. ^ Fubini, 79–86; Lenski, "Introduction" (CC), 6. ^ Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum , Book I, ch. 37. ^ a b Greenway, Diana (Ed.); Henry of Huntingdon (1996). Historia Anglorum: The History of the English People . Oxford University Press. p. civ. ISBN   978-0-19-822224-8 . ^ Barnes 1981 , p. 3; Elliott 1996 , p. 20; Lenski et al. , pp. 59–60; Odahl 2001 , pp. 47, 299; Pohlsander 2004a , p. 14.

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