Constantine I, Emperor of Rome

Constantine was one of the most influential of all the emperors of Rome. His reign marked a definite turning point in the history of the empire, which would never be the same again. He must also be counted as the last truly “great” emperor of Rome. Although there were other notable emperors after his time, nobody was of anything like the same quality.

That is not to say that Constantine was a perfect emperor – far from it. He was an enigmatic character who is very difficult to assess. He may have been the first emperor who became a Christian, but he did not always behave in what most people would regard as a “Christian” way. Indeed, he was capable of great cruelty at the same time as displaying tolerance and acting wisely. His actions can also be seen as making the eventual fall of the western empire inevitable.

His rise to power

Constantine was born in (probably) 275 in Naissus, which is modern Nis in Serbia. His father was Constantius, who would become one of the four co-emperors known as the Tetrarchs who divided the empire between them at the behest, and under the control, of Emperor Diocletian. Constantius took on this role in 305, having control over Gaul and Britannia.

When Constantius went to Britannia in 306 to sort out a local uprising he took Constantine with him, which meant that when he died at Eboracum (York) in July 306 the army was only too ready to proclaim Constantine as his successor, although the job should have gone to the man who had been nominated for this role by Diocletian (Flavius Valerius Severus).

Constantine’s reign lasted for nearly 31 years, but it took 18 years for him to become sole emperor. Those years were a period both of sharing power and of eliminating his rivals.

They were also years of shifting loyalties, with the various would-be emperors working out where their best moves lay. The two main players at this stage were Maximian, who had been co-emperor with Diocletian and who been forced to retire from power at the same time that Diocletian did, and his son Maxentius.

Maxentius was able to get Constantine’s support for his own claim to be a co-emperor by giving Constantine his sister Fausta in marriage, despite her very young age – it would be nearly ten years before they started living together as husband and wife.

However, Maximian, who had always resented his forced retirement, tried to persuade Constantine to attack Maxentius, which Constantine was not prepared to do. Instead, Maximian tried to usurp his son by ripping the imperial robe off his shoulders. When Maxentius’s guard intervened, Maximian had no choice but to back off, after which he sought sanctuary with Constantine at Treveri (modern Trier on the border between Germany and Luxemburg).

This arrangement continued until 310 when Maximian tried to seize power when Constantine was away on campaign. The attempt failed and Maximian committed suicide.

Maxentius continued to be co-emperor in Rome, with control over Italy, Spain and Africa, despite the fact that his position was unofficial and another co-emperor, Licinius, was supposed to be doing that job.

In 312 Constantine took a big risk by deciding to challenge Maxentius head-on. It was at this point that Constantine appears to have had some sort of experience that convinced him to change his religious attitude. He was clearly a deeply pious person, but his devotion had up to now been towards Sol Invictus, the “Unconquered Sun”. This deity had its origins in Syria, and the cult of Sol Invictus had first come to Rome courtesy of Emperor Elagabalus, who had been the chief priest of the cult before unexpectedly becoming emperor. Worship of Sol Invictus lapsed after the fall of Elagabalus but had been re-introduced by Aurelian, who had made the cult one of the official Roman religions.

What exactly happened to Constantine, and when, is far from clear, mainly because later Christian writers were keen to see Constantine’s “conversion” as a major event in the history of Christianity and to treat it as something similar to St Paul’s vision on the road to Damascus. There are various stories, including that Constantine was visited by Jesus Christ in a dream and told to paint the “chi rho” symbol on his soldiers’ shields before going into battle. Another is that Constantine looked into the sky and saw the sign of the cross and the words “with this be victorious”.

A more likely explanation is that Constantine, seeking support from Sol Invictus, saw a phenomenon known as a “solar halo”, caused by sunlight being refracted by ice crystals in the upper atmosphere.

At all events, Constantine did not abandon his previous beliefs on the spot and suddenly become a Christian. It may well be that he saw Jesus Christ as Sol Invictus in another guise. When new coinage was issued later in his reign it was Sol Invictus who was portrayed alongside the emperor, and when a “day of rest” was instituted for the empire, it was “Sol Day” – Sunday – that was chosen.

What we do know is that Constantine began his campaign against Maxentius having placed his trust in the “Divine Mind”, although it is far from clear what he meant by this. We also know that he conducted the campaign with considerable skill and that he swept all before him after he entered Italy. It was not long before he reached Rome and waited for Maxentius to face him in battle.

The battle in question, fought at the Milvian Bridge across the River Tiber, was decisive. Whether or not Constantine’s men fought with Christian symbols on their shields, they were utterly victorious and Maxentius was among those who were killed. Constantine could now enter Rome in triumph.

Constantine did not stay long in Rome and was soon on his way back north. He was well aware that his next challenge was likely to come from the fourth co-emperor, namely Maximinus, who had allied himself with Maxentius. Constantine met his own ally, Licinius, to whom he gave his half-sister Constantia in marriage. Licinius was clearly expected to deal with Maximinus.

That is what happened. Maximinus had crossed the Dardanelles with an army and met Licinius near Adrianople (west of modern Istanbul), where he was soundly beaten. Licinius chased his retreating force back into Turkey and caught up with them at Tarsus, where Maximinus committed suicide. The four tetrarchs were now down to two.

The Roman Empire now effectively split into two halves – east and west – with each comprising six of the 12 dioceses established by Diocletian. The two emperors governed their realms with very little reference to each other and neither – at first – showed much interest in challenging the other for complete control.

However, problems arose when it came to planning for the succession if and when either of them should die. In 315 and 316 both of them became fathers of sons. Constantine already had a son, namely Crispus by his first wife Minervina, but Constantine was not sure whether he wanted Crispus to be his chosen heir. When Licinius’s son was born, the two men came to an agreement that neither son should succeed, but that the heir for both halves of the empire should be Bassanius, the husband of Constantine’s half-sister.

But then along came Constantine’s son by his second wife Fausta, and he changed his mind. If anyone wanted evidence that Constantine’s apparent conversion to Christianity did not include a change of heart in favour of Christian morality, his machinations in favour of his family’s interests should prove the point. Bassanius was promptly executed on a trumped-up charge and Constantine prepared to make war on Licinius.

However, things did not go all his own way. Licinius proved to be a tough nut to crack and Constantine could only conquer one of the three Balkan dioceses held by Licinius. He was forced to accept a compromise over the succession that recognized the claims of both infant sons as well as that of Crispus. The treaty that settled this was signed in March 317 and stayed in force for the next seven years.

By 324, Constantine and Fausta had produced two more sons and a daughter. Seeing himself as heading a potentially powerful dynasty, Constantine saw no reason why his family should share the imperial throne with anyone else and decided to get rid of Licinius for good.

This was achieved without too much difficulty. The civil war began in the summer of 324 and was all over by November. Licinius was sent into exile but then suffered the same fate as the unfortunate Bassanius. There was no doubt now as to who ran the Empire.

 

The first Christian emperor

With the Christians of the Empire now free from persecution, they proceeded to do what religious fundamentalists have delighted in doing down the ages, namely persecute each other. The relatively young religion was riven with disputes over matters of theology, and Constantine was well aware that this was a potent source of unrest. He decided to step in and knock some heads together.

The dispute that caused most upset, and which was to have the most profound implications, arose when a priest in Alexandria, named Arius, had a sharp disagreement with his bishop, named Alexander. This was over the nature of Christ and his relationship with God the Father. Arius maintained that the two were “of different substance” and that the Son was subservient to the Father. Alexander held that they were “of the same substance” and the Son (i.e. Jesus) had existed for all time as opposed to being created when “born of the Virgin Mary”.

Arius and Alexander each had many supporters for their point of view, and the issue – in Constantine’s view – could only be settled by bringing all the parties together and reaching a decision that would have the imperial seal of approval. The grand council met at Nicaea, in what is now Turkey.

The result was a statement of belief known as the Nicene Creed, ostensibly composed by Constantine although probably drafted by advisers, which (in amended form) has been the basic statement of belief held by most Christian denominations ever since. It was a compromise between the two opposing camps, although it supported Bishop Alexander’s view much more strongly than that of Arius.

Given a free choice, many modern Christians might think that Arius’s theory had much to recommend it – it does seem to make more sense logically – but they are not given that choice. For this they have a semi-pagan Roman emperor to thank whose grasp of theology was shaky at best and who may well have decided that the view of a bishop held more sway than that of a mere priest. Whatever the case, the decision stuck.

Constantinople

The other major reason why Constantine was the most influential emperor of the later Roman Empire was his founding of a new capital city for the eastern empire, which for many centuries bore the name Constantinople.

Constantine was well aware that the future of the empire depended on securing the eastern frontiers, in both Europe and Asia, and Rome was too far from either to be where the emperor should be based. The ancient city of Byzantium was an ideal location for an eastern base, being within striking distance of several likely trouble spots, and this was therefore Constantine’s choice.

Byzantium occupied a triangular peninsula on the north side of the Bosphorus strait that connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara. Constantine’s new city could therefore be protected by the sea on two sides and by a new wall on the landward side. It was not long before the new city outgrew the original wall and new defences were built in the 5^th century by Emperor Theodosius II.

Another advantage of Byzantium was that seven hills could be distinguished within its area, which meant that it could be seen as a symbolic mirror of Rome, which was traditionally built on seven hills.

Constantine spared no expense in building his new capital, which began with a splendid imperial palace and a hippodrome that could accommodate 80,000 spectators. The city included churches, but older pagan temples were retained. Public buildings such as baths and a senate house were erected, although the senators of Rome were not expected to move to the new city.

The speed of construction was impressive. Begun in 324, the new city was consecrated in 330. This was partly due to elements of some of its buildings, such as columns and tiles, being appropriated from buildings elsewhere in the empire.

Running the Empire, and the succession

With Constantine concentrating his efforts on his new eastern capital, how was the western half of the empire to be managed? At first, his son Crispus was able to do the job, but disaster struck in the year 326. Various accounts exist of what actually happened, one of them involving a love affair between Crispus and his stepmother Fausta, but, whatever the facts, the net result was that Crispus was executed for treason and Fausta died soon afterwards. She may have taken the side of her stepson in an argument with Constantine and suffered the consequences.

Constantine was now left without an empress, so his elderly mother Helena became his ambassador and undertook a grand tour of the east, where Christian tradition asserts that she found portions of the “true cross” in Jerusalem as well as building churches at sacred sites. She was later honoured by the church as St Helena.

The empire, thanks largely to the reforms introduced by Diocletian, was now organized on regional lines in a number of respects, including the army. A strong leader like Constantine could keep all the pieces working together, but what about the future? That was something that gave Constantine much worry in his later years, as he realized that none of the potential candidates for succession fitted the bill.

He had three surviving sons as well as two nephews whom he saw as potential rulers of parts of the empire, but he did not consider appointing a single “Caesar” who would step up to “Augustus” on his death. His plan was evidently to divide the empire into five prefectures, with his nephew Hannibalianus having control of Iraq once it was brought under Roman control. It was while he was planning to invade Iraq in 337 that Constantine fell ill and died.

Constantine’s final act was to have himself baptized as a Christian, having spent his whole life as a dedicated follower of Sol Invictus but with the sneaking suspicion that Jesus Christ and Sol Invictus were two sides of the same coin. He also declared his intention to be buried as a Roman emperor in the mausoleum that he had had built for that purpose in Constantinople. His son Constantius later had the mausoleum consecrated as the Church of the Twelve Apostles, which would probably have annoyed Constantine greatly had he known.

By tolerating Christianity, and even taking an active role in its development, but keeping at arm’s length from it on a personal basis, Constantine made clear that being a Roman emperor and a Christian was perfectly possible without going the whole hog as a “Christian emperor”. This was a lesson that not all of his successors appreciated.

© John Welford