Constantine I emperor - Constantine and Christianity

Gaius Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus (Latin: IMP CAESAR FLAVIVS CONSTANTINVS PIVS FELIX INVICTVS AVGVSTVS ¹) (February 27, 272–May 22, 337), commonly known as Constantine I, Constantine the Great, or (among Orthodox Christians) Saint Constantine, was proclaimed Augustus by his troops on July 25, 306 and ruled an ever-growing portion of the Roman Empire until his death. Constantine is famed for his refounding of Byzantium (modern Istanbul) as "Nova Roma" (New Rome) or Constantinople (Const ...

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• Constantine I emperor - Early life
• Constantine I emperor - Constantine and Christianity
• Constantine I emperor - Persian reaction
• Constantine I emperor - Constantine's life and actions after the Edict of Milan
• Constantine I emperor - Later life
• Constantine I emperor - Constantine's legal standards
• Constantine I emperor - Constantine's courts and appointees
• Constantine I emperor - Constantine's legacy
• Constantine I emperor - Legend and Donation of Constantine
• Constantine I emperor - Constantine in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia
• Constantine I emperor - Notes
• Constantine I emperor - References and further reading

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Constantine is perhaps best known for being the first Roman Emperor to freely allow Christianity. Christian historians ever since Lactantius have adhered to the view that Constantine "adopted" Christianity as a kind of replacement for the official Roman paganism. Despite the questions surrounding Constantine's Christianity, he is celebrated as a major Saint of Eastern Orthodoxy. Though he was not baptized until he was on his deathbed, his conversion, according to official Christian sources, was the immediate result of an omen before his vict ...

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Constantine I emperor, Constantine I emperor - Early life, Constantine I emperor - Constantine and Christianity, Constantine I emperor - Persian reaction, Constantine I emperor - Constantine's life and actions after the Edict of Milan, Constantine I emperor - Later life, Constantine I emperor - Constantine's legal standards, Constantine I emperor - Constantine's courts and appointees, Constantine I emperor - Constantine's legacy, Constantine I emperor - Legend and Donation of Constantine, Constantine I emperor - Constantine in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia, Constantine I emperor - Notes, Constantine I emperor - References and further reading

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Constantine was born at Naissus,(today's Niš, Serbia, Serbia and Montenegro) in Upper Moesia, to Constantius I Chlorus, and his first wife Helena, an innkeeper's daughter who at the time was an adolescent of only sixteen years. His father left his mother around 292 to marry Flavia Maximiana Theodora, daughter or step-daughter of the Western Roman Emperor Maximian. Theodora would give birth to six half-si ...

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Constantine I emperor, Constantine I emperor - Early life, Constantine I emperor - Constantine and Christianity, Constantine I emperor - Persian reaction, Constantine I emperor - Constantine's life and actions after the Edict of Milan, Constantine I emperor - Later life, Constantine I emperor - Constantine's legal standards, Constantine I emperor - Constantine's courts and appointees, Constantine I emperor - Constantine's legacy, Constantine I emperor - Legend and Donation of Constantine, Constantine I emperor - Constantine in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia, Constantine I emperor - Notes, Constantine I emperor - References and further reading

Read more here: » Constantine I emperor: Encyclopedia II - Constantine I emperor - Early life

Constantine was born at Naissus, (today's Niš, Serbia, Serbia and Montenegro) in Upper Moesia to Greek general,Constantius I Chlorus, and his first wife Helena, an innkeeper's daughter who at the time was an adolescent of only sixteen years. His father left his mother around 292 to marry Flavia Maximiana Theodora, daughter or step-daughter of the Western Roman Emperor Maximian. Theodora would give birth to six half-si ...

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Constantine I emperor, Constantine I emperor - Early life, Constantine I emperor - Constantine and Christianity, Constantine I emperor - Persian reaction, Constantine I emperor - Constantine's life and actions after the Edict of Milan, Constantine I emperor - Later life, Constantine I emperor - Constantine's legal standards, Constantine I emperor - Constantine's courts and appointees, Constantine I emperor - Constantine's legacy, Constantine I emperor - Legend and Donation of Constantine, Constantine I emperor - Constantine in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia, Constantine I emperor - Notes, Constantine I emperor - References and further reading

Read more here: » Constantine I emperor: Encyclopedia II - Constantine I emperor - Early life

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 alone. In addition to reuniting the empire under one emperor, Constantine won major victories over the Franks and Alamanni (306–308), the Franks again (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 ...

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Constantine I emperor, Constantine I emperor - Early life, Constantine I emperor - Constantine and Christianity, Constantine I emperor - Persian reaction, Constantine I emperor - Constantine's life and actions after the Edict of Milan, Constantine I emperor - Later life, Constantine I emperor - Constantine's legal standards, Constantine I emperor - Constantine's courts and appointees, Constantine I emperor - Constantine's legacy, Constantine I emperor - Legend and Donation of Constantine, Constantine I emperor - Constantine in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia, Constantine I emperor - Notes, Constantine I emperor - References and further reading

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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. 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.

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 3rd century emperor Marcus Aurelius Claudi ...

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Constantine I emperor, Constantine I emperor - Early life, Constantine I emperor - Constantine and Christianity, Constantine I emperor - Persian reaction, Constantine I emperor - Constantine's life and actions after the Edict of Milan, Constantine I emperor - Later life, Constantine I emperor - Constantine's legal standards, Constantine I emperor - Constantine's courts and appointees, Constantine I emperor - Constantine's legacy, Constantine I emperor - Legend and Donation of Constantine, Constantine I emperor - Constantine in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia, Constantine I emperor - Notes, Constantine I emperor - References and further reading

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His victory in 312 over Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge resulted in his becoming Western Augustus, or ruler of the entire Western Roman Empire. He gradually consolidated his military superiority over his rivals in the crumbling Tetrarchy. In the year 320, Licinius, emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, reneged on the religious freedom promised by the Edict of Milan in 313 and began another persecution of the Christians. This was a puzzling inconsistency since Constantia, half-sister of Constantine and wife of Licinius, was an ...

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Constantine I emperor, Constantine I emperor - Early life, Constantine I emperor - Constantine and Christianity, Constantine I emperor - Persian reaction, Constantine I emperor - Constantine's life and actions after the Edict of Milan, Constantine I emperor - Later life, Constantine I emperor - Constantine's legal standards, Constantine I emperor - Constantine's courts and appointees, Constantine I emperor - Constantine's legacy, Constantine I emperor - Legend and Donation of Constantine, Constantine I emperor - Constantine in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia, Constantine I emperor - Notes, Constantine I emperor - References and further reading

Read more here: » Constantine I emperor: Encyclopedia II - Constantine I emperor - Later life

Constantine 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. (MacMullen 1969,1984, New Catholic Encyclopedia 1908) "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 ...

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Constantine I emperor, Constantine I emperor - Early life, Constantine I emperor - Constantine and Christianity, Constantine I emperor - Persian reaction, Constantine I emperor - Constantine's life and actions after the Edict of Milan, Constantine I emperor - Later life, Constantine I emperor - Constantine's legal standards, Constantine I emperor - Constantine's courts and appointees, Constantine I emperor - Constantine's legacy, Constantine I emperor - Legend and Donation of Constantine, Constantine I emperor - Constantine in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia, Constantine I emperor - Notes, Constantine I emperor - References and further reading

Read more here: » Constantine I emperor: Encyclopedia II - Constantine I emperor - Constantine's courts and appointees