CLASS 2680 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Field Army, Diocletian, Syria Palaestina
7 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Constantine
Key Terms
• Constantine, 273-337: good general and statesman (rare)
o First Christian emperor
• When he first takes the throne, a max of 10% of the empire was Christian.
o Son of Flavius Constantius (or Constantine Chlorus) and Helena
o Grew up in an environment that wasn't hostile to Christians
o When his father dies in 306, his men acclaim him as the new Augustus (not how the next
Augustus was supposed to be brought into power). The other tetrarchs have to accept him.
• Trier becomes his capital in the west
o Quarrels with his brother-in-law, Maxentius (son of Maximium)
• Fighting for control of the west
• In 312, Constantine and his army invade Italy, defeat Maxentius' army, and take the
city of Verona by siege. Heads to Rome
▪ Maxentius hopes he can survive a siege behind the walls of Rome. But for some
reason, he decides to go out and fight a battle
▪ One of the most influential battles of this time period - crucial for the history of
Christianity
▪ Occurs at the Movian Bridge
• Before the battle, Constantine saw a sign (the symbol of Christianity - the 1st two
letters of Christ) that told him he would conquer.
▪ Puts these 2 letters on all of his men's shields - announces to the world that he's
Christian, which is controversial because the Great Persecution is still going on
• Constantine wins the battle and kills Maxentius.
• Goes to Rome in 312 AD (for the first time) and is the 1st Christian conqueror to enter
the city
▪ Has to have a balance between his Christianity and winning the support of the
pagan Romans
o Always with a bodyguard
• Picks 40 candidates from 5 elite cavalry units (scholae) responsible for the emperor's
personal security
o Like his father, he worshipped the sun god
• Traditionally, the sun god was Apollo.
• When Constantine Chlorus was present, he and Aurelian saw a vision of the sun god,
and Aurelian made the sun god his patron (the god of Rome) - doesn't succeed.
• Constantine sees a halo around the sun - asks religious people what it means.
▪ Bishops tell him this was a sign from Jesus.
▪ Early Christianity already connected Jesus with the sun.
▪ Decides that this was a sign from Christ and that he should become a Christian
o Allows his senators to put a monument up in Rome for him - Arch of Constantine
• Most of the artwork is taken from other pieces
• Shows that they wanted to build this in a hurry and Constantine wanted to be
connected to his predecessors in the minds of the people of Rome
• Nothing about Christianity on the arch
▪ The inscription says Constantine conquered Rome by "divine stimulus"
o Sponsors the building of a series of churches and martyr shrines in the outskirts of the city of
Rome
• Requires knocking something down to build a church
