HISTORY 1M03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: Bosphorus, Constantinople, Diocletian
7 Jan 2018
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In 305, two years after he launched his persecution of the christians, diocletian was increasingly ill and decided to abdicate. Despite his attempts to solve the problem of the succession, a violent struggle for power ensued. In 312, constantine, who had followed his father, constantius, as caesar in the west, was fighting against a usurper called maxentius. Constantine was squaring up for battle against maxentius just outside rome, at the. Constantine took this as an omen of victory, which victory he proceeded to win. Having defeated maxentius, constantine in 313 issued the edict of milan, proclaiming toleration of all regions. By 324, having defeated further rivals, he was sole ruler of the empire. To inaugurate this new regime, constantine determined on a new imperial capital. The little city of byzantium, with its highly strategic and symbolic location on the bosporus strait between.
