He ruled during the 4th century, and some of his important accomplishments include his support of Christianity, construction of the city of Constantinople, and the continuance of the reforms of Diocletian. By embracing Christianity, which was monotheistic in nature, Constantine introduced a notion that the one and only legitimate God had chosen him as the sole contender for the throne. Apart from having significant political ramifications, the idea also signaled an important shift in the relationship between emperors and the divine.
Throughout his early career, Constantine seemed to have been strongly drawn to the idea of aligning himself with a deity who took a personal interest in his success. Later, in AD, he claimed to have had a vision of Apollo promising him victory, an event that he commemorated on coins. A similar claim of manifestation by a Christian God before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge has led to a debate among the scholars. While some argue that these visions were cynical inventions of Constantine to inspire his soldiers before crucial military invasions, others argue that Christianity was just a minor cult at the time of Milvian Bridge battle and if Constantine was calculative, he would have chosen a more popular God for his vision.
The obscurity of Christianity in his times and the fact that Constantine remained Christian for the rest of his life were the arguments supporting genuineness of his conversion. Watch it now, on Wondrium. Constantine, however, continued to take some actions that seemed at odds to his idea of being a Christian. For instance, even a decade after his conversion to Christianity, Constantine kept minting coins that depicted images of traditional Roman gods and his favorite pagan god, Sol Invictus.
He continued to subsidize the pagan temples from the imperial treasury and took control of the office of the Pontifex Maximus—the chief priest of the Romans who presided over rituals performed to the traditional pagan gods. He also consulted a pagan oracle when his capital city was struck by lightning. Furthermore, Constantine espoused a cautious approach in his public promotion of Christianity.
Constantine waited until a little before his death to get baptized. While such delayed baptism was a common practice at the time, his dedication to the religion has been under question time and again. Constantine also presented himself as clean shaven, the first emperor to do so in several centuries. This was a deliberate attempt to portray him as different from others. Thus, with Constantine, the Roman Empire incorporated religion into the state and strengthened itself.
For Constantine, Christian monotheism was just a means to an end, a legitimization of his vision of sole emperorship. Learn more about early christianity. After nearly 80 years, and three generations of political fragmentation, Constantine united the whole of the Roman Empire under one ruler. By he had extended his power and was sole emperor, restoring stability and security to the Roman world. Constantine also abandoned Rome as the most important city in the empire, building a new capital modestly named Constantinople now Istanbul.
In the next two centuries, Rome and Italy became vulnerable to barbarian invasions. The much more easily defensible Constantinople lasted for another thousand years.
He is said to have been converted to the faith in AD , although this has not been corroborated. The monuments he first commissioned, such as the Arch of Constantine, contained no reference to Christianity. The emperor became a great patron of the Church and set a precedent for the position of the Christian emperor within the Church, and the notion of orthodoxy, Christendom, ecumenical councils, and the state church of the Roman Empire, declared by edict in Skip to main content.
Chapter 6 The Roman Empire. Search for:. Key Points The age of Constantine marked a distinct epoch in the history of the Roman Empire, both for founding Byzantium in the east, as well as his adoption of Christianity as a state religion. Constantine experienced a dramatic event in at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, after which Constantine claimed the emperorship in the west and converted to Christianity.
According to some sources, on the evening of October 27, with the armies preparing for battle, Constantine had a vision of a cross, which led him to fight under the protection of the Christian god. The accession of Constantine was a turning point for early Christianity; after his victory, Constantine took over the role of patron of the Christian faith. Chi-Rho One of the earliest forms of christogram, which is used by some Christians, and was used by the Roman emperor, Constantine I r.
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