Constantine the Great

Emperor Constantine I was a Roman emperor in the 4th century. He rose to power

through his military victories. Because of his military strength, he was able to unite the empire

which had been previously divided by Diocletian. Which is why he is known as the Constantine

made many changes in Rome one of the most well-known was ending Christian persecutions that

had been started before his rule. He even became the first Christian Roman emperor (3).

It is not sure exactly when Constantine was born but it was sometime between 272 to 285

A.D. in Nassus which is present day Serbia. His parents were Helena who was an innkeepers

daughter and Constantius Chlorus who was a high ranking Roman officer. The two were not

necessarily married meaning that Constantine could have been an illegitimate child. He was

educated formally at Diocletian’s court. He learned Latin and Greek with a mix of pagan and

Christian scholars which made him more experienced to different types of people (2). But in 303

A.D. Diocletian started what would be the greatest ever persecution of Christians. His

persecutions led to the imprisonments of many Christians, executions, and the destruction of

church property. He grew up seeing this persecution first hand even though he did not do

anything then this had an impact on him later in life. Eventually in 305 he left to join his father at

his base in York, Britian. His father was abdicted to be emperor by Maximan. There he taught

him and he became highly regarded. His father died of illness in 308 A.D. Constantine was made

an Augustus even though Galerius opposed this decision (1).

Even though he was made the emperor by his army he had to fight for his new position.

These next few years were filled with turmoil and civil war. His rule was being threatened by

various tribes and Roman factions who opposed him. Since he had been such a skillful military
general he had great success. He was able to defeat the Franks, Alamanni, Visigoths, and the

Sarmations (1).

But his most significant battle on his campaign was on October 28, 312. Here he met the

Maxentius’ forces on the Milvian bridge on the Tiber River in Italy. Maxentius was Maximian’s

son who was a previous emperor. His army was supposed to get crushed because they were

outnumbered 2:1. That night before the battle he supposedly had a dream where he saw a vision

of Jesus. In the dream, he told him to use a cross like the Christians did. So, Constantine listened

to his words and told his soldiers to go into battle with a Christian cross. He vowed that if they

won the battle he would become a Christian because he would know that it was real and true.

One of his soldiers who he was close friends with reports him saying, “He saw with his own eyes

in the heavens a trophy of the cross arising from the light of the sun, carrying the message, In

Hoc Signo Vinces.” The Latin translated into English means “with this sign, you will conquer.”

Against all odds he was very successful in the battle and absolutely crushed Maxentius (1).

After his successful battling campaign he returned to Rome as a liberator. He spread the

propaganda that he defeated the tyrant Maxentius. He exaggerated what had happened in the war

to make him more well liked. His propaganda was successful because the people respected his

rule. At this point he was the emperor of only the Western Roman Empire (1). Diocletian split up

the empire because he thought it was too big for one person to rule. So, the Eastern Roman

Emperor was Licinius. Originally, they ruled alongside each other peacefully respecting one

another’s laws. Licinius even married Constantine's sister Constantia. Eventually things did not

go smoothly because Licinius feared Constantine because he was gaining too much power and

was using his brother in law, Bassinus, to get him valuable territory. In order to prevent this, he

told Bassinus to revolt against Constantine and when he did it was easily put down. Then
Licinius’ involvement was found out and he was exposed. Constantine was confident when he

waged a civil war on Licinius because of how successful he had been in battle in the past. These

battles lasted for around ten years and Constantine was victorious. He defeated, abdicated, and

executed Licinius. In 324 A.D. he was declared the sole emperor of Rome. This meant that he

had reunited the empire (4).

During the following years of his reign he made many changes to his new empire. The

capital was in Rome but he moved it to the ancient Greek city of Byzantium. Then he named it

after himself, Constantinopolis, which means the city of Constantine (4). He also made reforms

to strengthen his regime such as reorganizing the army. This helped him to defeated rebelling

tribes (2).

Constantine was the first Christian Roman emperor and his rule reflected this. He ended

the persecution of Christians that Diocletian had started. In 313 A.D. he signed the edict of Milan

which allowed the freedom of worship thus legalizing Christianity. In 325 A.D. he held the

Council of Nicaea. Here deacons wrote the Nicene Creed which formalized the bases of

Christianity and what they believed. It stated the views of St. Paul that Christ was divine and

from this many other sects of Christianity started like Gnosticism and aranism (1).

This led to the creation of the Nicene Creed which is still a part of modern Christianity.

While Constantine was in Helenopolis he fell ill planning a campaign against Persia. He

wanted to return to his capital city but was too unwell to make the journey. Even though he had

said he was a Christian for a long time he had not yet been baptized. So he received an

emergency baptism because he knew he would die soon and in the Christian faith its crucial to be

baptized to go to heaven when you die. On May 22, 337 A.D. he passed away in Ancyrona near
present day Turkey around the age of 57. He was then taken to Constaniople to be buried at the

Church of the Apostles (2).

 Works Cited

(1) http://www.biographyonline.net/military/constantine.html

(2) https://www.biography.com/people/constantine-i-39496

(3) http://www.roman-empire.net/children/famous.html

(4) http://www.roman-empire.net/decline/constantine-index.html