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Constantine: Emperor Constantine
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Constantine's father was Flavius Constantius, an Illyrian native of what would later become Dacia Ripensis. Constantius was an officer in the Roman army at the time of Constantine's birth, serving as an imperial bodyguard to emperor Aurelian in Syria. The position proved favorable to Constantius' career: in 284/5, the newly incumbent emperor Diocletian, an Illyrian who had ... served under Aurelian, appointed Constantius governor of Dalmatia.[29] Constantine's mother was a native of Bithynian Drepanum named Helena. Helena was a woman of humble origin, an alleged stable maid and innkeeper's daughter. It is uncertain whether she was legally married to Constantius or merely his concubine.[30]
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Constantine was the first Christian emperor of Rome, and his reign had a profound effect on the subsequent development of the Roman, and later Byzantine, world. Constantine's reign marked a distinct shift away from the administrative system set up by the emperor Diocletian in 293 A.D., which saw the division of the empire into four territories each governed by one of four imperial partners. This Tetrarchy was founded on the idea of homogeneous authority; all four emperors were depicted together in portraits emphasizing their unity and indivisibility in order to bolster their strength and present the image of a unified empire. Although Diocletian's intent had been to permanently do away with dynastic succession, Constantine's aim was to establish a new dynasty and to found a new capital, named Constantinople after himself. He ... succeeded in reunifying the empire with the defeat of the last of his former tetrarchic colleagues, the Eastern emperor Licinius.
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Constantine did much for children, slaves, and women, those weaker members of society whom the old Roman law had treated harshly. But in this he only continued what earlier emperors, under the influence of Stoicism, had begun before him, and he left to his successors the actual work of their emancipation. Thus some emperors who reigned before Constantine had forbidden the exposure of children, although without success, as exposed children or foundlings were readily adopted, because they could be used for many purposes. The Christians especially exerted themselves to get possession of such foundlings, and consequently Constantine issued no direct prohibition of exposure, although the Christians regarded exposure as equal to murder; he commanded, instead, that foundlings should belong to the finder, and did not permit the parents to claim the children they had exposed. Those who took such children obtained a property right in them and could make quite an extensive use of this; they were allowed to sell and enslave foundlings, until Justinian prohibited such enslaving under any guise. Even in the time of St. Chrysostom parents mutilated their children for the sake of gain.
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One aspect of Constantine's life that secular historians use to indicate Constantine's incomplete acceptance of Christianity (from a modern view) was his notorious cruelty: he executed his own wife and eldest son in 326. He ... had Licinius, the East Roman emperor, strangled after his defeat, something he had publicly promised not to do. It should be noted, however, that Constantine's wife attempted to seduce Constantine's son (her step-son) and when he refused her advances, she accused him of raping her. The penalty for doing this to an Empress was death, as was any act considered to be treason. Later, St. Constantine discovered the truth and had his wife executed. Licinius, in his bitter hatred of Constantine and of Christianity, began to persecute the Church in the Eastern half of the Empire.
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Following Galerius' recognition of Constantine as emperor, his portrait was brought to Rome, as was customary. Maxentius mocked the portrait's subject as the son of a harlot, and lamented his own powerlessness.[72] Maxentius, jealous of Constantine's authority, would soon take the opportunity to seize an imperial throne for himself.[73] Taking advantage of Roman discontent at Galerius' new tax impositions, Maxentius persuaded a cohort of imperial guardsmen to declare him emperor on October 28, 306. Where Galerius had seen Constantine as a qualified individual who filled an empty position in the tetrarchy, Galerius saw in Maxentius an unworthy and disrespectful man who could destabilize the whole tetrarchic system, taking up more thrones than were available. Galerius refused to recognize Maxentius, and sent the armies of Severus against his illegitimate government. Faced with a charismatic leader with deep pockets, the bulk of Severus' armies defected to Maxentius. Severus was seized, and brought under guard to a public villa south of Rome, to be there imprisoned.
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When his father was made caesar (subemperor), Constantine was left at the court of the emperor Diocletian, where he was under the watchful eye of Galerius, who was caesar with Constantius. When Diocletian and Maximian resigned in 305, Constantius and Galerius became emperors.
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Emperor Constantine