THE AGE OF CONSTANTINECLAH266 – Lecture 5

26th October 2012

Dr Jamie Wood

Basilica of Constantine, Trier

Colossal head of Constantine, Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rome

Aims of the lecture

To provide an introduction to religious developments in the later Roman Empire

To put Constantine’s decision to ‘convert’ to Christianity into context

To give an overview of the main political events in the age of Constantine

To analyse some primary sources on the conversion of Constantine and its consequences

Structure of the lecture

Religion in the 2nd and 3rd centuries – a move to monotheism?

The politics of Constantine’s age

The conversion of Constantine

Seminar: sources on Constantine’s conversion

Key points on religion in 2nd-3rd C4

1. Despite the traditional stress on conflict between Christianity and the Roman Empire (e.g. ideas of targeted persecution by the authorities and voluntary martyrdom by the Christians), religions system of the empire was becoming increasingly monotheistic

2. Some Christian values, beliefs and practices were very similar to those of contemporary philosophical schools.

Monotheism/ Polytheism5

Monotheism is a religious system which believes that there is only one god

Judaism and Christianity are both monotheistic

Traditional Graeco-Roman society was polytheistic (= a religious system that believes there are many gods) This remains true in 2nd and 3rd Cs,

however...

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1. Some philosophical schools, e.g. Stoics, were developing monotheistic ideas about God (theology)

2. Some emperors were developing special forms of devotion for one God among the others; this religious system is called henotheism (political implications)

Monotheism/Polytheism/Henotheism

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations VI, 77

“Let your one delight and refreshment be to pass from one service to the community to another, with God ever in mind”

Equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, Capitoline Museum, Rome

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations XII, 2-38

“God views the inner minds of men, bared of the material vesture and rind and impurities. Acting through his thought alone, he makes contact solely with that in them which is an outflow from himself. School yourself to do likewise, and you will be spared many a distraction; for who that looks past this fleshly covering will ever harass himself with visions of raiment, housing, reputation, or any of the rest of life’s costume and scenery?  You are composed of three parts: body, spirit and mind [...].”

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations VIII, 29

“Of any action, ask yourself, What will its consequences be to me? Shall I repent of it? Before long I shall be dead and all will be forgotten; but in the meantime, if this undertaking is fit for a rational and social being, who is under the same law as God himself, why look for more?”

Column of Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations XI, 3 (on the Christians)

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“Happy the soul which, at whatever moment the call comes for release from the body, is equally ready to face extinction, dispersion, or survival. Such preparedness, however, must be the outcome of its own decision; a decision not prompted by mere rebelliousness, as with the Christians, but formed with deliberation and gravity and, if it is to be convincing to others, with an absence of all heroics.”

Elagabalus: a state religion?11

Elagabal: an oracular solar deity from Emesa, Syria; also known as Sol Invictus (‘The invincible sun’); cult spread all over Roman Empire from 2nd C CE

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus (= Elagabalus): Severan emperor from Syria; priest of this cult; became emperor in 218

The Roses of Heliogabalus, Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1888

220 CE: he tried to impose Elagabal as the supreme god of the Roman pantheon

He was later (not while he was emperor) called by the name of the God, as a form of abuse

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Portrait of Emperor Elagabalus,Capitoline Museum, Rome

Elagabalus (218-222)

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Aureus. Struck 218-219 Antioch mint. IMP(erator) C M(arcus)

AVR(elius) ANTONINVS P(ius) F(elix) AVG(ustus)

SANCT DEO SOLI, ELAGABAL in exergue, quadriga right bearing stone of Emesa upon which is an eagle; four parasols around

Read Herodian on the emperor’s project:http://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodian/hre506.html

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Empire and Religion in the 3rd C

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P. Ryl. 12, Certificate of sacrifice, 250 CE (1 of 47 certificates of pagan sacrifice from Egypt)

To the commissioners of sacrifices from Aurelia Demos, who has no father, daughter of Helena and wife of Aurelius Irenaeus, of the Quarter of the Helleneum. It has ever been my habit to sacrifice to the gods, and now also I have in your presence, in accordance with the command, made sacrifice and libation and tasted the offering, and I beg you to certify my statement. Farewell. I Aurelia Demos have presented this declaration. I Aurelius Irenaeus wrote for her as she is illitterate. I Aurelius Sabinus prytanis saw you sacrificing. The first year of the emperor Decius, Pauni 20 (= 14 June 250 )

The Decian ‘persecution’ (250/1)

Diocletian (284-305)16

Traditionalist in religious terms

Reinforced the imperial cult, assuming the title of Iovius (son of Jupiter)

Initiated the Great Persecution (in 303)

But were these persecutions directed against Christians or persecutions to reinforce Roman public religion and relationship of the state with the gods?

Conclusions on Empire and Religion Before Constantine17

Some Christian beliefs and practices were similar to those of other religious systems and philosophical schools

Religion and politics in antiquity were overlapping Religion: often a rhetoric through which political power is

articulated and exercised If the power comes from the God/Gods, his/her/their representatives on earth (such as priests and emperors) control the power itself. the Roman emperor was the highest religious authority

(pontifex maximus) the imperial cult was an effective way of encouraging loyalty to

the emperor and getting provinces to buy into imperial system

Did Roman emperors start to think that monotheism was a better ‘fit’ for justifying and exerting their

power than polytheism?

305 CE: Abdiction of Diocletian and Maximian in favour of the Caesars

304: D suffers serious illness 304-5: Galerius persuades/

forces D and M to abdicate (in 305); both retire

Galerius becomes Augustus in east and Constantius I Chlorus in west Severus and Maximinus Daia

(both closely associated with Galerius) declared Caesars

Constantine (son of Constantius I Chlorus) and Maxentius (son of Maximian) are ignored

306 CE: Constantine I19

Constantius I Chlorus dies, the troops nominated his son, Constantine I, as Augustus at York

C claims the title Augustus but Galerius grants him that of Caesar

He controls, Britain, Gaul and Spain and moves to Trier Maxentius, son of Maximian, pressed for recognition as

Augustus too but Licinius, a former military colleague of Galerius, is raised Augustus in the West; this is not accepted and also annoys Maximinus Daia, who had been overlooked

310: Galerius falls ill and civil wars break out 311-12: C marries L’s sister, Fausta 311-12: Maxentius and Maximinus Daia form alliance 312 (28-29 October): Battle of Milvian Bridge, Rome

(Constantine vs. Maxentius)

Seminar questions

Source 1: What does this source suggest was Constantine’s motive for conversion? What benefits did he get from converting to Christianity?

Source 2: What does the Edict of Milan enact? Who benefits from the Edict and in what way(s)?

Sources 4-8: What changes resulted from toleration and then adoption of Christianity by the emperors? Who benefited/ lost out and in what ways?

Piero della Francesca, Constantine’s dream,Church of St. Francis,

Arezzo

A key source: Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea (b. ca. 260; d. before 341)21

Student of Pamphilius, a follower of Origen (great 2nd C Christian thinker)

Lived through the Great Persecution

Became bishop in 314 Innovative writer in Greek of

history from Christian perspective:1. Ecclesiastical History (history

of the Christian church from Jesus to his own time)

2. Chronicle (synchronic world history from Abraham to his own time)

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Much of what we know about the rise and organisation of Christianity is based on Eusebius

Eusebius is our main source on Constantine’s conversion and his policy towards Christianity He is not an objective source (though his use of

sources sometimes appears quite modern; e.g. in his citation of ‘primary sources’)

Conversion of Constantine 1. closely linked to political events within the Roman

Empire 2. has serious political and social implications for

imperial history (e.g. last week on role of bishops as judges)

Eusebius as historian

Constantine: The many faces of an emperor

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Sardonyx cameo with Constantine crowned by Constantinople, 4th cent.

Colossal statue of Constantine, from the basilica of Maxentius, Rome (314-324 ca)

Coin with Sol Invictus, Trier 329

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327-329, the Sun god, wearing a radiate crown (crown of sun rays) and a chlamys (small cloak) fastened at the shoulder, with his right hand raised, holding in his left hand a globus (celestial orb) decorated with an equinoctial cross (representing the spring and autumnal equinoxes), offering the globus to Constantine (symbolizing Sol granting Constantine the power to rule the universe), standing on the exergual line, inscription "SOLI INVICTO COMITI" or "To the invincible Sun god, companion of the Emperor," T and F in the reverse left and right fields may stand for "TEMPORVM FELICITAS" or "The happiness of the age," mint mark of dot-ATR (last letter looks like an H) in the exergue, with TR standing for Treveri (Trier)

Constantine: A Christian Emperor?

Constantinople: a ‘new Rome’

On site of ancient city of Byzantium (investment in previous centuries)

Gradual Christianisation of the city Collection of relics New Church of the Holy Apostles on site of a temple to Aphrodite

Sozomen (d. ca.450), Ecclesiastical History 2.3: on the foundation of Constantinople in 324CE

He greatly improved this latter city, and made it equal to Rome in power and influence; for when he had settled his empire as he was minded, and had freed himself from foreign foes, he resolved on founding a city which should be called by his own name, and should equal in fame even Rome. […]

Led by the divine hand, he came to Byzantium in Thrace, beyond Chalcedon in Bithynia, and here he desired to build his city, and render it worthy of the name of Constantine. In obedience to the command of God, he therefore enlarged the city formerly called Byzantium, and surrounded it with high walls; likewise he built splendid dwelling houses; and being aware that the former population was not enough for so great a city, he peopled it with men of rank and their families, whom he summoned from Rome and from other countries. He imposed special taxes to cover the expenses of building and adorning the city, and of supplying the inhabitants with food. He erected all the needed edifices for a great capital-a hippodrome, fountains, porticoes and other beautiful adornments. He named it Constantinople and New Rome-and established it as the Roman capital for all the inhabitants of the North, the South, the East, and the shores of the Mediterranean, from the cities on the Danube and from Epidamnus and the Ionian Gulf to Cyrene and Libya.

He created another Senate which he endowed with the same honors and privileges as that of Rome, and he strove to render the city of his name equal in every way to Rome in Italy; nor were his wishes in vain, for by the favor of God, it became the most populous and wealthy of cities. As this city became the capital of the Empire during the period of religious prosperity, it was not polluted by altars, Grecian temples, nor pagan sacrifices. Constantine also honored this new city of Christ by adorning it with many and splendid houses of prayer, in which the Deity vouchsafed to bless the efforts of the Emperor by giving sensible manifestations of his presence.

Points to remember28

The conversion of Constantine to Christianity must be studied in the wider historical context It drew on religious and political developments of 2nd and 3rd

Cs (especially under the Tetrarchy) Although the emperor converted to Christianity, the

rhetoric of power remained based on the earlier imperial iconography (including polytheism; see coins and other imperial representations)

Eusebius suggests a link between the rhetoric of military success and the benevolence of the Christian God. But this can be seen in pagan (and non-religious) sources as

well, demonstrating continuity in terms of cultural structures, despite the religious ‘revolution’ that was happening at the same time.

Further readings on Constantine:

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T.D. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, Cambridge Mass. 1981.

H. Drake, Constantine and the Bishops. The Politics of Intolerance, Baltimore MD 2000.

N. Lenski, ed., Cambridge Companion to the Age of Constantine, Cambridge 2005.

Homework

2000 word essay due on Thursday 6th December Look at the essay questions on the syllabus (p.

3) Think about which question(s) you might like

to do – you don’t have to pick one yet... Spend some time thinking about how you

might go about breaking down the question – see next slide for advice on how to do this...

Write down those thoughts and bring them to class next week

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Some questions to help you break down questions

Read the question Break it down into its constituent parts Think about the following:

What sort of question is it? What assumptions underlie the question? What are the meanings of the key terms in the

question? What sort of response is the questioner looking for? How can I use the question to structure my essay? How can I go beyond or challenge the assumptions

underlying the question? What kind of thesis statement would represent a

satisfactory answer to this question?