Constantine i
Flavius Valerius Constantine (Latin: Flavius Valerius Constantinus; Naissus, February 27, c. 272-Nicomedia, Bithynia, and Pontus, May 22, 337) was Roman Emperor from his proclamation by his troops on July 25, 306, and ruled an ever-growing Roman Empire until his death. He is also known as Constantine I , Constantine the Great or, in the Orthodox Church, the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Byzantine Greek Catholic Church, as Saint Constantine .
He was the first emperor to stop the persecution of Christians and give Christianity freedom of worship, along with all other religions in the Roman Empire, with the Edict of Milan in 313. Constantine is also known for having refounded the city of Byzantium (present-day Istanbul, in Turkey), calling it "New Rome" or Constantinople (Constantini-polis; the city of Constantine). He facilitated the convening of the First Council of Nicea in 325, which produced the statement of Christian belief known as the Nicene Creed. It is considered that this was essential for the expansion of this religion, and historians, from Lactantius and Eusebius of Caesarea to the present day, present him as the first Christian emperor, although he was baptized when he was already on his deathbed, after a long catechumenate
Biography
Constantine was born in Naissus (the present-day city of Niš, Serbia), the son of Constantius I, and his first wife Helena. In 292 Constantine's father married, secondly, Flavia Maximiana Theodora, daughter of the Western Roman Emperor Maximian. Theodora would give Constantine six half-brothers.
First Tetrarchy
At the beginning of the 4th century, the empire was ruled by a Tetrarchy: two Augusti, Diocletian and Maximian, and two Caesars, Galerius and Constantius I, shared power. The young Constantine served at Diocletian's court in Nicomedia after his father's appointment as one of the two Caesars of the Tetrarchy in 293.
Second Tetrarchy
The year 305 marked the end of the first Tetrarchy with the resignation of the two Augusti Diocletian and Maximian. In this way the two Caesars became Augustus and two Illyrian officers were appointed new Caesars. The second tetrarchy was thus formed: Constantius I and Valerio Severo, as Augustus and Caesar respectively, in the west and Galerio and Maximino Daya in the eastern part of the empire.
However, Constantius fell ill during an expedition against the Picts in Caledonia, dying on July 25, 306. His son Constantine was with him on his deathbed at Eboracum (present-day York, England), in Roman Britain, where his loyal general Chroco, of German descent, and troops loyal to his father's memory proclaimed him Augustus (emperor), which was quickly accepted in Britain and Gaul, but rejected in Hispania. Simultaneously, the western Caesar Valerius Severus, or Severus II, was proclaimed Augustus by Galerius. That same year the people of Rome named Maxentius, son of the previous tetrarch Maximian, emperor. The latter also returns to the political scene claiming the title of Augustus.
Thus begins a period of 20 years of conflict that will culminate in the assumption of absolute power by Constantine the Great. Of this first group of contenders, the first to fall was Severo, betrayed by his troops; while Constantine and Maximian entered into an alliance. At the end of the year 307 there were 4 august: Constantine, Maxentius, Maximian and Galerius and a single Caesar, Maximino Daya.
Despite Diocletian's mediation, at the end of the year 310 the situation was even more confusing with seven Augusts: Constantine, Maxentius, Maximian, Galerius, Maximinus, Licinius —whom Diocletian had introduced into the fight— and Domitius Alexander, Vicar of Africa and self-proclaimed Augustus.
In this convulsive environment, candidates began to disappear: Domitius Alexander was assassinated by order of Maxentius; Maximian committed suicide while besieged by Constantine and Galerius died of natural causes.
Triarchy (312-313)
Ultimately, Maxentius was relegated by the remaining three Augusti and finally defeated by Constantine at the Battle of Milvian Bridge, outside Rome, on October 28, 312. A new alliance between Constantine and Licinius sealed the fate of Maximinus, who committed suicide after being defeated by Licinius in the battle of Tzirallum, in the year 313.
Diarchy (314-326)
From this point on, the empire was divided between Licinius in the east, and Constantine in the west. After the initial clashes, both signed peace in Serdica in 317. During this period both appointed Caesars according to their convenience, among members of their family and circle of trust. In the year 324, after besieging Byzantium and defeating Licinius' army in the Battle of the Hellespont, Constantine managed to definitively defeat the Licinian forces at Chrysopolis.
Individual government (326-337)
Constantine represents the birth of the absolute and hereditary monarchy. During his reign, important changes were introduced that affected all areas of the society of the low empire. He reformed the court, the laws and the structure of the army. Constantine moved the capital of the empire to Byzantium, which he changed the name to Constantinople. He died of illness in 337, 31 years after he had been made emperor in Britain. At the end of his life and just before he died he was baptized to die as a Christian.
Constantine and Christianity
Constantine is probably best known for being the first Roman emperor to authorize Christian worship. Christian historians since Lactantius favor a Constantine who adopts Christianity as a substitute for official Roman paganism. The historian and philosopher Voltaire, however, asserted that "Constantine was not a Christian" and "did not know which side to take or whom to persecute".
After studying the increase in the number of Christians between the first and third centuries, sociologist Rodney Stark suggested that the Edict of Milan was not the cause of the triumph of Christianity, but a shrewd response by Constantine to the exponential growth of the number Christians in the Roman Empire, which would have risen from approximately 40,000 (0.07% of the Empire's population) in the year 150 to almost 6,300,000 (10.5%) in the year 300. Many current historians reject Constantine's conversion to Christianity and question the apologetic narrative of Eusebius of Caesarea and Lactantius.
His reign became a pivotal moment in Christian history, in which Constantine would not be baptized until he was on his deathbed. Constantine is called, because of his importance, the "thirteenth apostle" in the Eastern Churches.
Religious politics
His relationship with Christianity was difficult, since he was educated in the worship of the Sun god (Sol Invictus), whose symbol he carried and whose cult was officially associated with that of the emperor.
His conversion, according to Eusebius of Caesarea in his Vita Constantini, was the immediate result of an omen before his victory at the Battle of Milvian Bridge, on October 28, 312. After With this vision, Constantine modified the imperial banner —the Labarum— to march into battle under the Christian sign of the chrismon. Constantine's vision has been related in different ways, according to Eusebius: first, "he said that around noon, when the day was already beginning to decline, he saw with his own eyes the trophy of a cross of light in the heavens, above the sun, and with the inscription: "In hoc signo vinces" ("With this sign you will win"). As soon as night fell, while I was sleeping, the Christ of God he appeared to him with the same sign that he had seen in the heavens, and ordered him to resemble that sign that he had seen in the heavens, and to use it as protection in all combat against his enemies". The sign, according to with Lactantius and Eusebius, they were the Greek letters (Χ) crossed by the letter (Ρ) to form ☧, which represents the first two letters of the name of Christ in Greek ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ. Constantine immediately had it painted on the shields of his army, began the battle and defeated Maxentius. It is said that after these visions and due to the military result of the battle of the Milvian Bridge, Constantine immediately converted to Christianity.
His family's influence is thought to have been partly responsible for his adoption of Christianity. It is said of his mother Helena that he was probably born into a Christian family, although practically nothing is known about his background, except that his mother was the daughter of an innkeeper and that his father was a successful soldier, a career that precluded the open practice of Christianity as the contemporary cult of soldiers was Mithraism (worship of Mithras). It is known, moreover, that Helena made numerous pilgrimages in her last years. (See: Feast of the Crosses.) However, not all historians agree with Constantine's conversion and explain his rapprochement with Christians, among other reasons, by the political need to gain support, especially in the eastern territories, before his aspirations to become emperor of the East and reunify the empire under his sole mandate.
Shortly after the battle of the Milvian Bridge, Constantine handed over to Pope Silvester I a Roman palace that had belonged to Diocletian and previously to the patrician family of the Lateran Plautians, with the order to build a basilica for Christian worship. The new building was built on the barracks of the Praetorian Guard of Maxentius, the singular equites, becoming the cathedral seat dedicated to El Salvador, later replaced by that of San Juan. It is currently known as the Basilica of San Juan de Letrán. In 324 the emperor had another basilica built in Rome, in the place where, according to Christian tradition, Saint Peter was martyred: Vatican Hill, which currently houses Saint Peter's Basilica. In 326, he financially supported the construction of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.
In February 313, and probably on the advice of the bishop of Córdoba Osio, Constantine met with Licinius in Milan, where they issued the Edict of Milan, declaring that Christians be allowed to follow the faith of their choice. As a result, the sanctions for professing Christianity, under which many Christians had been martyred, were withdrawn, and the confiscated property of the Church was returned. The edict not only protected Christians from religious persecution, but also served other religions, allowing anyone to worship the divinity they chose. A similar edict had already been issued in the year 311 by Galerius, then emperor, first among his equals, of the Tetrarchy. Galerius' edict granted Christians the right to practice their religion, but not to recover confiscated property. The Edict of Milan included several clauses stating that all churches confiscated during Diocletian's persecution would be returned, as well as other provisions. on formerly persecuted Christians. However, the truth is that, from that moment on, Christianity began to acquire the status of a privileged religion and persecution of other religions began.
After the edict, new avenues of expansion were opened for Christians, including the right to compete with pagans in the traditional cursus honorum for high government magistracies, granting privileges to the clergy as well as the exemption from certain taxes; they also gained greater acceptance within civil society in general. New churches were allowed to be built and Christian leaders rose to prominence. As proof of this, Christian bishops took aggressive stances on public issues that had never been seen before in other religions.
On the other hand, Constantine possibly retained the title of pontifex maximus until his death, a title held by Roman emperors from Augustus as heads of the ancient Roman religion until Gratian the Younger (375– 383) renounced the title. According to Christian writers, Constantine would finally declare himself a Christian when he was in his forties, writing to Christians to make it clear that he believed he owed his success to the protection of the Christian God.
Constantine would not only patronize Christianity either. After gaining victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge (312), he had a triumphal arch erected, the Arch of Constantine, built in 315 to celebrate it. The arch, which is decorated with images of Victory with trophies and sacrifices to such gods as Apollo, Diana and Hercules, does not contain any Christian symbolism.
In 321, Constantine legislated that the venerable Sunday should be a day of rest for all citizens, that on this day judges could not pass sentence or work in the cities. The coins would still bear the symbols of worship of the sun (Sol Invictus) until 324. Even after the pagan gods had disappeared from coins, Christian symbols appeared only as personal attributes of Constantine in his hands or on his labarum: Ji (Χ) crossed by the letter Ro (Ρ) to form ☧ which represents the first two letters of the name of Christ in Greek ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ.
Constantine, following a widespread custom of the time, was not baptized until near his death in 337, when he chose to administer this sacrament to the Arian bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia, who, despite being an ally of Arius, still he was the bishop of the region. Eusebius was also a close friend of Constantine's sister, which probably ensured his return from exile.
Although Christianity would not become the official religion of the Empire until the end of that century (a step that Theodosius would take in 380 with the Edict of Thessalonica), Constantine gave Christians great power, a good social position and economically to his organization, he granted privileges and made important donations to the Church, supporting the construction of temples and giving preference to Christians as personal collaborators.
As a result of all this, Church controversies, which had existed among Christians since the mid-second century, were now being fanned out in public, and often in a violent way. Constantine considered that it was his duty as emperor, appointed by God for this, to calm religious disorders, and for this reason he called the First Council of Nicaea (May 20 to July 25, 325) to end some of the doctrinal problems that infected the Church of the first centuries, especially Arianism.
During the discussions of a theological nature in the council of Nicaea, through the analysis of the letters written by Constantine, a great lack of theological training is evident, and scholars rule out the possibility that he could have influenced the doctrine of the Church due precisely to this ignorance in theology. Many wonder why Pope Silvestre I did not attend said council, being the most indicated to preside over it, powerful reasons must have been those that held him in Rome because what we do know is that, apart from Osio de Córdoba, the pope sent in his representation to two papal delegates: Vito and Vicencio, who acted on his behalf. The pope not only assumed everything that came out of the council as his own, but also became one of its main supporters. Despite this, some critics believe that Constantine established a new religion, transferring to it pagan ornaments that were proper to the gentiles, adopted and sanctified by the Church, which did not affect or alter the doctrinal essence and Christian teachings of the Church. In any case, he inaugurated the council dressed imposingly, gave an opening speech adorned with cloth and gold accessories, to justly demonstrate the power of the Empire on the one hand, and the support and interest in the council from the state, on the other. The state provided food and lodging, and even transportation, for the bishops who converged on Nicaea for the council. On the other hand, although there had been councils before that of Nicaea, this was the first ecumenical (universal) council, with the participation of around 300 bishops, the majority Greek-speaking, which represented a minority since throughout the world territory of the Empire there were about 1000 bishops. The importance of it lies in the formulation of the Nicene Creed, written in Greek, not in Latin, which essentially remains unchanged in its message 1700 years later, and in establishing the idea of the state relationship -church that would allow the spread of Christianity with unprecedented vitality.
In 333 he published an edict in which he ordered the Arians to be called Porfirians in order to defame them and, in addition, ordered the burning of Arius's writings, threatening the death penalty for those who kept in their possession any book of this and will not hand it over to the flames.
In the last years of his life he also practiced as a preacher, giving his own sermons in the palace before his court and guests of the town. His sermons at first preached harmony, though gradually they became more intransigent towards the old pagan ways. The reasons for this change in position are mere conjecture. However, even at the end of his life he continued to allow pagans to receive public appointments. Wielding absolute power over him, he made the army recite his proclamations in Latin in an attempt to convert the military class to Christianity, which he failed to do. He began an extensive church-building program in the Holy Land, which crucially expanded the Christian faith and allowed for a considerable increase in the power and influence of the clergy.
Veneration as a saint
The Orthodox Church venerates Constantine I as a saint and gave him the title of Equiapostolic (ισαπόστολος Κωνσταντίνος, isapóstolos Konstantínos, "equal to the apostles") for his services to the church. His feast day is May 21. The Eastern Catholic Churches also consider him a saint, but not the Latin Church. Instead, his name appears in the Lutheran Calendar of Saints.
The persecution of the pagans
In the year 314, immediately after its full legalization, the Christian Church attacked the pagans: at the Council of Ancyra, the cult of the goddess Artemis was denounced. In 326 Constantine ordered the destruction of all images of the gods and the confiscation of temple assets.[citation needed] Already in 319 he had prohibited the construction of new statues of the gods and that existing ones be worshiped. Many pagan temples were destroyed by the Christian hordes and their priests were killed.[citation needed] Between the year 315 and the 6th century thousands of pagan believers were killed. 316 and 326 proclaim a series of provisions that favor Christianity over traditional religion (prohibition of haruspices, magic and private sacrifices, tax exemption for Christian clerics, jurisdiction is granted to bishops...), although Christianity did not become the official religion of the Roman Empire until the Edict of Thessalonica in 380. In Dydima, Asia Minor, the oracle of the god Apollo is looted and its priests tortured to death[citation required]. All the pagans of Mount Athos are also evicted and all the pagan temples of that place are destroyed.[citation needed] Through an edict of 324, he also ordered the destruction of the work Adversus Christianos written by the philosopher Porfirio and the prohibition of the rest of his works as well as of many other authors considered heretical, in what A. von Harnack described as "the first state prohibition of the books in favor of the Church".
In the year 326, the Emperor Constantine, following the instructions of his mother Helen[citation needed], destroyed the temple of the god Asclepius in Aigeai of Cilicia and other many more temples of the goddess Aphrodite: in Jerusalem, in Afka in Lebanon, in Mambre, Phoenicia, Baalbek, etc.[citation required]
In the year 330 the Emperor Constantine steals all the treasures and statues from the pagan temples of Greece, to take them with him and decorate his Nova Roma (Constantinople), the new capital of the Roman Empire.[quote required]
The Sasanian Reaction
Beyond the limits of the Empire, east of the Euphrates, the Sasanian rulers of the Persian Empire had generally been tolerant of their Christians. But now the Christians in Persia could be identified as allies of the ancient enemy and were persecuted for it. In a letter attributed to Constantine to Shapur II that is supposed to have been written in 324, Shapur was urged to protect the Christians of his kingdom, after which Shapur II wrote to his generals:
You will set Simon, head of Christians. You will stop him until he signs this document and consents to raising for us a double tax and a double tax on Christians. We must bear by the gods the weight of war while they only dedicate themselves to rest and pleasure. They speak our territory and are friends of Caesar, our enemy.Date Rome at the Euphrates, Freya Stark 1967, p. 375
Courtiers and officials
Constantine respected culture and Christianity, and his court was composed of old, respected, and honorable men. Those Roman families who refused Christianity were denied positions of power, though two-thirds of senior government officials remained non-Christians.[citation needed]
Constantine removed his statue from pagan temples. The repair of these temples was prohibited, and the funds were diverted in favor of the Christian clergy. Offensive forms of worship, whether Christian or pagan, were suppressed.[citation needed]
The reign of Constantine
Filicide
Constantine was also known for his lack of mercy towards his blood relatives and allies, such as executing his brother-in-law, the Eastern Roman Emperor Licinius in 325, despite the fact that he had publicly vowed not to execute him before his death. surrender the previous year. A year later he also executed his eldest son, Crispo, and a few months later his second wife Fausta (Crispo was the only child he had with his first wife Minervina). Rumors spread about an alleged relationship between stepson and stepmother that supposedly could have been the cause of Constantine's anger, however, these rumors are only documented by the historians Zosimus (5th century) and Juan Zonaras (12th century) and their sources have not been established. Another of the theories about Crispus's death was that Fausta was envious since Constantine's son was not her son and was a great military commander and probable successor to the throne, falsely accusing him before the Emperor of antichristian. Then Constantine repented and lived tormented by the death of Crispo until he was baptized, since he was promised that this ceremony would wash away his sins.
Laws of Constantine
Constantine's laws improved on those of his predecessors in many ways, but are also a reflection of a more violent age. Some examples of these laws are:
- For the first time, girls could not be abducted.
- The death penalty was ordered for all those who abused tax collection by raising more than authorized.
- Prisoners were not allowed to be kept in complete darkness, but it was mandatory that they could see the light of the day.
- A condemned man could be brought to death to the sand, but he could not be marked in the face, but he should be on his feet.
- Parents who would allow their daughters to be seduced would be burned by introducing their throat-cast lead.
- The gladiator games were eliminated in 325, although this ban had little effect.
- The owner of a slave had his limited rights, although he could still hit or kill him.
- The crucifixion was abolished for reasons of Christian piety, although the punishment was replaced by the gallows to show that there was Roman law and justice.
- The Passover could be held publicly. The Council of Nicaea established, in 325, the rule according to which the Passover would be celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon following the spring equinox of the northern hemisphere.
- Sunday was declared a Sabbath on March 7, 321, for the first time in history, in which markets would remain closed, as well as public offices and workshops, except for the purpose of the liberation of slaves. It was allowed, if necessary, on the farms.
Military reform
Constantine continued the reform introduced by Diocletian that separated civil and military power (Ferrill 1986). As a result, generals and governors had less power than during military anarchy. Both economic and security criteria led to the modification of the Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire during the first period of the IV century. Constantine converted the old fortified frontier system into a system of elastic defense in depth with the formation of a large central reserve (Comitatenses Palatini) to the detriment of the frontier troops (limitanei or ripenses) and the strengthening of the cavalry. Command of the new mobile army was shared by two field marshals.
Constantine dissolved the Praetorian Guard and in its place established the Scholae Palatinae; elite cavalry corps, mainly of Germanic origin. Furthermore, the size of the legion was reduced to 1000 soldiers.
This change in strategy, criticized by historians such as Zosimus and Edward Gibbon and defended by others such as Mommsen, did not change until the fall of the Empire in the West and until the reforms of Emperor Mauritius in the East.
Military actions
His victory in 312 over Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge made him ruler of the entire Western Roman Empire. He gradually consolidated his military superiority over his rivals in the already crumbling Tetrarchy. Already occupied Rome celebrated a triumph for its victories against the Germans of the Danube (296) and Rhine (305-306), Persians in Syria (297-299) and Picts (306). His most important success in those campaigns was the subjugation of Chroco, King of the Alemanni (306).
In 320, Licinius, emperor of the eastern part of the Empire, reneged on the freedom of worship promulgated in the Edict of Milan in 313 and began a new persecution of Christians. This was a clear contradiction, since his wife Constancia, Constantine's half-sister, was an influential Christian. This led to a dispute with Constantine in the west, which culminated in the great civil war of 324. The armies involved were so large that no similar mobilization was recorded in Europe until at least the 14th century. Licinius, aided by Gothic mercenaries, represented the past and the ancient faith of paganism. Constantine and his Franks marched under the Christian banner of the labarum, and both sides saw the confrontation as a fight between religions. Supposedly outnumbered, though exalted by their religious zeal, Constantine's army was ultimately victorious, first at the Battle of Adrianople in 324 and later his son Crispus delivered the coup de grace to Licinius at the naval battle of Chrysopolis. He was now the sole emperor of a reunited Roman Empire (MacMullen 1969).
Constantinople
This battle represented the end of old Rome and the beginning of the Eastern Empire as the center of knowledge, prosperity and the preservation of culture. Constantine rebuilt the city of Byzantium, whose name came from the colonists who founded it in 667 BC. C. precedents of the Greek polis of Megara under the command of Byzas. The city was refounded in 324, dedicated on 11 May 330, renamed Constantinopolis, and commemorative coins were minted to celebrate the event.
Constantine renamed the city, naming it «New Rome» (Nova Roma), granting it a senate and civil officers similar to ancient Rome, and under the protection of the supposed Vera Cruz, the rod of Moses and other sacred relics. The images of the old gods were replaced or assimilated with the new Christian symbology. On the place where the temple of Aphrodite stood, the new Basilica of the Apostles was built. Several generations later a story spread about the divine vision that led Constantine to rebuild the city, according to which an angel that no one else could see led him on a circuit through the new walls. After his death, the city changed its name again to Constantinople, "the City of Constantine", and gradually became the capital of the Empire.
Monetary reform and iconography
Throughout his reign, Constantine introduced a number of important changes to the monetary system (Sear 1988). The traditional aureus gave way to a new coin, the 4.50-gram solido, as the standard coin of the Roman Empire. Other new gold coins were the semis or half solid and the scripulum (3/8 solid). As for silver coins, he introduced the 4.5-gram miliarense, with a value of 1/18 of a solid and the siliqua with a value of 1/24 of solid. The follis, a silver-plated bronze coin suffered several reductions in size; The name of the resulting new coins is unknown and a code name has been adopted for them based on their size.
Coins minted by emperors frequently reveal their personal iconography. During the first part of Constantine's rule, representations of Mars and later Apollo appear constantly on the reverse of coins. Following his break with Maximian, an old colleague of his father Constantius I in 309-310, Constantine began to claim rightful descent from the third-century emperor Claudius Gothic, the hero of the Battle of Naissus (September 268).. The Historia Augusta of the IV century says that Claudius Gotico and Quintillus have another brother named Crispus and, through him, a niece, Claudia, who married Eutropius and was the mother of Constantius Chlorus, father of Constantine. However, historians suspect that it may all be part of a "genealogical fabrication" to favor Constantine.
Emperors portrayed Sol Invictus on their official coinage, with a wide range of legends, only some of which incorporated the epithet invictus, such as the legend SOLI INVICTO COMITI, claiming the unconquered Sun as a companion to the Emperor, used with particular frequency by Constantine. The description represents Apollo with a solar halo in the manner of the Greek god Helios and with the world in his hands. In 320 Constantine himself appears wearing a halo. There are also coins showing Apollo driving the chariot of the sun on a shield that Constantine holds and others from 312 show the Christian symbol of the chrismon on Constantine's armor. Constantine's official coinage continued to bear images of the sun until 325/6.
The large open and fixed eyes are a constant in Constantine's iconography, although it was not a specifically Christian symbol. This iconography shows how official images shifted from imperial conventions of realistic portraiture to more schematic representations: the emperor as emperor, not simply Constantine, with his characteristic broad chin. Those wide, staring eyes would grow even larger as the IV century progressed.
The Legacy of Constantine
In addition to being honorably called "The Great" by Christian historians after his death, Constantine could boast of this title for his military successes. In addition to reunifying the empire under a single emperor, he also won major victories over the Franks and Alemanni (306-308), again over the Franks (313-314), the Visigoths in 332, and the Sarmatians in 334. In fact By 336, Constantine had recaptured most of the long-lost province of Dacia, which Aurelian had been forced to abandon in 271. Therefore, Constantine took the title Dacicus maximus in 336.
In the last years of his life, Constantine planned a major expedition to put an end to the pillaging of the eastern provinces by the Sasanian Empire, but the campaign was called off when Constantine fell ill in spring 337, dying shortly. later.
He was succeeded in the Empire by the three sons of his marriage to Fausta: Constantine II, Constant and Constantius II, who secured their position by murdering a number of Constantine's supporters. He also named his nephews Dalmacio and Hannibalian as Caesars. Constantine's project for the division of the Empire was exclusively administrative. The eldest of his sons, Constantine II, would be the one destined to keep the other three subject to his will. The last member of the dynasty was his son-in-law Julian, who tried to restore paganism.
Legends and Donations of Constantine
In his later years, historical fact is mixed with legend. It was considered inappropriate that Constantine had been baptized only on his deathbed and by a bishop of dubious orthodoxy (it is said that Eusebius of Nicomedia was an Arian), and from this fact there is a legend according to which Pope Silvester I (314-335) would have cured the pagan emperor of leprosy. Also according to this legend, Constantine would have been baptized after having financed the construction of a church in the Lateran Palace. In the eighth century, probably during the pontificate of Pope Stephen II (752–757), a false document appears for the first time known as the "Donation of Constantine", in which a recently converted Constantine hands over temporary rule over Rome, Italy, and the west to the pope. In the Early Middle Ages, this document was used to accept the basis of the pope's temporal power from Rome, although it was denounced as apocryphal by Emperor Otto III, and shown as the root of the decadence of the popes by the poet Dante Alighieri. In the fifteenth century the expert philologist and humanist Lorenzo Valla demonstrated the falsehood of the document.