Constantine | Christianity | Byzantium

A Byzantine icon of Emperor Constantine wearing an ornate jeweled crown and royal robes. The emperor faces forward with a calm expression against a gold background, a style commonly used in Eastern Christian religious art to honor important rulers and saints. — This Byzantine icon was created centuries after Constantine’s death. The halo reflects the Eastern Orthodox tradition, which honors Constantine as a saint for ending the persecution of Christians and founding Constantinople. It is a religious image, not a contemporary portrait of the Roman emperor.

After a vision before battle, Emperor Constantine transformed Christianity’s role in the Roman Empire and moved the center of power 850 miles east. His decisions changed world history.

The Battle of the Milvian Bridge

In 312 CE, Constantine challenged Emperor Maxentius for control of Rome. Legend says that before battle, Constantine saw a Christian symbol in the sky promising victory. Constantine ordered his soldiers to carry the emblem into battle.

Constantine defeated Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, just outside Rome. As Maxentius retreated, a temporary bridge collapsed and he drowned. Constantine entered Rome in triumph and, convinced the Christian God helped him win, soon ended the persecution of Christians and allowed them to worship openly.

Constantine and Christianity

The change was remarkable. For centuries, Romans had worshipped many gods, while Christians had sometimes faced persecution for refusing to honor them. Constantine did not make Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, but he provided Christians with privileges and support they had never received from a Roman emperor. He returned seized property, funded new churches, and granted legal protection to Christian clergy. Christianity had gone from a persecuted faith to a religion supported by the emperor.

Constantine leads Roman soldiers carrying shields marked with the Chi-Rho symbol after the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. — The Chi-Rho combines the first two Greek letters in Christ’s name, chi (Χ) and rho (Ρ). According to Christian tradition, Constantine ordered his soldiers to carry a Christian symbol before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 CE. Constantine later believed the Christian God had helped him achieve victory.

As Christianity grew, Christians disagreed over their beliefs. Constantine feared these disputes would divide the empire, so in 325 CE he called Christian leaders together at the Council of Nicaea. The council agreed on basic Christian teachings for churches to follow. After generations of persecution, a Roman emperor was now uniting Christian leaders to define the basic beliefs of their faith.

Leaving Rome

Rome was magnificent, but its powerful Senate resisted change and remained devoted to the old traditions. To escape their influence, Constantine moved his government to where he could freely reshape the empire.
Constantine chose Byzantium, an ancient Greek city on the Bosporus, a narrow waterway connecting the Black Sea to the Mediterranean world. Its location placed the Emperor closer to Roman armies defending the northern and eastern borders, while trade ships passed nearby. Water surrounded the city on three sides, making it easy to defend.

The New Rome

Constantine transformed the small city into a magnificent new capital. He built a palace, public buildings, baths, and a huge stadium for chariot races. He established a new Senate and encouraged wealthy families to settle there. In 330 CE, he dedicated the capital as “New Rome,” though people soon called it Constantinople, or “Constantine’s city.”

Constantinople

Constantinople quickly became one of the wealthiest and most important cities in the Roman Empire. Its location brought merchants and goods from Europe and Asia, while its massive walls protected it from attack. Long after the western Roman Empire collapsed, emperors continued to rule from Constantinople. The city remained the center of the eastern Roman Empire for over a thousand years, falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

Rome remained a great city after Constantine moved his government east. The Senate continued to meet there, but it no longer made the laws of the empire. Without the emperor and his court, the city gradually lost much of its political importance.

Constantine’s Final Decision

Constantine continued to support Christianity throughout his reign, but he never officially joined the church. He became seriously ill in 337 CE. Knowing he was dying, he called in a bishop to baptize him. More than forty years later, Emperor Theodosius I made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.

Waiting Until the End

Constantine had not led a completely moral life. He ordered the execution of his eldest son, Crispus, in 326 CE. Soon afterward, his wife Fausta was also put to death, apparently on Constantine’s orders. Christianity teaches its followers to live a moral life, but early Christians understood that converts might not have lived a moral life before accepting the faith. Conversion was open to people regardless of how they had lived previously, and baptism was understood to bring forgiveness of earlier sins. Serious sins committed after baptism required repentance and forgiveness. Constantine was not baptized until his final illness in 337 CE. Did he wait until he was near the end of his life to ask to be baptized? No one knows.

How Constantinople Became Istanbul

Constantine built his new capital on the site of the ancient Greek city of Byzantium. Although he called his capital “New Rome,” people soon called it Constantinople, or “Constantine’s city.” When the Ottoman Turks captured Constantinople in 1453, they continued to use the name, although at some point Istanbul became common in everyday speech.

The name Istanbul probably developed from a Greek expression meaning “to the City.” Constantinople was so important that people simply called it “the City,” much as New Yorkers still refer to New York City today. In 1930, the Turkish government officially adopted Istanbul as the city’s name and asked other nations to use it. After more than 1,500 years, Constantinople had officially become Istanbul.

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Mr. Donn has an excellent website that includes a section on Ancient Rome.

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