Constantine I, also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a pivotal role in elevating the status of Christianity in Rome, decriminalizing Christian practice and ceasing Christian persecution in a period referred to as the Constantinian shift. This initiated the cessation of the established ancient Roman religion. Constantine is also the originator of the religiopolitical ideology known as Constantinism, which epitomizes the unity of church and state, as opposed to separation of church and state. He founded the city of Constantinople and made it the capital of the Empire, which remained so for over a millenium.
Eusebius of Nicomedia was an Arian priest who baptized Constantine the Great on his deathbed in 337. A fifth-century legend evolved that Pope Sylvester I was the one to baptize Constantine, but this is dismissed by scholars as a forgery 'to amend the historical memory of the Arian baptism that the emperor received at the end of his life, and instead to attribute an unequivocally orthodox baptism to him.' He was a bishop of Berytus in Phoenicia. He was later made the bishop of Nicomedia, where the Imperial court resided. He lived finally in Constantinople from 338 up to his death.
The labarum was a vexillum that displayed the "Chi-Rho" symbol ☧, a christogram formed from the first two Greek letters of the word "Christ" – Chi (χ) and Rho (ρ). It was first used by the Roman emperor Constantine the Great.
The 310s decade ran from January 1, 310, to December 31, 319.
The Battle of the Milvian Bridge took place between the Roman Emperors Constantine I and Maxentius on 28 October 312 AD. It takes its name from the Milvian Bridge, an important route over the Tiber. Constantine won the battle and started on the path that led him to end the Tetrarchy and become the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. Maxentius drowned in the Tiber during the battle; his body was later taken from the river and decapitated, and his head was paraded through the streets of Rome on the day following the battle before being taken to Africa.
York Minster, formally the "Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York", is an Anglican cathedral in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The minster is the seat of the archbishop of York, the third-highest office of the Church of England, and is the mother church for the diocese of York and the province of York. It is administered by its dean and chapter. The minster is a Grade I listed building and a scheduled monument.
Numerian was Roman emperor from 283 to 284 with his older brother Carinus. They were sons of Carus, a general raised to the office of praetorian prefect under Emperor Probus in 282.
Maximian, nicknamed Herculius, was Roman emperor from 286 to 305. He was Caesar from 285 to 286, then Augustus from 286 to 305. He shared the latter title with his co-emperor and superior, Diocletian, whose political brain complemented Maximian's military brawn. Maximian established his residence at Trier but spent most of his time on campaign. In late 285, he suppressed rebels in Gaul known as the Bagaudae. From 285 to 288, he fought against Germanic tribes along the Rhine frontier. Together with Diocletian, he launched a scorched earth campaign deep into Alamannic territory in 288, refortifying the frontier.
Galerius Valerius Maximinus, born as Daza, was Roman emperor from 310 to 313. He became embroiled in the civil wars of the Tetrarchy between rival claimants for control of the empire, in which he was defeated by Licinius. A committed pagan, he engaged in one of the last persecutions of Christians, before issuing an edict of tolerance near his death.
Flavia Julia Helena, also known as Helena of Constantinople and in Christianity as Saint Helena, was an Augusta of the Roman Empire and mother of Emperor Constantine the Great. She was born in the lower classes traditionally in the Greek city of Drepanon, Bithynia, in Asia Minor, which was renamed Helenopolis in her honor, although several locations have been proposed for her birthplace and origin.
The Edict of Milan was the February 313 AD agreement to treat Christians benevolently within the Roman Empire. Western Roman Emperor Constantine I and Emperor Licinius, who controlled the Balkans, met in Mediolanum and, among other things, agreed to change policies towards Christians following the edict of toleration issued by Emperor Galerius two years earlier in Serdica. The Edict of Milan gave Christianity legal status and a reprieve from persecution but did not make it the state church of the Roman Empire, which occurred in AD 380 with the Edict of Thessalonica.
The Chi Rho is one of the earliest forms of the Christogram, formed by superimposing the first two (capital) letters—chi and rho (ΧΡ)—of the Greek ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ in such a way that the vertical stroke of the rho intersects the center of the chi.
"In hoc signo vinces" is a Latin phrase conventionally translated into English as "In this sign thou shalt conquer", often also being translated as "By this sign, conquer".
During the reign of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, Christianity began to transition to the dominant religion of the Roman Empire. Historians remain uncertain about Constantine's reasons for favoring Christianity, and theologians and historians have often argued about which form of early Christianity he subscribed to. There is no consensus among scholars as to whether he adopted his mother Helena's Christianity in his youth, or, as claimed by Eusebius of Caesarea, encouraged her to convert to the faith he had adopted.
The Diocletianic or Great Persecution was the last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. In 303, the emperors Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius, and Constantius issued a series of edicts rescinding Christians' legal rights and demanding that they comply with traditional religious practices. Later edicts targeted the clergy and demanded universal sacrifice, ordering all inhabitants to sacrifice to the gods. The persecution varied in intensity across the empire—weakest in Gaul and Britain, where only the first edict was applied, and strongest in the Eastern provinces. Persecutory laws were nullified by different emperors at different times, but Constantine and Licinius' Edict of Milan in 313 has traditionally marked the end of the persecution.
The Colossus of Constantine was a many times life-size acrolithic early-4th-century statue depicting the Roman emperor Constantine the Great, commissioned by himself, which originally occupied the west apse of the Basilica of Maxentius on the Via Sacra, near the Forum Romanum in Rome. Surviving portions of the Colossus now reside in the courtyard of the Palazzo dei Conservatori, now part of the Capitoline Museums, on the Capitoline Hill, above the west end of the Forum.
The Yorkshire Museum is a museum in York, England. It was opened in 1830, and has five permanent collections, covering biology, geology, archaeology, numismatics and astronomy.
The Head of Constantine the Great, York is the only surviving fragment of larger, marble statue of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. It was found in Stonegate, York, before 1823, and is now in the Yorkshire Museum.
York Civic Trust is a membership organisation and a registered charity based in York, UK. Its primary function is to "preserve, protect and advise on the historic fabric of York". It is based in Fairfax House.
Vision of Constantine (Stavarkis) is a tempera painting created by Greek painter and goldsmith Stylianos Stavrakis. Stavrakis was a major representative of the Heptanese school. Many of his works were completed on the Ionian islands namely Zakynthos. He was active during the 1700s. He was from a prominent family of painters His student was his nephew famous Greek painter Demetrios Stavrakis.
