Eusebiuss two accounts of the battle, in the Historia ecclesiastica and the Vita Constantini, differ both from Lactantiuss and among themselves. And indeed the aging Maximian, before his death, fled to Constantine before it was all over, dying in the west. One account places the vision on the day before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, and another leaves out the night dream and betrays neither a Christian or pagan slant, while the earliest account of the Italian campaign mentions no vision or dream at all, but does assume Constantine was divinely guided: You must share some secret with that divine mind, Constantine, which has delegated care of us to lesser gods. Perhaps counterintuitively, the inconsistencies in the accounts may speak to the genuinely strange nature of the experience, which was remembered, retold, and reinterpreted throughout Constantines life. Pieter Lastman depicts the crucial scene of the struggle in a great circular movement: Constantine, who had ordered the standards to be adorned with the Cross and an Eagle, plunges into battle from the pictures left, helmeted with a crown and laurels. The swiftness of this move highlights how much of the pre-Diocletian volatility still remained. Maxentius, the son of Maximian, who had also been overlooked for the title of caesar upon the abdications of 305, saw how easily Constantine had forced a title on himself and so was proclaimed emperor by the Praetorian Guard in Rome. And like many a fundamentalist before and since, Galerius fell into the persecutions with a savage joy and fervor that went beyond any mere political advantages they might yield or religious devotion they might reflect. As the Milvian Bridge lay along the Flaminian Way, only two miles from Romes Flaminian Gate, he had the bridge torn down and crossed the river with his army a little farther upstream over a temporary bridge of boats. According to chroniclers such as Eusebius, the Battle of the Milvian Bridgebetween the Roman Emperors Constantine I and Maxentiuson October 28, 312 marked the beginning of Contantine's conversion to Christianity. All but the last of these historians were Christian, and all of them witnessed the Great Persecution. Explore museums and play with Art Transfer, Pocket Galleries, Art Selfie, and more. To the cynic, all of these circumstances might throw their accounts into suspicion, but a reliable narrative can be found. Whether Constantine invaded Italy as an aggressor or in response to Maxentiuss declaration of war is irrelevant. In the Vita Constantini, at some point on their march, Constantine and his army saw a vision of the Christian symbol of the cross hovering above the sun. They also had their shields, which in the case of Constantines army were decorated for good luck. However, the usurpers gravest danger lay to the west with Constantine. It was such a collection of men that faced each other near Rome, their lines extending hundreds of yards in either direction, on one of those warm early fall days in central Italy. What details tell you about the time period when this event took place. From 1900 to 1920, tug-of-war was an official event at the Summer Olympics. A few years earlier this tactic had worked against both Severus and Galerius, but an experienced military man like Maxentius must have felt goaded to prove himself in battle yet again. Thus at his departure he made the city so fond of him that it was not fear of his victory but admiration for his gentleness which reconciled it to total allegiance, wrote Nazarius. All later accounts of the Battle of Verona downplay the danger of this moment, but it was palpable. Since it bought him time, Constantine agreed, and he spent the next year or so cementing his control of Britain and then crossed the Channel to deal with the unruly Franks, who had risen up at the news of his fathers death. A lightning campaign in 324 saw Liciniuss downfall within a year. Access supplemental materials and multimedia. This event occurred not amid wars in North Africa, the Middle East, or Italy, or in the cauldron the Balkans has always been, but in Eboracum (modern-day York). For who would believe, asks the anonymous orator, that an Emperor with an army had flown so quickly from the Rhine to the Alps? When he offered to forget their obstinacy if they would only open the town to him, they still refused, and so Constantine ordered a siege not with palisades or battering rams but quite simply by setting fire to the closed gates. Before passing away, and without any authority to do so, he assented to his son succeeding him as Augustus, and his fathers army did the same. Nearly everyone would have worn the bronze Roman galea helmet, and otherwise the mix-and-match of outfitting imperial armies from Britain to Babylon meant that a variety of body armor, whether leather or steel or both, was inevitable, as was protection for the arms and legs. In 313 Constantine met with Licinius to issue the Edict of Milan, which enacted a policy of Christian toleration throughout the Roman Empire after intense persecution under recent emperors. From extant written materials to newly unearthed art-objects, Classical Antiquity's coverage of the Greco-Roman ancient world is truly expansive. He was given a boost thanks to an event that probably dates from the months before he crossed the Alps with his army. In 286 the emperor Diocletian had split the empire into Eastern and Western halves ruled by himself and Maximian, both coequal augusti (emperors). You have none other than Classical Antiquity a journal that combines the pleasures, politics, intellectualism, cultural production, sciences, and linguistics of European traditions, centuries past. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. The orator concludes that this must reflect something like his invincibility and divine approval: You were carried away entirely by your impulse, like a river in flood carrying along trees broken off at their roots and rocks torn away from their foundations, he wrote. In 311, he seized the provinces in Asia Minor upon Galeriuss death. Our database is searchable by subject and updated continuously. In 305 there was a bloodless transfer of power from Diocletian and Maximian to their respective caesares, Galerius and Constantius I Chlorus. Constantine was now the undisputed ruler of the entire Roman Empire. With this event, a nocturnal vision of Constantines was fulfilled that had foretold he would be victorious under the sign of the Cross. Thus the empire maintained a fragile peace. Beyond that, both sides were essentially equipped equally. Maxentius had consulted the Sibylline books, whose storied portents saw the death of a Roman enemy that day. Well aware of the superiority of his numbers, Pompeianus was eager to get on with the fight, but made the mistake of continuing it immediately. Accounts of the events that followed are derived from two church historians and theologians, Eusebius and Lacantius, and two orators, one named Nazarius and one simply known as the anonymous orator. He was told that an enemy of Rome would die. While other ancient recipients of such prophecies seem to have derived confidence from similar predictions, never imagining the words to refer to themselves, Maxentiuss line of battle at the Milvian Bridge suggests grave doubt, indecision, perhaps even ineptness. Having seized every major city in northern Italy, Constantine could now descend on Rome with impunity. When Maxentius declared war on him, he did so in part under claims that Constantine had killed his father, which is unlikely. Eusebius wrote the text after Constantine had died, and, although Constantine is said to have confirmed its veracity before his death, the visions absence from both De mortibus persecutorum and Historia ecclesiastica has caused some scholars to cast doubt on its occurrence. However, Galerius did not approve of Maxentiuss ambition and Maximians murderous actions. They were beaten to death, with clubs, maces, and axes all battering down on their armor and helmets, and on the exposed areas of their quickly collapsing horses. While Diocletian had obviously benefited from the influence of armies, the presence of high government officials in the daily lives of the citizens also was meant to discourage usurpers and keep the military from proclaiming another emperor. His self-assurance must have been overwhelming as he crossed a southwestern portion of the Alps, taking only a quarter of his army with him and leaving the rest behind in Gaul. Constantine also permitted the conversion of pagan basilicas in Rome to serve Christian purposes and granted new plots of land to the citys Christian clergy. Segusio quickly capitulated even as the fire spread, and Constantine went from the towns destroyer to its savior, ordering his men not to pillage or rape but also to put out the flames, which took more time and effort than the attempted siege. Perhaps unintentionally, they were taking a page from their greatest enemies, the Persians, who had long found centralized authority easier to maintain by equating religious and political power. This created an implicit demand for a form of religious uniformity unknown until then in the Roman Empire. The Arch of Constantine, erected in Rome in 315 in celebration of the victory, attributed Constantine's success to divine intervention, but whether it was specifically at the hands of the Christian God was left ambiguous in an effort to please both pagan and Christian readers. Maxentius tried to suppress news of Constantines victories among the Roman elite and the public, but such news could not help but get out. Upon deciding to fight Constantine before he reached the city, Maxentius had a pontoon bridge built across the Tiber some distance from the Milvian Bridge, and he and his troops used that temporary structure to confront Constantines forces on the far side of the river. Soon afterward, in 305, the Tetrarchy was put to its first and only test. Constantine entered Italy in the spring of 312. The return to pagan sacrifice produced immense religious anxiety and conservatism. In contrast, the infantrymen still carried the old standby short sword, the gladius, along with two long javelins, but they also would have had access to maces and clubs and even slings. In a few years, he took control of Italy and North Africa, defeating attempts by Galerius and his caesar to take back both. During his reign Diocletian also divided the empire up into provinces of smaller sizes, all to impose a visible imperial presence on as much of the subject population as he could. Nevertheless, it is clear that Maxentiuss army was annihilated. Describe the action in this scene. Although some scholars have doubted the genuine nature of his pre-battle conversion, it is almost certain that Constantines victory over Maxentius confirmed his belief that the Christian God had protected him and would continue to guide him. Collating all the accounts, we can say that, fervently pious toward the religious cult of the Unconquered Sun (Sol Invictus, one of the most popular deities in the Roman army), Constantine one day at noon was in prayer, with the sun at its highest point in the sky, when he saw with his own eyes, up in the sky and resting over the sun, a cross-shaped trophy formed from light, and a text attached to it which said, By this, conquer.. The anonymous orator equally praises and condemns Constantines courage in putting himself and his reign in danger by entering battle so conspicuously. In the morning he ordered his soldiers to paint on their shields the Chi-Rho, a sacred monogram incorporating the first two letters of , meaning Christ in Greek.

Maximian oversaw the areas of Italy north through the Alps and to the Rhine, south and west to Spain, and the North African coast to Egypt. While Maxentiuss troops, which some number as twice Constantines 40,000, included the loyal Praetorian Guard who had acclaimed him emperor in the first place, as well as legionaries and leftovers from the forces of Galerius and Severus, the majority of his regular troops, whether North African or Italian, were inexperienced and could not be counted on for affection or loyalty. Maxentius knew then that he was destined to stamp out Constantines ambition for good. It was in this way that the people of Turin declared themselves for Constantine and saved the city the terror of a siege. The anonymous orator called on an allusion to Virgil to describe the breathtaking chaos of men and horses drowning in a crowd, or being carried downriver in the Tibers swift stream, or likely fighting each other for air and space in an attempt to save their lives, grappling onto the drowned or still living without a thought, or trying to free themselves from the armor that had only recently been their protection.

The Italians were especially reluctant to continue the fight, and the number of men who tried and failed to make it to the bridge simply glutted the riverside in a bloody snake of bodies and glittering weapons, or it cascaded them into the Tiber. Even with three-quarters of his army in Gaul, the wars with the Franks continued. Above him, the bridge has given way, causing his soldiers to plummet into the Tiber. Constantines victory confirmed his role as ruler of the Western Empire. He had spent his formative years receiving the best education possible in the crowded court of Diocletian, but at the same time had likely been held there, if not as a prisoner, certainly as insurance against his father revolting. Despite Diocletians careful hopes for stability, corruption found its way. In many cases men were fighting with or against weapons and armor that could just as easily be generations old or brand new. Constantius, the father of Constantine, was responsible for northern Spain, France, and Britain south of Hadrians Wall. He is also given the physical description of a tyrant, universal then and now, who is deformed in some conspicuous manner. Maxentius had cut that bridge and other Tiber crossings to slow Constantines advance. Their armies met about two hours northwest of Rome at the remains of the Milvian Bridge over the Tiber River, and in less than an hour the worst fears of Maxentiuss troops were realized. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Things changed when Diocletian, a cavalry officer from Dalmatia, was proclaimed by the western and eastern armies in 284. Lastman has placed accents of color along the picture diagonal using the soldier with his back to us, the rider on the white horse and the fallen body clad in armor. Both were technically usurpers; at that point, they were finally at war with each other. Check out using a credit card or bank account with. In 308 he gathered with Diocletian and Maximian at Carnuntum to declare Maxentius a usurper, denying him a place in the legitimate tetrarchy. Diocletian subsequently retired to a vast palatial complex in Dalmatia. The cavalrymen of each side went into battle with a full array of swords, light javelins, two-handed lances, axes, and maces. It bore the Greek inscription En tout nikaIn this, conquer. Eusebius then describes a divine dream similar to Lactantiuss account. To fix that other inherent problem of kingship; namely, that of succession, in 293 the Tetrarchy was created. But Constantine would also abandon the city whose conquest had cemented his conversion.

In the summer of 305, his father asked that Constantine be sent to help fight the empires wars in Britain, and Galerius agreed only after a night of heavy drinking. With new augusti came Galeriuss picks for the next caesares: Maximinus Daia and Flavius Valerius Severus. With a personal account, you can read up to 100 articles each month for free. Somehow protected in retreat by the Praetorian Guard, Maxentius made it to the bridge only for it to buckle under the weight of so many men. Knowing that to refuse Constantine outright would result in civil war, Galerius placated him by offering him the title of caesar only, with Severus promoted to Augustus.