Emperor Constantine

Alright... let's talk about this guy.

We're usually taught that he's important because 'he's important... and muh Christianity.' But what else is there to know about him?

I mean, his personality, his appearance, his legacy? Bro was the last God-tier emperor the West had. Do you think he knew that at the time? Why him and why then? Why 'one last good one?'

Does anybody know what he really looks like? If he was God-tier like Augustus or Aurelius, why are there so few surviving images of him?

I mean he's literally one of the most important people of all time. Why do we generally know so little about him?

Constantine fun facts and general discussion.

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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesaropapism
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Was Constantine really a Christian, or just an opportunist?

Why not both? He certainly wasn't a particularly principled Christian. He had himself proclaimed the equal of the twelve apostles on his death.

Like most people of his time he didnt get baptized until he was near death, after which he lived much like a monk until the end.

Before that he killed anyone who stood in his way, including family.

The Constantinian Dynasty started Christian and ended Pagan. Don't forget that things can change for the better.

He lived a long-ass life. His rule was considerably long, too. Point is, a-hole or not, he did something very right to be such a shining star in Rome's twilight days. Fascinating ruler, Christianity or no.

He most likely saw how Christianity could be potentially useful as a ruler.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesaropapism

this. and it 'won him an important battle.' Against praetorians. +1, Christianity.

The limes system was pretty important, also Theodosius II was decent.

*Theo I

F · V · A · CONSTANTINVS WAS AN INSTRUMENT FOR THE JEWS; UNCHARISMATIC, UNWISE, UNREMARKABLE, INEPT —A NONPERSON WHO BECAME FAMOUS VIA SHEER IDIOCY.

Bro, saving Christianity like that, he might as well be

>Constantine planned to be baptized in the Jordan River before crossing into Persia. Persian diplomats came to Constantinople over the winter of 336–337, seeking peace, but Constantine turned them away. The campaign was called off, however, when Constantine became sick in the spring of 337

Why the fuck did so many planned Persian campaigns get cancelled throughout Roman history because the general/Emperor died at just the wrong time? This exact same thing happened to Aurelian and even Julius Caesar.

He boiled her wife alive after she fucked his son (from a different woman).

In hoc signo vinces is probably a later fabrication.

invading persia was about the most difficult thing any emperor could do

to succeed would guarantee praise and success, ie such as what happened with septimius severus and trajan

defeat would often rock the empire with rebellion and interregnum: ie julian

He really important becsuse he reorganized the roman military in a sognificant way. He was the the conclusion of the slow reforms in military. Where the emporers had the strongest field army and the smaller garisons were put into cities and more dispersed. This can be argued to be an important decentralization of military power, from either powerful generals
Or many Emporers with strong armies. To one or two field armies controled directly by the Emporers and the rest being controlled by dux.

Because Ahura Mazda protects and his angels smite the servants of the Lie.

And yet those three I listed were probably among the best possible candidates to lead an invasion of Persia out of any Roman leader.
I reckon Aurelian at least could have seriously fucked the Sassanids hard.

>spend years trying to conquer Parthia
>finally about to succeed
>some dickhead declares himself Emperor with the support of Legions on the Rhine/Danube
>dickhead marches to Rome with Legions
>barbarians flood across the frontier
>Civil War begins
>Parthians regroup and Carrhae you while you're marching back to fight against the pretender
And that's why conquering Persia wouldn't have worked

Tell that to Heraclius and Khalid

Besides Trajan I don't think any Roman campaign against Persia was meant to be a conquest. They realised pretty early on than their most stable natural border was the Euphrates, and they understood that such a vast territory so far from Rome would be impossible to hold. Most Roman invasions of Mesopotamia were glorified raids, basically.

Khosrow II lost the Glory of the Aryans after falling to the influence of her christian wife and after failing to protect the temple of Adurbagan. He was accordingly slayed like a criminal, he who had ruled over more lands than any persian ruler since the times of the Achaemenids.

He was certainly a true believer in Christianity but he looked at it in a different way from the early christians. For him it brought him his victories, so it was true; I doubt he had reflected intensely on theological matters, hoping instead for unity, peace and success

This. Although maybe Julian believed his imitatio Alexander bullshit. Caesar did want to conquer Persia though.

Trajan was pretty close too, but got fucked by ill health, the jews, and his own pompous attitude

One user's evaluation of Constantine

"He was obviously a really intelligent guy and a shrewd political operator but when it came to fighting he was a total meathead. I think it was Porfirius who delivered a Panegyric to Constantine personally and basically called him a huge fucking idiot for personally leading cavalry charges and getting stuck into the fighting when leading his armies instead of hanging back and ensuring his safety.

Zosimus tells us that he personally led an ambush on a larger army of Sarmatians and his men lost sight of him. When they found him again at the end of the day, he was on the other side of what had been the enemy lines, "drenched in blood" and exhausted.

Since the 19th century certain fedora tipping scholars have been determined to portray Constantine as an effete religious fanatic, but in reality the guy was a big dumb jock who loved to fight."

Nice. It's always satisfying to read about emperors who actually embodied the Roman ideals of martial prowess and strength while still being effective rulers instead of timid useless faggots like Nero or Elagalabus, or retarded roid-rage brutes like Maximinus Thrax

>I WILL BUILD FORTS ALL OVER YOUR FUCKING DIRT HOVELS AND YOU WILL FUCKING LIKE IT JESUS CHRIST WILL YOU PIG-FUCKING TREE-WORSHIPPING SNOWNIGGERS LEARN SOME FUCKING MANNERS OR DO I HAVE TO PERSONALLY MARCH MY ARMIES UP THERE AND- AHHHHHHHHHHHHH MY BRAIN
What did Valentinian mean by this?

Should have Saxon shored the Euphrates as soon as they were able to hold it. But the Roman system if defence prior to the decline in the West was simply being such an overwhelming force no one would fuck with you so their internal system of roads and infastructure was pathetically weak to defend and cities we're defenceless gold bags ready to be sacked.

True, and for the entire late period all the way up to the Arab Conquests they should have really just tried to defend/avoid war with Persia at all costs and focus on other fronts.
Centuries of nearly constant war, sacking each other's border territory and destroying whole field armies, neither side able to overwhelm the other just led to massive expenditure, bloodshed and destruction for basically no gain whatsoever for either side. The Romano-Persian wars were basically the biggest waste of time and effort in antiquity.

Those wars we're never that bad. It's amazing that they never turned their attention to eradicate the upstart Arabs charging out from the desert converting people to goat fucking and camel humping. Rome and Person stands as one of the greatest rivals in history

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