Constantine The Emperor

Description

This year Christians worldwide will celebrate the 1700th anniversary of Constantine's conversion and victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. No Roman emperor had a greater impact on the modern world than did Constantine. The reason is not simply that he converted to Christianity but that he did so in a way that brought his subjects along after him. Indeed, this major new biography argues that Constantine's conversion is but one feature of a unique administrative style that enabled him to take control of an empire beset by internal rebellions and external threats by Persians and Goths. The vast record of Constantine's administration reveals a government careful in its exercise of power but capable of ruthless, even savage actions. Constantine executed (or drove to suicide) his father-in-law, two brothers-in-law, his eldest son, and his once beloved wife. An unparalleled general throughout his life, even on his deathbed he was planning a major assault on the Sassanian Empire in Persia. Alongside the visionary who believed that his success came from the direct intervention of his God resided an aggressive warrior, a sometimes cruel partner, and an immensely shrewd ruler. These characteristics combined together in a long and remarkable career, which restored the Roman Empire to its former glory. Beginning with his first biographer Eusebius, Constantine's image has been subject to distortion. More recent revisions include John Carroll's view of him as the intellectual ancestor of the Holocaust (Constantine's Sword) and Dan Brown's presentation of him as the man who oversaw the reshaping of Christian history (The Da Vinci Code). In Constantine the Emperor, David Potter confronts each of these skewed and partial accounts to provide the most comprehensive, authoritative, and readable account of Constantine's extraordinary life.

Reviews

"Vividly detailed and energetically told biography..." --Publishers Weekly

" A good fit for academics and students of Roman history."--Kirkus

"David Potter's Constantine the Emperor is a fresh look by a veteran scholar at one of the most pivotal reigns in Western history. Almost all studies of this emperor take his conversion to Christianity as their starting point. Potter broadens the focus to show a shrewd field commander who can diagnose and exploit his opponents' weaknesses and an able ruler with a deeply held belief that his 'job' committed him to protecting the weak and ensuring fairness for all his subjects." --Harold Drake, University of California, Santa Barbara

"Crisp in its prose and comprehensive in its coverage, Constantine the Emperor grounds its much mythologized subject in the solid realities of imperial governance." --Noel Lenski, University of Colorado

"This is a penetrating and original analysis, closely based on contemporary evidence, of the step-by-step evolution of Constantine's role as Emperor, and of his conception of that role. Within that wider framework, the nature of Constantine's commitment to Christianity, and of his self-representation as a Christian, is carefully re-evaluated." --Sir Fergus Millar, University of Oxford

Potter, a professor of Greek and Roman history at the University of Michigan, actually offers this major hunk of history in a surprisingly readable and compelling manner. His description is excellent of Constantine's complicated world with its spreading Christian influence, altogether as good a story as the sordid family strife surrounding this emperor. Ancient Tides

"The interested reader could find no better starting point for exploring the man and the era than David Potter's Constantine the Emperor." "rewarding" l The Wall Street Journal

"A good fit for academics and students of Roman history." KIRKUS REVIEWS

"ELvividly detailed and e

Author description

David Potter is Francis W. Kelsey Collegiate Professor of Greek and Roman History and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Greek and Latin at the University of Michigan. His books include The Victor's Crown (OUP), Emperors of Rome, and Ancient Rome: A New History.

Table of contents

TIMELINE ; INTRODUCTION ; SECTION 1 IMPERIAL RESURRECTION ; CHAPTER 1 THE CRISIS OF 260 AD ; CHAPTER 2 THE RENEWAL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE ; SECTION 2 DIOCLETIAN ; CHAPTER 3 THE NEW EMPEROR ; CHAPTER 4 EMPERORS AND SUBJECTS ; CHAPTER 5 A NEW LOOK ; CHAPTER 6 PERSIA AND THE CAESARS ; SECTION 3 CONSTANTINE AND DIOCLETIAN ; CHAPTER 7 THE COURT OF DIOCLETIAN ; CHAPTER 8 IMPERIAL EDICTS AND MORAL CRUSADES ; CHAPTER 9 MINERVINA ; CHAPTER 10 THE SUCCESSION ; SECTION 4 FATHERS AND SONS ; CHAPTER 11 THE NEW REGIME ; CHAPTER 12 MAXENTIUS AND FAUSTA ; CHAPTER 13 THE END OF MAXIMIAN ; SECTION 5 THE ROAD TO ROME ; CHAPTER 14 THE GATHERING STORM ; CHAPTER 15 THE BATTLE OF THE MILVIAN BRIDGE ; CHAPTER 16 FREEDOM OF WORSHIP ; CHAPTER 17 THE CONVERSION OF CONSTANTINE ; SECTION 6 WAR AND PEACE ; CHAPTER 18 REWORKING PAST AND FUTURE ; CHAPTER 19 GOVERNING THE EMPIRE ; CHAPTER 20 MAXIMUS AND BASSUS 319-323 ; CHAPTER 21 THE DONATIST CONTROVERSY ; SECTION 7 TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY ; CHAPTER 22 VICTORY IN THE EAST ; CHAPTER 23 THE EASTERN EMPIRE ; CHAPTER 24 CONSTANTINE SPEAKS TO THE BISHOPS ; CHAPTER 25 THE ARIAN CONTROVERSY ; CHAPTER 26 NICAEA ; CHAPTER 27 CONSTANTINOPLE AND ROME ; SECTION 8 RULER OF THE WORLD ; CHAPTER 28 CONSTANTINE'S GOVERNMENT ; CHAPTER 29 CONSTANTINOPLE ; CHAPTER 30 AN ORDERED SOCIETY ; CHAPTER 31 CHRISTIANS, PAGANS AND JEWS ; CHAPTER 32 NEIGHBOURS ; CHAPTER 33 END TIMES ; EPILOGUE ; DRAMATIS PERSONAE ; NOTES ; BIBLIOGRAPHY ; INDEX