Constantine I [Great] Head & Constantine Globe, Capitoline Museums, Rome

Constantine I [Great] Head & Constantine Globe, Capitoline Museums, Rome

Constantine I [Great] Head & Constantine Globe, Capitoline Museums, Rome


Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus Augustus (27 February c. 272 – 22 May 337), 4th century AD Bronze, cm 177. Formerly at the Lateran; Sixtus IV donation (1471).

Bronze statue of Constantine Globe, 4th century AD, Bronze, cm 150. Formerly at the Lateran; Sixtus IV donation (1471).



Constantine I or Saint Constantine, was Roman Emperor from 306 to 337. Constantine was the son of Flavius Valerius Constantius, a Roman army officer, and his consort Helena. His father became Caesar, the deputy emperor in the west in 293. Constantine was sent east, where he rose through the ranks to become a military tribune under the emperors Diocletian and Galerius. In 305, Constantius was raised to the rank of Augustus, senior western emperor, and Constantine was recalled west to campaign under his father in Britannia. Acclaimed as emperor by the army after his father's death in 306, Constantine emerged victorious in a series of civil wars against the emperors Maxentius and Licinius to become sole ruler of both west and east by 324.

Constantine played an influential role in the proclamation of the Edict of Milan, which decreed religious tolerance throughout the empire. He called the First Council of Nicaea in 325, at which the Nicene Creed was professed by Christians. In military matters, the Roman army was reorganised to consist of mobile field units and garrison soldiers capable of countering internal threats and barbarian invasions.

Constantine, as the first Christian emperor, is a significant figure in the history of Christianity. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built on his orders at the purported site of Jesus' tomb in Jerusalem, became the holiest place in Christendom. The Papacy claimed temporal power through Constantine. He is venerated as a saint by Orthodox Christians, Byzantine Catholics, and Anglicans. The Eastern churches hold his memory in particular esteem, regarding Constantine as isapostolos or equal to the Apostles.




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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_the_Great