02 — The Rise of Constantine
How a soldier’s son from Naissus became sole master of the Roman world: the acclamation at York in 306, the long civil wars against Maxentius and Licinius, and the reunification of the empire under one ruler in 324. This section also introduces the sources — a panegyrizing bishop, a hostile pagan, a sober Christian rhetorician, coins and laws — through which everything about Constantine must be read.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox
Before the vision, before Nicaea, before Constantinople, there is the making of the emperor. This section traces the political rise, and — because the whole compendium turns on the reliability of contested testimony — it lays out the source situation first: who tells us what about Constantine, with what interest, and how far each can be trusted. The source-critical care that the vision (Section 03) and the finding of the Cross (Section 07) require begins here.
Navigation
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| from-naissus-to-the-purple.md | Birth at Naissus; the years in the East; the acclamation at York in 306; the wars against Maxentius (to 312) and Licinius (to 324); sole rule. |
| the-sources-for-constantine.md | The evidence and its biases: Eusebius (panegyric), Lactantius (near-contemporary Christian), Zosimus (hostile pagan), the Latin panegyrics, coins, laws, and inscriptions. |
See Also
- The Vision and the Milvian Bridge — the turning point of the rise
- The Great Persecution — the world he rose out of