CONSTANTINE THE GREAT
In 324 A.D., after a long and bloody battle, Roman Emperor Constantine
the Great defeated his final rival Licinius in the hills near Byzantium
(Istanbul). Being a noble-hearted conqueror,
Constantine spared the treacherous Licinius's life. This victory had repercussions
that were to affect the city's development enormously. First, Constantine
adopted Christianity as the state religion
of the Roman Empire. Second, he chose Byzantium as his new Christian capital.
Although, there is scholarly debate on how "Christian"
Constantine's rule actually was, as some scholars believe that he continued
to pay heed to mythological divinities and
pagan ceremonies. This was a
major shift, as the former capital of the Roman Empire had been Rome, the
center of Pagan worship.
The city was officially dedicated as "New Rome" in 330 AD; it soon was
unofficially christened Constantinople. The emperor shocked his courtiers
by marking much greater boundaries than they expected around what had been
the rather provincial Byzantine, so that soon
it had quadrupled in size. Asked why he did so, he responded that he was
following an invisible, presumably angelic guide.
With his typical energy, Constantine not only enlarged but also strengthened
and beautified the city. For the next ten years, he looked toward the moral,
political, and economic welfare of the citizens of his Empire and designated
his sons as future rulers. When he was about to march against the Persian
army in May of 337, he suddenly became ill and died, shortly after being
baptized.
Constantine certainly earned the "Great" after his name. The history
of the world was set on a new course when he made Christianity
- which until that time had suffered bloody persecution - the state religion.
This was hardly an imperative move since Christians
were by far the minority at the time. Thus Constantine's decision depended
less on general conditions at the time than on his own personal consideration.
In 325 he assembled and attended the Council
at Nicea where the Nicene Creed was formulated.
It remains one of the basics of Christianity.
Constantine was not only the first Christian Emperor, but he was the greatest
of all Roman Emperors.
His great city and Empire lasted
until 1453 when it was conquered by the
Ottoman sultan Mehmet II.