Roman Emperor Baseball Card Project

REQUIRED EMPERORS


CONSTANTINE I (312 - 337 A.D.)

Constantine had succeeded Constantius in 306 as ruler of the western half of the empire. He defeated, one by one, the other rival emperors. In 312 he defeated Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge in Rome and became sole ruler of the western half of the empire. Constantine claimed that his victory in this battle was due to a miracle. Just before the battle, Constantine claimed he saw a flaring cross in the sky followed by the inscription: BY THIS SIGN, THOU SHALT CONQUER. The sign was the Christian XP (Chi-Rho) sign, which he put on the shields of his soldiers. In this way, Constantine became the first Christian emperor of the Roman Empire, although he was not baptized until the moment of his death. In 324 Constantine defeated his remaining rival in the East and became the sole ruler of the Roman Empire.

During his reign, Constantine initiated many measures favoring the Christians. In 313 he issued the Edict of Milan which legalized Christianity throughout the Empire. Imperial funds were used to subsidize the building of churches. In 325 Constantine tried to resolve a dispute between Christian factions at the Council of Nicea. This meeting produced the Nicene Creed which essentially converted the Roman Empire from paganism to Christianity.

When Rome was no longer capable of serving as the capital of the Roman Empire due to its distant location from its boundaries, Constantine founded a new capital. He built it on the Greek town of Byzantium, located on the Bosporus Strait, and renamed it Constantinople (modern day Istanbul). These are Constantine's two major contributions to the Roman Empire: conversion of Rome from paganism to Christianity and building a new capital at Constantinople. Constantine died of an illness and was baptized just before his death.

Augustus Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius Constantine Name/Year List Pictures