Constantine The Great: Biography

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Who is Constantine exactly? Constantine, or Flavius Valerius Constantinus, is most commonly known as the first Christian emperor of the Roman world and the founder of the ancient city Constantinople. Born February 27, roughly 285 AD to Helena, a common innkeeper’s daughter, and Constantius Chlorus, there is a high possibility that the infamous Constantine was an illegitimate child.

In 293 AD Constantius Chlorus was elevated to the rank of Caesar and his son replaced him as a member, of the then current emperor Diocletian’s, court. This was the beginning of a long and illustrious career that often bordered on cruelty and betrayal. While Diocletian was the main emperor, he served along with Galerius and Maxmian, also known as co-emperor’s or co-augusti. Eventually Constantius Chlorus died as an augusti and Constantine took his place alongside Galerius in 306 AD. Constantine married former Augustus Maxmian’s daughter, Fausta, who then finally acknowledged Constantine as an emperor.

During the conference of Carnuntum in 308 AD, where all the Caesars and augusti met, it was demanded that Constantine return to being a Caesar but he refused, causing much political unrest. In retaliation, Maxmian turned against Constantine and began to attempt to dethrone the young emperor. Constantine drove Maxmian to Massilla where Maxmian either committed suicide or was executed in 310 AD. When Galerius died in 311 AD, Constantine was joined by Valerius Licinius Licinianus, or Licinius and Gaius Julius Verus Maximinus, or Maximinus to complete the tetrarchy that Diocletian had originally established.

While Licinius and Maximinus battled for supremacy, Constantine began a war against Maxentius. Constantine, on his march to Rome, supposedly had a ...

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... death bed. May 22, 337 AD, the great Flavius Valerius Constantinus left the empire he worked his entire life for in the hands of his offspring. Ironically, the Roman senate elevated Constantine to the rank of a pagan deity. Though perhaps not kind, Constantine was a great and powerful man; the first Roman emperor of his kind and the creator of Constantinople.

Works Cited

• "Social Studies Homework Help." Free Teacher Resources | Discovery Education. Web. 20 Sept. 2011. .

• "Emperor Constantine." The Roman Empire. Web. 20 Sept. 2011. .

• "Diocletian Biography | BookRags.com." BookRags.com | Study Guides, Lesson Plans, Book Summaries and More. Web. 20 Sept. 2011. .

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