Constantine and the

Establishment of Constantinople
Constantine, the caesar of Maximianus was born in Nis as a
child of Constantius I Chlorus. His exact birth date is not
known but it is thought that he was born in the dates between
the years of 272 and 280. After his father had become a Caesar,
Constantine was taken to the castle of Diocletianus in
Nicomedeia. Here he was educated very well and took place in
all of the expeditions and travels of Diocletianus. In these
expeditions and travels he was distinguished with his abilities
and became a favourite in the army. In 305, when Galerius and
Constantius were declared as augustuses, it was expected for
Constantius to be become a caesar. However, Severus was
assigned as the caesar of Constantius and Maximianus Daia as
the caesar of Galerius. Having being disturbed, Constantine
went to the Trier, to his fathers side. In 306 he crossed to
Britain with his father and entered to the battles in Scotland.
Meanwhile, Constantius I died in York.
 Army declared his son Constantine as the emperor.
However, the higher augustus Galerius assigned
Severus as the augustus of the Western side and
Constantine as his caesar. In 307 Constantine married
with Fausta, the daughter of Maximianus. In the same
time, one of the people who was not happy with
Tetrarchy System was Maxentius, son of Maximianus.
Maxentius declared himself as the augustus in Rome
and defeated Severus. After that Licinius became the
Western augustus and Constantine became caesar in
308. In the following period Maximianus died in 310,
Galerius and Docletianus died in 311. With their
deaths it was inevitable for the remaining augustuses
and caesars to clash.
 The first to move was Constantine. In 312 he marched
against Maxentius and he defeated him. This battle known as
the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, was a historical milestone
both for the Romans and Christians. In this battle, the holy
symbol of the Christians, Labarum, cross-marked flags were
used by Constantine. Maxentius had died in the battle and
Constantine entered Rome with glory and remained as the
sole ruler of the West. In the East also Licinius became the
sole ruler after defeating Maximianus Daia. After a ahort
period of peace, they had a fight for the cruelty of Licinius
against the Christians and the invasion of Goths. In 323 the
final battle had taken place in Scutari and Licinius had been
beaten by Constantine and Constantine won the title of
emperor by only himself.
 Constantine, who had taken the title Great by
the historians, owed his success mostly to the
Christians. Christians, who had been tortured
and pressed but had been increasing in numbers
against all these, committed themselves to
Constantine who approached them with love and
sympathy. During the war against his opponents,
Constantine deducted toleratine edicts for
Christians in 311 and later in 313 in Milano.
Therefore, Christianism became official as the
other religions of the Empire and were given back
their churches.
 The second greatest action of the Constantine was
the construction of Constantinople as the capital of
the Empire by giving his name to the new city. Rome
had already lost the feature of being a capital. The
primary dangers, firstly the barbarian invasions, was
coming from the East, from Danube and Euphrates.
Diocletianus had made Nicomedeia his capital.
Constantine decided that he had beter use a new
capital outside of Rome so he considered the cities
Nis, Sofia and Thessalonica. Eventually, due to its
location and being covered with sea from three sides,
he decided in the old city of Byzantium to be his new
capital. This city was established in the 7th century
B.C. by the Megarans and had entered into Roman
rule in the period of the emperor Vespasianus.
 After having decided a new city to be
constructed in Byzantium, Constantine
started to build the new city in 324. The
walls of the city was built according the
boundaries that the Constantine
determined. The new city was
constructed based on the model of Rome
and any expenses were tolerated. It was
cared that all the buildings of Rome were
also constructed in the new city.
 The castle of the Emperor and Hippodrome
were built in todays Sultan Ahmad.
Hippodrome was garnished with the art
works from all lands of the Empire. Forum
was built in the area containing the palace
and Hippodrome. This place was called
Agusteum (Ausgusta Helena) in the memory
of the emperors mother. In this city that was
built on seven hills like Rome, the building of
senate, bathhouses, academy, temples and
Christian churches were also constructed.
 According to some historians, the
constructions of the Hagia Sophia and the
Hagia Irene started in the rule of
Constantine. Lots of exemptions were
applied in order for aristocrats to settle
in the new capital. The wheat coming from
Egypt were distributed to the people of
Constantinople free of charge. Senators
were ordered to construct new buildings
and were given lands in the Anatolian side.
 A civil governor was assigned to the city for
the administration. The authority to control
the economic and civil life given to him
besides maintaining security. In the 11th of
May, 330 the construction of the new city
that was built in the lands of the old
Byzantium was finished and opened with
magnificent ceremonies. At first it was given
the name New Rome (Nova Roma) but then
it became a tradition to call it
Constantinople dedicated to its founder.
 With Constantinople to become capital,
the center of the gravity in the Empire
was shifted from the West to the East
permanently. Furthermore, the acceptance
of Christianity as an Eastern religion in
the Empire meant the change from Rome
to Byzantine was commencing to appear.
For this reason, most of the historians
adopted the date 330 for the birth of the
Byzantine Empire.
The Christianisation of the Roman
Empire and the Ecclesiastic Struggles
The first ones to join to the religion of the Jesus
Christ were the 12 apostles of him and their
friends. After Jesus , the apostles spread the
Christianity as a religion throughout the Empire.
Having spread the Christianity in Jerusalem, St.
Paul ensured the settlement and the spread of the
new religion in Anatolia and Greece. In the Italy
St. Peter had engaged in the spread of Christianty
and the church that he built in Rome not only
ruled the history of the Christianty but also
became an important actor in the history of
world. At first the Christians were exposed to the
oppressions and the cruelties and the Empire had
maintained this for a long time.
 In the period of Diocletianus they were greatly
oppressed and massacered but with the edict of
his successor, Galerius, in 311, they started to get
through from hardships. With the appearance of
the Constantine in the scene of the history and
the Battle of Milivian Bridge undoubtedly became
a milestone for the Christians. In this battle
Constantine used Christian symbols in his flags
and with the Milano Edict of 313 the cruelties
against Christians was ended. However, in the
period of Julianus (361-363) cruelties against the
Christians revived but it had lasted for a short
time. After the end of his rule Christians again
gained the states favor.
 Christians who had started to live free in the
lands of the empire, started to organise
around the churches in certain cities in
which the apostles operated. The cities that
had great churches were Jerusalem,
Alexandreia, Antiocheia and Rome. After a
while the Constantinople had joined into
these cities. These churches were trying to
spread Christianity and offering solutions for
the problems about the theology of the
Christianity.
 When the Constantine had become the sole ruler of
the empire in 324, his first action was to release
Christian prisoners, recall the exiles and rebuild the
churches that had been destroyed. Although he had
been positive against Christians, his Christianity is still
being questioned. Whether he accepted Christianity
or not, if he accepted when he did have been a
problem for historians. However, he was declared as a
Saint later on for all the good he had done for the
Christians. Christianity was adopted by the Byzantine
Empire as the only official religion in the time of
Theodosios (379-395). With an edict he declared,
Christianity had become the states religion and all
the other religions were abolished and banned.
 The biggest religious problem during the
rule of the Great Constantine was the
Arianism sect that was born from the ideas
of Arius, the bishop of Alexandreia, about the
nature of Jesus and his relatin with the God.
Arius claimed that his nature was not same
with the God and he was a human. He
questioned the trinity belief and argued
against the godness of the Jesus. His
teachings was in demand until 320 but in
that year he was declared as a heretic.
 For the conflict in the Christianity because of the
teachings of Arius, Constantine gathered a
ecumenic counsil in Nicaea in 325. The council
was formed under the leadership of Constantine
and contained priests from all over the Empire. In
the council the decision Jesus is not created, he
is from the same nature as the God was
accepted son the trinity belief approved. Arius
was condemned and Arianism was considered as
a heretic sect. Therefore, the leadership of the
Constantine in the council became an example
for the emperors after him and the formation of
the tangled connection of the religious authority
and political power.
 The Arianists did not adopt the decisions
that were accepted in the council of Nicaea.
The conflicts and tensions continued among
Christians. In the Second Council that was
gathered in Constantinople the decisions of
the council of Nicaea corroborated but again
the conflicts had not ended. Some churches
accepted the belief that the divine and
human characters of the Jesus was in a single
nature without being mixed and changed.
The people of this belief were called
monophysites.
 In spite of that some authorities of the
church adopted the belief that Jesus was
born into this world as a human and was
granted the divine essence later. The people
of this belief were called duophysites.
Nestorius from the school of the Antiocheia
church argued that Mother Mary did not
give birth to a god, she gave birth to Jesus
who had its human nature based on the
teachings of the duophysite school.
 There appeared a strong opposition to the ideas
of the Nestorius. In the council of Ephesos, 431,
the teaching of the Nestorius rejected but he was
not excommunicated. Because Nestorius had
continued his teachings and gathered more power,
the Second Ephesos council was gathered and
this time Nestorius was excommunicated. This
resulted with the separation of the churches and
the people who had committed themselves to the
theachings of the Nestorius maintained their
existences despite oppresions and violence
against them.
 Monophysite churches of Gregorian,
Assyrian and Copt gathered their own
community separate from Rome and
Constantinople. The religious conflicts,
councils and strifes of sects had not only
affected the Christianty, but also the
struggles for power, the relationships
between the government and the people
and the external policy of the Byzantine
Empire.