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160-459: It was the only permanent legionary fortress in Italy and had the role of protecting the emperor, while all other legions were distributed through the provinces for defence of the empire. It was located near to the imperial villa at the present Castel Gandolfo , and only about 20 km from Rome. Today the remains of building both inside the castra and in the neighbouring civilian settlement, such as

320-513: A barrel vault was discovered under Aurelio Saffi Street. It was probably part of a larger. A stretch of the supply tunnel of the cistern survives as well, pointing to the northeast. The sewage network of the castra must have been extensive and would have followed the slope of the hill, discharging into the main sewer running under the intervallum in Alcide De Gasperi Street. The first stretch of this main sewer, 0.9 m wide,

480-511: A Christian, he waited to be baptised on his deathbed, believing that the baptism would release him of any sins he committed in the course of carrying out his policies while emperor. He supported the Church financially, built basilicas, granted privileges to clergy (such as exemption from certain taxes), promoted Christians to high office, and returned property confiscated during the long period of persecution. His most famous building projects include

640-515: A barracks, have been found in the retentura (the part of the castra located between the praetorium and the porta decumana ), inside the property of the episcopal seminary and the property of the Daughters of Immaculate Mary on San Fracesco d'Assisi Street. These ruins consist of five walls of the substructure arranged on different levels. On the second level, traces of a partition wall were found, which created rooms about 6 metres wide. During

800-557: A collection of panegyrics from the late 3rd and early 4th centuries, provides valuable information on the politics and ideology of the tetrarchic period and the early life of Constantine. Contemporary architecture—such as the Arch of Constantine in Rome and palaces in Gamzigrad and Córdoba — epigraphic remains, and the coinage of the era complement the literary sources. Constantine

960-423: A depth of between three and four metres; the height of the vaults is around 6.5 metres, with significant variation. On account of some ornamental elements discovered in 1830 and 1884 it is believed that at least the front of the monumental structure was ornate. Until the 1920s only a single supply tunnel of the cistern was known, which is located on the northeastern side. But the archaeologist Giuseppe Lugli discovered

1120-536: A grand adventus in the city which was met with jubilation. Maxentius' body was fished out of the Tiber and decapitated, and his head was paraded through the streets for all to see. After the ceremonies, the disembodied head was sent to Carthage, and Carthage offered no further resistance. Unlike his predecessors, Constantine neglected to make the trip to the Capitoline Hill and perform customary sacrifices at

1280-550: A helmet emblazoned with the Chi Rho , and coins issued at Siscia in 317/318 repeat the image. The figure was otherwise rare and is uncommon in imperial iconography and propaganda before the 320s. It was not completely unknown, however, being an abbreviation of the Greek word chrēston (good), having previously appeared on the coins of Ptolemy III Euergetes in the 3rd century BC. Following Constantine, centuries of Christians invoked

1440-565: A large donative pledge to any who would support him as emperor, most of Constantine's army remained loyal to their emperor, and Maximian was soon compelled to leave. When Constantine heard of the rebellion, he abandoned his campaign against the Franks and marched his army up the Rhine. At Cabillunum ( Chalon-sur-Saône ), he moved his troops onto waiting boats to row down the slow waters of the Saône to

1600-487: A long evening of drinking, Galerius granted the request. Constantine's later propaganda describes how he fled the court in the night, before Galerius could change his mind. He rode from post-house to post-house at high speed, hamstringing every horse in his wake. By the time Galerius awoke the following morning, Constantine had fled too far to be caught. Constantine joined his father in Gaul , at Bononia ( Boulogne ) before

1760-460: A military support, which Maxentius accepted. According to Eusebius, inter-regional travel became impossible, and there was military buildup everywhere. There was "not a place where people were not expecting the onset of hostilities every day". Constantine's advisers and generals cautioned against preemptive attack on Maxentius; even his soothsayers recommended against it, stating that the sacrifices had produced unfavourable omens. Constantine, with

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1920-541: A palace complex in the northeastern part of the city. To the south of his palace, he ordered the construction of a large formal audience hall and a massive imperial bathhouse. He sponsored many building projects throughout Gaul during his tenure as emperor of the West, especially in Augustodunum ( Autun ) and Arelate ( Arles ). According to Lactantius, Constantine followed a tolerant policy towards Christianity, although he

2080-453: A result of a debilitating sickness taken in the winter of 304–305, announced his resignation. In a parallel ceremony in Milan , Maximian did the same. Lactantius states that Galerius manipulated the weakened Diocletian into resigning and forced him to accept Galerius' allies in the imperial succession. According to Lactantius, the crowd listening to Diocletian's resignation speech believed, until

2240-518: A revolting and horrifying sight." Galerius died soon after the edict's proclamation, destroying what little remained of the Tetrarchy. Maximinus mobilised against Licinius and seized Asia Minor . A hasty peace was signed on a boat in the middle of the Bosphorus . While Constantine toured Britain and Gaul, Maxentius prepared for war. He fortified northern Italy and strengthened his support in

2400-608: A second, more ancient tunnel on the same side, which served the cistern through a complex system until it broke. The water came to the Cisternoni from the Malafitto and Palazzolo springs, near Lake Albano . The cistern was still used by the Comune of Albano in 1884, but for hygiene reasons it was restricted to use for irrigation in 1912. One particular cistern of an elongated shape (around 30 metres long and 4.16 metres wide) with

2560-575: A series of niches along the walls. The construction was entirely carried out in opus reticulatum using peperino in the Severan period - it was the last building to use this technique in the Ager Romanus . These corridors are probably the cryptoportici of the bath, connected to other bathing rooms located in Piazza della Rotonda, near the modern Palazzo Vescovile. Some terraces, probably part of

2720-550: A spirit that left a deep impression on his followers, inspiring some to believe that he had some form of supernatural guidance, ignored all these cautions. Early in the spring of 312, Constantine crossed the Cottian Alps with a quarter of his army, a force numbering about 40,000. The first town his army encountered was Segusium ( Susa , Italy), a heavily fortified town that shut its gates to him. Constantine ordered his men to set fire to its gates and scale its walls. He took

2880-460: A temple to Aphrodite . Generations later there was the story that a divine vision led Constantine to this spot, and an angel no one else could see led him on a circuit of the new walls. The capital would often be compared to the 'old' Rome as Nova Roma Constantinopolitana , the "New Rome of Constantinople". Constantine was the first emperor to stop the persecution of Christians and to legalize Christianity, along with all other religions/cults in

3040-435: A tolerant and politically skilled man, Constantius advanced through the ranks, earning the governorship of Dalmatia from Emperor Diocletian, another of Aurelian's companions from Illyricum , in 284 or 285. Constantine's mother was Helena , a Greek woman of low social standing from Helenopolis of Bithynia . It is uncertain whether she was legally married to Constantius or merely his concubine . His main language

3200-415: A year, rejected it. Constantine sent Galerius an official notice of Constantius' death and his own acclamation. Along with the notice, he included a portrait of himself in the robes of an augustus. The portrait was wreathed in bay . He requested recognition as heir to his father's throne and passed off responsibility for his unlawful ascension on his army, claiming they had "forced it upon him". Galerius

3360-661: Is an altar dedicated to the Sun and the Moon in CIL XIV, 2256 . The last epigraphic evidence regarding the Legio II Parthica at Albano is a series of little terracotta bricks which report the names of fome legionaries ( CIL XIV, 2267 , CIL XIV, 2268 , CIL XIV, 2293 ) - the oldest of these dates to 226, the latest was reused in the foundations of Albano Cathedral in the reign of Constantine. Only three mentions of

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3520-433: Is around 95,000 m. Unlike other fortresses, there were no external defensive ditches or earthworks, as indicated by a road which ran just outside the walls. The most substantial remains on this side are those of the porta praetoria , the monumental main entrance to the castra (instead of the more usual Porta Principalis), 36 m wide and still 14 m tall, and a unique example of legionary fortress architecture. It overlooked

3680-632: Is my Rome ". Sirmium and Thessalonica were also considered. Eventually, however, Constantine decided to work on the Greek city of Byzantium , which offered the advantage of having already been extensively rebuilt on Roman patterns of urbanism during the preceding century by Septimius Severus and Caracalla , who had already acknowledged its strategic importance. The city was thus founded in 324, dedicated on 11 May 330 and renamed Constantinopolis ("Constantine's City" or Constantinople in English). Special commemorative coins were issued in 330 to honor

3840-524: Is not known. His praenomen is variously given as Lucius , Marcus and Gaius . Whatever the case, praenomina had already disappeared from most public records by this time. He also adopted the name "Valerius", the nomen of emperor Diocletian , following his father's ascension as caesar . Constantine probably spent little time with his father who was an officer in the Roman army, part of Emperor Aurelian 's imperial bodyguard. Being described as

4000-450: Is one of the most unusual monuments of the castra and dates to the middle of the third century AD, well after the construction of the castra and even of the baths. The building, with a maximum length of 113 metres, could fit 14,850 seats and contain up to 16,000 people. The southern half of the amphitheatre is visible, while the northern part is buried under the retaining walls of San Francesco d'Assisi St and Anfiteatro Romano Street. Among

4160-466: Is somewhat doubtful, the fact is that he seems to have been far less open in his support of Christianity than Constantine. Therefore, Licinius was prone to see the Church as a force more loyal to Constantine than to the Imperial system in general, as the explanation offered by the Church historian Sozomen . This dubious arrangement eventually became a challenge to Constantine in the West, climaxing in

4320-518: Is the anonymous Origo Constantini , a work of uncertain date which focuses on military and political events to the neglect of cultural and religious matters. Lactantius ' De mortibus persecutorum , a political Christian pamphlet on the reigns of Diocletian and the Tetrarchy , provides valuable but tendentious detail on Constantine's predecessors and early life. The ecclesiastical histories of Socrates , Sozomen , and Theodoret describe

4480-594: Is venerated as a saint in Eastern Christianity , and he did much to push Christianity towards the mainstream of Roman culture. The age of Constantine marked a distinct epoch in the history of the Roman Empire and a pivotal moment in the transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages . He built a new imperial residence in the city of Byzantium and renamed it New Rome , later adopting

4640-570: The Legio II Parthica have been found in Italia outside of the area of Albano. The first of these is a tile dedicated by the legion to the goddess ( CIL XIV, 4090 ), which was found near the temple of Diana Aricina on Lake Nemi , in the nearby community of Nemi in 1884. The other two ( CIL V, 865 , CIL V, 866 ) were found near Aquileia in the Regio X Venetia et Histria . In

4800-506: The Via Flaminia , allowing the weakness of Maxentius to draw his regime further into turmoil. Maxentius' support continued to weaken: at chariot races on 27 October, the crowd openly taunted Maxentius, shouting that Constantine was invincible. Maxentius, no longer certain that he would emerge from a siege victorious, built a temporary boat bridge across the Tiber in preparation for a field battle against Constantine. On 28 October 312,

4960-413: The Ager Romanus (it was supplanted by Opus latericium ). The construction material is Peperino , extracted in situ from the volcanic soil on which the castra was built. The construction was made difficult by the position of the encampment on an 11 degree slope. The perimeter of the wall circuit is 1334 metres with sides northwest 434 m, southeast 437 m, northeast 224 m, southwest 239 m. The total area

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5120-790: The Catholic Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church maintain that he was baptised by Pope Sylvester I . He played an influential role in the proclamation of the Edict of Milan in 313, which declared tolerance for Christianity in the Roman Empire. He convoked the First Council of Nicaea in 325 which produced the statement of Christian belief known as the Nicene Creed . The Church of the Holy Sepulchre

5280-505: The Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Old St. Peter's Basilica . In constructing the Old St. Peter's Basilica, Constantine went to great lengths to erect the basilica on top of St. Peter 's resting place, so much so that it even affected the design of the basilica, including the challenge of erecting it on the hill where St. Peter rested, making its complete construction time over 30 years from

5440-656: The Temple of Jupiter . However, he did visit the Senatorial Curia Julia , and he promised to restore its ancestral privileges and give it a secure role in his reformed government; there would be no revenge against Maxentius' supporters. In response, the Senate decreed him "title of the first name", which meant that his name would be listed first in all official documents, and they acclaimed him as "the greatest augustus". He issued decrees returning property that

5600-417: The castra and a bulla from the time of Hadrian , which suggests that these buildings predated the castra and were razed to the ground during its construction. "An intricate pattern of walls" was found under the Piazza della Rotonda, where the excavators of 1915-1916 found the remains of the rooms mixed with blocks of peperino fallen from the nearby wall of the northwest side. Other rooms were identified in

5760-540: The castra : the via quintana (Fifth Street), which connected the rectangular guard towers. Given the location of one of these towers in Castro Partico Street, the remains of a perpendicular street were found on the part of the via principalis in San Francesco d'Asisi Street, a little past Liceo classico statale Ugo Foscolo. Remains of the circumductio , the street which encircled the walls on

5920-476: The de facto principle of dynastic succession by leaving the empire to his sons and other members of the Constantinian dynasty . His reputation flourished during the lifetime of his children and for centuries after his reign. The medieval church held him up as a paragon of virtue, while secular rulers invoked him as a prototype, a point of reference, and the symbol of imperial legitimacy and identity. At

6080-460: The piazza San Paolo and San Francesco d'Assisi Street. It is known to the Albanese as the Cisternoni (giant cisterns). The long sides measure 45.50 and 47.90 metres, while the short sides are 29.62 and 31.90 metres long, for a surface area of 1436.50 square metres and a capacity of 10,132 cubic metres of water. The structure, with five aisles, was carved into the bedrock as far as possible to

6240-767: The porta decumana which must have been around the middle of this stretch and was probably accessed by a staircase of a ramp. Past the Via San Francesco d'Assisi, on which the Medieval gate of the Cappuchins opened until the second half of the Nineteenth century, the wall follows the Via Tacito, on the property of the Daughters of Immaculate Mary . At the corner of their property, the rounded corner of

6400-648: The religiopolitical ideology known as Caesaropapism , which epitomizes the unity of church and state. He founded the city of Constantinople and made it the capital of the Empire, which remained so for over a millennium. Born in Naissus , in Dardania within Moesia Superior (now Niš , Serbia), Constantine was the son of Flavius Constantius , a Roman army officer of Illyrian origin who had been one of

6560-455: The via principalis survive: one near the porta principalis sinistra and the other on San Francesco d'Assisi Street, which was discovered during the archaeological excavations of 1915–1916, 1.1 metres below the modern ground level. This stretch is important because the crepido (sidewalk) facing the gutter was found. In the 1980s excavations carried out by the Museo civico of Albano Laziale and

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6720-402: The 1960s about fifty tombs were discovered, of which two thirds had mortuary inscriptions. All were made in the same way, with the graves dug into the living rock and covered by a monolithic block of peperino in the form of a roof or a lid. In the excavations of 1960-2 two unusual graves were found: a cippus grave with a broken column, characteristic of eastern tombs and a tomb with a cremation -

6880-604: The Arian Philostorgius also survive, though their biases are no less firm. The epitomes of Aurelius Victor ( De Caesaribus ), Eutropius ( Breviarium ), Festus ( Breviarium ), and the anonymous author of the Epitome de Caesaribus offer compressed secular political and military histories of the period. Although not Christian, the epitomes paint a favourable image of Constantine but omit reference to Constantine's religious policies. The Panegyrici Latini ,

7040-802: The Bosphorus and appointed Martinian , his magister officiorum , as nominal augustus in the West, but Constantine next won the Battle of the Hellespont and finally the Battle of Chrysopolis on 18 September 324. Licinius and Martinian surrendered to Constantine at Nicomedia on the promise their lives would be spared: they were sent to live as private citizens in Thessalonica and Cappadocia respectively, but in 325 Constantine accused Licinius of plotting against him and had them both arrested and hanged; Licinius' son (the son of Constantine's half-sister)

7200-555: The Bosporus and invaded European territory. Licinius departed and eventually defeated Maximinus, gaining control over the entire eastern half of the Roman Empire. Relations between the two remaining emperors deteriorated, as Constantine suffered an assassination attempt at the hands of a character that Licinius wanted elevated to the rank of Caesar; Licinius, for his part, had Constantine's statues in Emona destroyed. In either 314 or 316,

7360-540: The Christian community by allowing it to elect Eusebius as bishop of Rome . Maxentius' rule was nevertheless insecure. His early support dissolved in the wake of heightened tax rates and depressed trade; riots broke out in Rome and Carthage ; and Domitius Alexander was able to briefly usurp his authority in Africa. By 312, he was a man barely tolerated, not one actively supported, even among Christian Italians. In

7520-566: The Danube with a Sarmatian captive to drop at Galerius' feet. It is uncertain how much these tales can be trusted. Constantine recognised the implicit danger in remaining at Galerius' court, where he was held as a virtual hostage. His career depended on being rescued by his father in the West. Constantius was quick to intervene. In the late spring or early summer of 305, Constantius requested leave for his son to help him campaign in Britain. After

7680-609: The East, and the military strategic importance of protecting the Danube from barbarian excursions and Asia from a hostile Persia in choosing his new capital as well as being able to monitor shipping traffic between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Licinius' defeat came to represent the defeat of a rival centre of pagan and Greek-speaking political activity in the East, as opposed to the Christian and Latin-speaking Rome, and it

7840-643: The East, from Nicomedia ( İzmit , Turkey). The division was merely pragmatic: the empire was called "indivisible" in official panegyric, and both emperors could move freely throughout the empire. In 288, Maximian appointed Constantius to serve as his praetorian prefect in Gaul . Constantius left Helena to marry Maximian's stepdaughter Theodora in 288 or 289. Diocletian divided the empire again in 293, appointing two caesars to rule over further subdivisions of East and West. Each would be subordinate to his respective augustus but would act with supreme authority in his assigned lands. This system would later be called

8000-504: The Goths and Sarmatians in 322, and on the Goths in 323, defeating and killing their leader Rausimod . In 320, Licinius allegedly reneged on the religious freedom promised by the Edict of Milan and began to oppress Christians anew, generally without bloodshed, but resorting to confiscations and sacking of Christian office-holders. Although this characterization of Licinius as anti-Christian

8160-528: The Great , was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity . He played a pivotal role in elevating the status of Christianity in Rome, decriminalizing Christian practice and ceasing Christian persecution in a period referred to as the Constantinian shift . This initiated the Christianization of the Roman Empire . Constantine is associated with

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8320-511: The Italian turmoil; now, instead of giving Maxentius military aid, he sent his troops against Germanic tribes along the Rhine. In 308, he raided the territory of the Bructeri and made a bridge across the Rhine at Colonia Agrippinensium ( Cologne ). In 310, he marched to the northern Rhine and fought the Franks. When not campaigning, he toured his lands advertising his benevolence and supporting

8480-541: The Legio Parthica refused to accept him as sole emperor. He went in person to Castra Albana and convinced the legion to remain loyal increasing their stipend by 50% and improving the camp by having the Baths of Caracalla built. The amphitheatre was built in the middle of the 3rd century and could mark the end of the period of highest prosperity for the Legio II Parthica which may no longer have been there. The fortress

8640-478: The Piazza San Paolo from the same period. In general, the lodgings were built in opus latericium , interspersed with blocks of peperino from the end of the second century. In the 1980s, further remains of lodgings were identified, as well as a building with a portico on Castro Pretorio Street. The very large cistern of the castra is found under the property of the episcopal seminary, with access from

8800-570: The Picts and securing his control in the northwestern dioceses. He completed the reconstruction of military bases begun under his father's rule, and he ordered the repair of the region's roadways. He then left for Augusta Treverorum ( Trier ) in Gaul, the Tetrarchic capital of the northwestern Roman Empire. The Franks learned of Constantine's acclamation and invaded Gaul across the lower Rhine over

8960-690: The Praetorian Guard and Imperial Horse Guard . The tombstones of the Imperial Horse Guard were ground up and used in a basilica on the Via Labicana , and their former base was redeveloped into the Lateran Basilica on 9 November 312—barely two weeks after Constantine captured the city. The Legio II Parthica was removed from Albano Laziale , and the remainder of Maxentius' armies were sent to do frontier duty on

9120-471: The Ramacci company on the site of a demolished seminary on Castro Pretorio Street discovered the intersection between the via principalis and one of roads running parallel to the via praetoria . This street had been blocked with peperino pilasters in the Medieval period, a sign of the contraction of the inhabited area at the time. It has also been possible to identify the location of another street within

9280-418: The Rhine. In the following years, Constantine gradually consolidated his military superiority over his rivals in the crumbling Tetrarchy. In 313, he met Licinius in Milan to secure their alliance by the marriage of Licinius and Constantine's half-sister Constantia. During this meeting, the emperors agreed on the so-called Edict of Milan , officially granting full tolerance to Christianity and all religions in

9440-533: The Roman Empire. In February 313, he met with Licinius in Milan and developed the Edict of Milan, which stated that Christians should be allowed to follow their faith without oppression. This removed penalties for professing Christianity, under which many had been martyred previously , and it returned confiscated Church property. The edict protected all religions from persecution, not only Christianity, allowing anyone to worship any deity that they chose. A similar edict had been issued in 311 by Galerius, senior emperor of

9600-560: The Tetrarchy, which granted Christians the right to practise their religion but did not restore any property to them. The Edict of Milan included several clauses which stated that all confiscated churches would be returned, as well as other provisions for previously persecuted Christians. Some scholars think that Helena adopted Christianity as an adult, and according to Eusebius she was converted by Constantine, but other historians debate whether Constantine adopted his mother Helena's Christianity in his youth or whether he adopted it gradually over

9760-417: The Tetrarchy. Diocletian's first appointee for the office of Caesar was Constantius ; his second was Galerius , a native of Felix Romuliana . According to Lactantius , Galerius was a brutal, animalistic man. Although he shared the paganism of Rome's aristocracy, he seemed to them an alien figure, a semi-barbarian. On 1 March, Constantius was promoted to the office of Caesar, and dispatched to Gaul to fight

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9920-437: The Veronese forces and Maxentius' praetorian prefect, was in a strong defensive position since the town was surrounded on three sides by the Adige . Constantine sent a small force north of the town in an attempt to cross the river unnoticed. Ruricius sent a large detachment to counter Constantine's expeditionary force but was defeated. Constantine's forces successfully surrounded the town and laid siege. Ruricius gave Constantine

10080-465: The Via Appia 20 m away which passed in front of it and was a form of imperial propaganda aimed at passing travellers. Located at the midpoint of the wall, the gate was incorporated into a later building until the devastating Anglo-American aerial bombardment of 1 February 1944. The central archway measures around 3 x 5 m with a height of 14 metres while the two side archways were a little over 1 x 5 m. The two side chambers each measure 5.4 x 5 m. Further to

10240-435: The ancient wall is still visible, but the circular turret is not, though the need for the wall to bear its weight is reflected in the stronger structure of the wall. This is the best preserved side, including the remains of a rectangular guard tower and of the porta principalis sinistra as well as a long stretch of wall, preserved for 142 metres on the Via Castro Partico. Turning onto the Via Castro Partico sixty metres from

10400-410: The archaeological excavations of 1915–1916, they found walls of 4.5 x 4.5 metre rooms in various constructive techniques on top of older walls dating back to the 1st century BC, all along San Francesco d'Assisi Street from the rectangular tower to the porta principalis sinistra . Parallel walls were found in 1914 near the northwest side, in the Piazza della Rotonda. They are not aligned with the grid of

10560-492: The baths is a rectangular hall, 37 x 12 metres which is home to the Church of San Pietro . Underneath the sacristry of the church and near Cellomaio Street, a black and white mosaic floor from the baths was found. Other notable remains were the hypocaust heating system found in the garden of the Sisters of Jesus and Mary. The building structure is made up of a core of peperino gravel cement , broken up by stretches of brickwork and faced with mattone bricks. The amphitheatre

10720-499: The beginning of the Renaissance , there were more critical appraisals of his reign with the rediscovery of anti-Constantinian sources. Trends in modern and recent scholarship have attempted to balance the extremes of previous scholarship. Constantine was a ruler of major importance and has always been a controversial figure. The fluctuations in his reputation reflect the nature of the ancient sources for his reign. These are abundant and detailed, but they have been strongly influenced by

10880-429: The cipher of Christ. Having this sign (☧), his troops stood to arms." Eusebius describes a vision that Constantine had while marching at midday in which "he saw with his own eyes the trophy of a cross of light in the heavens, above the sun, and bearing the inscription, In Hoc Signo Vinces " ("In this sign thou shalt conquer"). In Eusebius's account, Constantine had a dream the following night in which Christ appeared with

11040-413: The coinage of Constantine advertised Mars as his patron. From 310 on, Mars was replaced by Sol Invictus , a god conventionally identified with Apollo. There is little reason to believe that either the dynastic connection or the divine vision are anything other than fiction, but their proclamation strengthened Constantine's claims to legitimacy and increased his popularity among the citizens of Gaul. By

11200-421: The course of his life. Constantine possibly retained the title of pontifex maximus which emperors bore as heads of the ancient Roman religion until Gratian renounced the title. According to Christian writers, Constantine was over 40 when he finally declared himself a Christian, making it clear that he owed his successes to the protection of the Christian High God alone. Despite these declarations of being

11360-430: The demotion and continued to style himself as augustus on his coinage, even as other members of the Tetrarchy referred to him as a caesar on theirs. Maximinus was frustrated that he had been passed over for promotion while the newcomer Licinius had been raised to the office of augustus and demanded that Galerius promote him. Galerius offered to call both Maximinus and Constantine "sons of the augusti", but neither accepted

11520-487: The earlier rupture in their relations, Maxentius was eager to present himself as his father's devoted son after his death. He began minting coins with his father's deified image, proclaiming his desire to avenge Maximian's death. Constantine initially presented the suicide as an unfortunate family tragedy. By 311, however, he was spreading another version. According to this, after Constantine had pardoned him, Maximian planned to murder Constantine in his sleep. Fausta learned of

11680-724: The east, inscriptions relating to the legion are found in Mesopotamia and Syria . Villa of Domitian Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.150 via cp1114 cp1114, Varnish XID 967285312 Upstream caches: cp1114 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 10:50:49 GMT Constantine I Constantine I ( Latin : Flavius Valerius Constantinus ; 27 February c.  272  – 22 May 337), also known as Constantine

11840-408: The eastern front by the spring of 303, in time to witness the beginnings of Diocletian's " Great Persecution ", the most severe persecution of Christians in Roman history. In late 302, Diocletian and Galerius sent a messenger to the oracle of Apollo at Didyma with an inquiry about Christians. Constantine could recall his presence at the palace when the messenger returned and Diocletian accepted

12000-475: The ecclesiastic disputes of Constantine's later reign. Written during the reign of Theodosius II (r. 402–450), a century after Constantine's reign, these ecclesiastical historians obscure the events and theologies of the Constantinian period through misdirection, misrepresentation, and deliberate obscurity. The contemporary writings of the orthodox Christian Athanasius and the ecclesiastical history of

12160-400: The economy and the arts. His refusal to participate in the war increased his popularity among his people and strengthened his power base in the West. Maximian returned to Rome in the winter of 307–308 but soon fell out with his son. In early 308, after a failed attempt to usurp Maxentius' title, Maximian returned to Constantine's court. On 11 November 308, Galerius called a general council at

12320-522: The elder Emperor Maximian and needed a new source of legitimacy. In a speech delivered in Gaul on 25 July 310, the anonymous orator reveals a previously unknown dynastic connection to Claudius II , a 3rd-century emperor famed for defeating the Goths and restoring order to the empire. Breaking away from tetrarchic models, the speech emphasizes Constantine's ancestral prerogative to rule, rather than principles of imperial equality. The new ideology expressed in

12480-402: The emperor's traditional purple robes . Constantine accepted the decision, knowing that it would remove doubts as to his legitimacy. Constantine's share of the empire consisted of Britain, Gaul, and Spain, and he commanded one of the largest Roman armies which was stationed along the important Rhine frontier. He remained in Britain after his promotion to emperor, driving back the tribes of

12640-442: The empire. The document had special benefits for Christians, legalizing their religion and granting them restoration for all property seized during Diocletian's persecution. It repudiates past methods of religious coercion and used only general terms to refer to the divine sphere—"Divinity" and "Supreme Divinity", summa divinitas . The conference was cut short, however, when news reached Licinius that his rival Maximinus had crossed

12800-720: The empire. He restructured the government, separating civil and military authorities. To combat inflation, he introduced the solidus , a new gold coin that became the standard for Byzantine and European currencies for more than a thousand years. The Roman army was reorganised to consist of mobile units ( comitatenses ), often around the Emperor, to serve on campaigns against external enemies or Roman rebels, and frontier-garrison troops ( limitanei ) which were capable of countering barbarian raids, but less and less capable, over time, of countering full-scale barbarian invasions . Constantine pursued successful campaigns against

12960-640: The event. The new city was protected by the relics of the True Cross , the Rod of Moses and other holy relics, though a cameo now at the Hermitage Museum also represented Constantine crowned by the tyche of the new city. The figures of old gods were either replaced or assimilated into a framework of Christian symbolism . Constantine built the new Church of the Holy Apostles on the site of

13120-402: The field bearing unfamiliar symbols on their standards and their shields. According to Lactantius "Constantine was directed in a dream to cause the heavenly sign to be delineated on the shields of his soldiers, and so to proceed to battle. He did as he had been commanded, and he marked on their shields the letter Χ, with a perpendicular line drawn through it and turned round thus at the top, being

13280-420: The first charge. His horse guards and praetorians initially held their position, but they broke under the force of a Constantinian cavalry charge; they also broke ranks and fled to the river. Maxentius rode with them and attempted to cross the bridge of boats ( Ponte Milvio ), but he was pushed into the Tiber and drowned by the mass of his fleeing soldiers. Constantine entered Rome on 29 October 312 and staged

13440-593: The foundations of modern houses. At the end of the northeastern side of the circuit wall, probable traces of a circular turret were found within the building of the Society of the Sacred Heart near San Paolo until the building's complete destruction by Allied aerial bombardment during the Second World War . The circular room inside the convent, described before the war, had a diameter of 3.6 m and

13600-484: The four rulers of the Tetrarchy . His mother, Helena , was a Greek woman of low birth, probably from Asia Minor in modern Turkey . Later canonised as a saint , she is traditionally credited for the conversion of her son. Constantine served with distinction under the Roman emperors Diocletian and Galerius . He began his career by campaigning in the eastern provinces (against the Persians ) before being recalled in

13760-488: The frequent references to the Legio II Parthica found in the inscriptions discovered at Selvotta would have to indicate a necropolis of the legion, located a short distance from the castra . A campaign of excavation and surveying in the area was carried out by Henzen, Hermann Dessau , and Rodolfo Lanciani at the end of the nineteenth century. Further campaigns were carried out by Giuseppe Lugli in 1908, 1910, 1913, 1945, and 1960-2 and by Maria Marchetti Longhi in 1916. In

13920-414: The great civil war of 324. Constantine's Christian eulogists present the war as a battle between Christianity and paganism; Licinius, aided by Gothic mercenaries, represented the past and ancient paganism, while Constantine and his Franks marched under the standard of the labarum . Outnumbered but fired by their zeal, Constantine's army emerged victorious in the Battle of Adrianople . Licinius fled across

14080-477: The ground near the piazza della Rotonda and Don Giovanni Minzoni Street have been called " thermae parvae " (Small Baths) in some reconstructions of the castra , to distinguish them from the " thermae magnae " (Large Baths), the Baths of Caracalla . These remains are under some houses on Don Giovanni Minzoni Street and are made up of two corridors, about a metre deep, one 2.70 metres long and the other 3.29 metres, with

14240-546: The honours that he had granted to leaders of the Senate were also invalidated. Constantine also attempted to remove Maxentius' influence on Rome's urban landscape. All structures built by him were rededicated to Constantine, including the Temple of Romulus and the Basilica of Maxentius . At the focal point of the basilica, a stone statue was erected of Constantine holding the Christian labarum in its hand. Its inscription bore

14400-404: The imperial court's demands for universal persecution. On 23 February 303, Diocletian ordered the destruction of Nicomedia' s new church, condemned its scriptures to the flames, and had its treasures seized. In the months that followed, churches and scriptures were destroyed, Christians were deprived of official ranks, and priests were imprisoned. It is unlikely that Constantine played any role in

14560-539: The inhabitants of the municipium of Bovillae (located on the Appian Way near the modern village of Frattocchie ), The adjective Albanus was also used as a poetic synonym for Romanus . The legio II Parthica came to be known as legio Albana and its legionaries as Albani , even though the whole legion did not remain at the Castra Albana but had other encampments in Mesopotamia . The Appian Way

14720-403: The last moment, that Diocletian would choose Constantine and Maxentius (Maximian's son) as his successors. It was not to be: Constantius and Galerius were promoted to augusti , while Severus and Maximinus , Galerius' nephew, were appointed their caesars respectively. Constantine and Maxentius were ignored. Some of the ancient sources detail plots that Galerius made on Constantine's life in

14880-516: The legion was called " Severiana " ( CIL XIV, 2274 , CIL XIV, 2276 , CIL XIV, 2285 , CIL XIV, 2290 , CIL XIV, 2291 , CIL XIV, 2293 , CIL XIV, 2294 , CIL XIV, 2296 ), and under Philip the Arab when the legion was called " Philippiana " ( CIL XIV, 2258 ). In CIL XIV, 2255 a temple consecrated to Minerva is mentioned and a shrine to Jupiter appears in CIL XIV, 2253 and CIL XIV, 2254 , while there

15040-530: The message which the statue illustrated: "By this sign, Constantine had freed Rome from the yoke of the tyrant." Constantine also sought to upstage Maxentius' achievements. For example, the Circus Maximus was redeveloped so that its seating capacity was 25 times larger than that of Maxentius' racing complex on the Via Appia . Maxentius' strongest military supporters were neutralised when he disbanded

15200-524: The middle of 310, Galerius had become too ill to involve himself in imperial politics. His final act survives: a letter to provincials posted in Nicomedia on 30 April 311, proclaiming an end to the persecutions, and the resumption of religious toleration. Eusebius maintains "divine providence [...] took action against the perpetrator of these crimes" and gives a graphic account of Galerius' demise: "Without warning suppurative inflammation broke out round

15360-408: The middle of his genitals, then a deep-seated fistula ulcer; these ate their way incurably into his innermost bowels. From them came a teeming indescribable mass of worms, and a sickening smell was given off, for the whole of his hulking body, thanks to over eating, had been transformed even before his illness into a huge lump of flabby fat, which then decomposed and presented those who came near it with

15520-455: The military city of Carnuntum ( Petronell-Carnuntum , Austria) to resolve the instability in the western provinces. In attendance were Diocletian, briefly returned from retirement, Galerius, and Maximian. Maximian was forced to abdicate again and Constantine was again demoted to caesar. Licinius , one of Galerius' old military companions, was appointed augustus in the western regions. The new system did not last long: Constantine refused to accept

15680-419: The miraculous or the supernatural when justifying or describing their warfare. Constantine deployed his own forces along the whole length of Maxentius' line. He ordered his cavalry to charge, and they broke Maxentius' cavalry. He then sent his infantry against Maxentius' infantry, pushing many into the Tiber where they were slaughtered and drowned. The battle was brief, and Maxentius' troops were broken before

15840-459: The modern Liceo classico statale Ugo Foscolo and around two hundred metres further on, the remains of the porta principalis sinistra are found - the only one of the two portae principales which can still be seen. The gate, considered one of the most beautiful remnants of the castra by the archaeologist Giuseppe Lugli , consisted of a single archway 3.8 metres wide. No traces of guard towers have been found on either side. The greater part of

16000-449: The modern piazza San Paolo , where some remains were found during some hydraulic work in 1904, arranged in horizontal layers to deal with the steep slope of the terrain. There the wall meets the corner described above in the section on the northeast side. The road system of a Roman castra consisted of two perpendicular main streets, the via praetoria and the via principalis , with smaller streets running parallel to them. The former ran

16160-416: The modern Albano Laziale for certain. Among the inscriptions referring to the legion and the castra , the most notable is CIL XIV, 2255 , while CIL XIV, 2257 is a prediction of the "eternal victory" of Elagabalus, in which the legion is called " Antoniana " after the full name of the reigning emperior. The same phenomenon is seen also in the reign of Septimius Severus or Alexander Severus , when

16320-402: The modern Giacomo Matteotti Road, many remains of the Appian Way have been found. There are also some remains at the end of Risorgimento Ave and Europe Ave. The Baths of Caracalla are even today the most conspicuous evidence of the castra ’s period of greatest splendour, built by Caracalla after the castra and probably for the garrison, but before the amphitheatre. The best conserved part of

16480-420: The months following Diocletian's abdication. They assert that Galerius assigned Constantine to lead an advance unit in a cavalry charge through a swamp on the middle Danube, made him enter into single combat with a lion, and attempted to kill him in hunts and wars. Constantine always emerged victorious: the lion emerged from the contest in a poorer condition than Constantine; Constantine returned to Nicomedia from

16640-545: The name Constantinople after himself, where it was located in modern Istanbul . It subsequently became the capital of the empire for more than a thousand years, the later Eastern Roman Empire often being referred to in English as the Byzantine Empire , a term never used by the Empire, invented by German historian Hieronymus Wolf . His more immediate political legacy was that he replaced Diocletian's Tetrarchy with

16800-431: The new title. By the spring of 310, Galerius was referring to both men as augusti. In 310, a dispossessed Maximian rebelled against Constantine while Constantine was away campaigning against the Franks. Maximian had been sent south to Arles with a contingent of Constantine's army, in preparation for any attacks by Maxentius in southern Gaul. He announced that Constantine was dead and took up the imperial purple. In spite of

16960-478: The north Italian plain sent Constantine embassies of congratulation for his victory. He moved on to Milan, where he was met with open gates and jubilant rejoicing. Constantine rested his army in Milan until mid-summer 312, when he moved on to Brixia ( Brescia ). Brescia's army was easily dispersed, and Constantine quickly advanced to Verona where a large Maxentian force was camped. Ruricius Pompeianus , general of

17120-596: The north without achieving great success. Constantius had become severely sick over the course of his reign and died on 25 July 306 in Eboracum . Before dying, he declared his support for raising Constantine to the rank of full Augustus. The Alamannic king Chrocus , a barbarian taken into service under Constantius, then proclaimed Constantine as augustus. The troops loyal to Constantius' memory followed him in acclamation. Gaul and Britain quickly accepted his rule; Hispania , which had been in his father's domain for less than

17280-480: The north, the wall is visible for stretches facing Via San Pancrazio. On the same street, the well-conserved remains of a circular guard tower can be accessed, 3.4 m below the modern ground level of the Via Alcide de Gasperi. The construction poses a problem: the vault of the single room is only 1.6 metres above the level of the intervallum and even allowing for the existence of a second story (per Giuseppe Lugli),

17440-406: The northwest side in the piazza della Rotonda, on San Gaspare del Bufalo Street and in the piazza San Paolo . Of the intervallum , the street which ran around the inside of the walls, remains are on the northeast side, as well as a good stretch near the porta praetoria and at the end of Aurelio Saffi Street on the southeast side, and also some on the northwest side. Outside the castra , under

17600-522: The official propaganda of the period and are often one-sided; no contemporaneous histories or biographies dealing with his life and rule have survived. The nearest replacement is Eusebius 's Vita Constantini —a mixture of eulogy and hagiography written between 335 and circa 339 —that extols Constantine's moral and religious virtues. The Vita creates a contentiously positive image of Constantine, and modern historians have frequently challenged its reliability. The fullest secular life of Constantine

17760-468: The old family alliance between Maximian and Constantius and offer support to Maxentius' cause in Italy. Constantine accepted and married Fausta in Trier in summer 307. Constantine gave Maxentius his meagre support, offering Maxentius political recognition. Constantine remained aloof from the Italian conflict, however. Over the spring and summer of 307, he had left Gaul for Britain to avoid any involvement in

17920-405: The only one in the necropolis. Wives and children were buried alongside the soldiers and there was no order to the arrangement of the tombs, although they were often grouped together. From analysis of the grave inscriptions it is clear that the greater part of the soldiers bore the praenomen Aurelius and therefore it is deduced that they served in the time of the legion's greatest prosperity, during

18080-491: The orator proclaims that Constantine experienced a divine vision of Apollo and Victory granting him laurel wreaths of health and a long reign. In the likeness of Apollo, Constantine recognised himself as the saving figure to whom would be granted "rule of the whole world", as the poet Virgil had once foretold. The oration's religious shift is paralleled by a similar shift in Constantine's coinage. In his early reign,

18240-639: The other direction to the Villa of Domitian. The Santa Maria della Rotonda is the best preserved Roman structure in Albano. The circular interior has a circumference of 49.1 m and mimicks the Pantheon in Rome on a reduced scale. It was probably a nymphaeum of the Villa of Domitian. Later it was restored and incorporated into the Severan complex and used as a public baths or cult site. The first theory would explain

18400-490: The other remains, partially carved from the living rock and partially built of opus quadratum , are the pulvinar (the Imperial box), some very unusual and "bizarre" substructural archways, and vomitoria (access corridors). Remains have been found of a paved street which probably followed the course of the modernday Anfiteatro Romano Street to link up with the Appian Way and followed the modern "galleria di sopra" in

18560-403: The outside, have been discovered along the north east side under the modern Tacito Street; along the southwest side near the aforementioned rectangular guard tower on Castro Partico Street, 1.5 metres below ground level at a spot 18 metres from the porta principalis sinistra , and a little further along in the public carpark; along the southeast side 0.5 metres below San Pancrazio Street; and along

18720-545: The panegyrist the opportunity to comment favourably on the similarities between father and son, and Eusebius remarked that Constantine was a "renewal, as it were, in his own person, of his father's life and reign". Constantinian coinage, sculpture, and oratory also show a tendency for disdain towards the "barbarians" beyond the frontiers. He minted a coin issue after his victory over the Alemanni which depicts weeping and begging Alemannic tribesmen, "the Alemanni conquered" beneath

18880-425: The paviment of white and black mosaic tesserae with mythological figures, today located in the portico of the church. The second theory is supported by a peperino pagan altar and by some tombs found during archaeological excavations in 1935–38. After the Severan period, the structure was used as a granary or cult building, before conversion to a Christian building around the eighth century. Some individual ruins in

19040-412: The persecution. In his later writings, he attempted to present himself as an opponent of Diocletian's "sanguinary edicts" against the "Worshippers of God", but nothing indicates that he opposed it effectively at the time. Although no contemporary Christian challenged Constantine for his inaction during the persecutions, it remained a political liability throughout his life. On 1 May 305, Diocletian, as

19200-440: The phrase "Romans' rejoicing". There was little sympathy for these enemies; as his panegyrist declared, "It is a stupid clemency that spares the conquered foe." Following Galerius' recognition of Constantine as caesar, Constantine's portrait was brought to Rome, as was customary. Maxentius mocked the portrait's subject as the son of a harlot and lamented his own powerlessness. Maxentius, envious of Constantine's authority, seized

19360-475: The plot and warned Constantine, who put a eunuch in his own place in bed. Maximian was apprehended when he killed the eunuch and was offered suicide, which he accepted. Along with using propaganda, Constantine instituted a damnatio memoriae on Maximian, destroying all inscriptions referring to him and eliminating any public work bearing his image. The death of Maximian required a shift in Constantine's public image. He could no longer rely on his connection to

19520-492: The quicker waters of the Rhone . He disembarked at Lugdunum ( Lyon ). Maximian fled to Massilia ( Marseille ), a town better able to withstand a long siege than Arles. It made little difference, however, as loyal citizens opened the rear gates to Constantine. Maximian was captured and reproved for his crimes. Constantine granted some clemency but strongly encouraged his suicide. In July 310, Maximian hanged himself . In spite of

19680-512: The rebels Carausius and Allectus . In spite of meritocratic overtones, the Tetrarchy retained vestiges of hereditary privilege, and Constantine became the prime candidate for future appointment as Caesar as soon as his father took the position. Constantine went to the court of Diocletian, where he lived as his father's heir presumptive . Constantine received a formal education at Diocletian's court, where he learned Latin literature, Greek, and philosophy. The cultural environment in Nicomedia

19840-781: The reigns of Caracalla (211-217) and Elagabalus (218-222). The women, on the other hand, have Italic names. There is little epigraphic testimony of the Legio II Parthica and a large amount of what there is was discovered around the necropolis in Selvotta. This large concentration of inscriptions ( CIL XIV, 3367 , CIL XIV, 3368 , CIL XIV, 3369 , CIL XIV, 3370 , CIL XIV, 3371 , CIL XIV, 3372 , CIL XIV, 3373 , CIL XIV, 3374 , CIL XIV, 3375 , CIL XIV, 3376 , CIL XIV, 3377 , CIL XIV, 3400 and many others) permitted archaeologists from Wilhelm Henzen onwards to identify Castra Albana with

20000-400: The rounded corner, the wall contains a rectangular guard tower, currently put to use as a farmhouse. The internal space measures 5.9 x 3.8 metres and the walls are 0.9 metres thick (except the exterior wall which is inexplicably only 0.6 metres thick). The entrance is still that used in antiquity, facing the inside of the castra and is 1.8 metres wide. The wall then continues on the property of

20160-451: The same heavenly sign and told him to make an army standard in the form of the labarum . Eusebius is vague about when and where these events took place, but it enters his narrative before the war begins against Maxentius. He describes the sign as Chi (Χ) traversed by Rho (Ρ) to form ☧, representing the first two letters of the Greek word ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ (Christos). A medallion was issued at Ticinum in 315 which shows Constantine wearing

20320-554: The same type of war he had waged against Severus and Galerius: he occupied Rome and prepared for a siege. He still controlled Rome's Praetorian Guard , was well-stocked with African grain, and was surrounded on all sides by the seemingly impregnable Aurelian Walls . He ordered all bridges across the Tiber cut, reportedly on the counsel of the gods, and left the rest of central Italy undefended; Constantine secured that region's support without challenge. Constantine progressed slowly along

20480-544: The sixth anniversary of his reign, he approached the keepers of the Sibylline Books for guidance. The keepers prophesied that, on that very day, "the enemy of the Romans" would die. Maxentius advanced north to meet Constantine in battle. Maxentius' forces were still twice the size of Constantine's, and he organised them in long lines facing the battle plain with their backs to the river. Constantine's army arrived on

20640-422: The slip and returned with a larger force to oppose Constantine. Constantine refused to let up on the siege and sent only a small force to oppose him. In the desperately fought encounter that followed, Ruricius was killed and his army destroyed. Verona surrendered soon afterwards, followed by Aquileia , Mutina ( Modena ), and Ravenna . The road to Rome was now wide open to Constantine. Maxentius prepared for

20800-460: The so-called Baths of Caracalla and the Amphitheatre, can still be seen. The fortress of Legio II Parthica was named Albana after the area which included Lacus Albanus , Mons Albanus , aqua Albana (perhaps an aqueduct on the south side of the lake), the rivus Albanus (probably the modern marana delle Pietrare near Marino ) and " Albani Longani Bovillenses ", the official name of

20960-434: The speech made Galerius and Maximian irrelevant to Constantine's right to rule. Indeed, the orator emphasizes ancestry to the exclusion of all other factors: "No chance agreement of men, nor some unexpected consequence of favour, made you emperor," the orator declares to Constantine. The oration also moves away from the religious ideology of the Tetrarchy, with its focus on twin dynasties of Jupiter and Hercules . Instead,

21120-564: The stretch of the Appian Way between Bovillae and Aricia (modern Frattocchie in Marino and Ariccia ) was completely free of buildings. In the Republican period , the area of the later castra was occupied by fortifications remains of which were found at various points in central Albano Laziale. Domitian built his palace near Castel Gandolfo on an estate containing several imperial properties, with an area of about 14 km. The villa

21280-579: The summer of 305. From Bononia, they crossed the English Channel to Britain and made their way to Eboracum ( York ), capital of the province of Britannia Secunda and home to a large military base. Constantine was able to spend a year in northern Britain at his father's side, campaigning against the Picts beyond Hadrian's Wall in the summer and autumn. Constantius' campaign, like that of Septimius Severus before it, probably advanced far into

21440-581: The summer of 311, Maxentius mobilised against Constantine while Licinius was occupied with affairs in the East. He declared war on Constantine, vowing to avenge his father's "murder". To prevent Maxentius from forming an alliance against him with Licinius, Constantine forged his own alliance with Licinius over the winter of 311–312 and offered him his sister Constantia in marriage. Maximinus considered Constantine's arrangement with Licinius an affront to his authority. In response, he sent ambassadors to Rome, offering political recognition to Maxentius in exchange for

21600-612: The throne after the Year of the Five Emperors and a violent civil war and temporarily dissolved the Praetorian Guard and brought the Legio II Parthica near Rome for his personal and political security. This legion had been created in 197 for the (successful) campaign against Parthia which ended in 198. Its site on a steep slope had a panoramic view for observation of the Ager Romanus . When Caracalla (211-217) came to power after assassinating his brother and co-emperor, Geta ,

21760-580: The title of emperor on 28 October 306. Galerius refused to recognize him but failed to unseat him. Severus was sent against Maxentius in April 307, but during the campaign, Severus' armies, previously under command of Maxentius' father Maximian, defected, and Severus was seized and imprisoned. Maximian, brought out of retirement by his son's rebellion, left for Gaul to confer with Constantine. He offered to marry his daughter Fausta to Constantine and elevate him to augustan rank. In return, Constantine would reaffirm

21920-456: The tower would not have reached a plausible height to be a guard tower. The conclusion is that this was a special construction, perhaps only for symmetry with the now-destroyed tower of the southeast corner. At any rate, it has a diameter of 1.2 m, a height of 2.1 m and its walls are 0.9 m thick. Other remains of the wall on this side were found in 1913, during the construction of the modern piazza Giosuè Carducci, and more have been incorporated into

22080-673: The town quickly. Constantine ordered his troops not to loot the town and advanced into northern Italy. At the approach to the west of the important city of Augusta Taurinorum ( Turin , Italy), Constantine met a large force of heavily armed Maxentian cavalry. In the ensuing Battle of Turin Constantine's army encircled Maxentius' cavalry, flanked them with his own cavalry, and dismounted them with blows from his soldiers' iron-tipped clubs. Constantine's armies emerged victorious. Turin refused to give refuge to Maxentius' retreating forces, opening its gates to Constantine instead. Other cities of

22240-809: The tribes on the Roman frontiers —such as the Franks , the Alemanni , the Goths , and the Sarmatians —and resettled territories abandoned by his predecessors during the Crisis of the Third Century with citizens of Roman culture. Although Constantine lived much of his life as a pagan and later as a catechumen , he began to favour Christianity beginning in 312, finally becoming a Christian and being baptised by Eusebius of Nicomedia , an Arian bishop, although

22400-445: The two augusti fought against one another at the Battle of Cibalae , with Constantine being victorious. They clashed again at the Battle of Mardia in 317 and agreed to a settlement in which Constantine's sons Crispus and Constantine II , and Licinius' son Licinius Junior were made caesars . After this arrangement, Constantine ruled the dioceses of Pannonia and Macedonia and took residence at Sirmium , whence he could wage war on

22560-488: The wall of this side, after the aforementioned circular tower is buried under modern houses. Presumably, the porta principalis dextra was located on the location of a courtyard off the Via Don Giovanni Minzoni. The wall then proceeded along the line of the facades of the houses on the south side of the modern Via San Gaspare del Bufalo, passing the sixteenth century Trident of the streets , and ending at

22720-562: The west (in AD ;305) to fight alongside his father in the province of Britannia . After his father's death in 306, Constantine was proclaimed as augustus (emperor) by his army at Eboracum ( York , England). He eventually emerged victorious in the civil wars against emperors Maxentius and Licinius to become the sole ruler of the Roman Empire by 324. Upon his ascension, Constantine enacted numerous reforms to strengthen

22880-457: The whole length of the castra , connecting the porta praetoria with the porta decumana , passing through the praetorium (Headquarters), while the via principalis connected the two portae principales distinguished as sinistra (Left) and dextra (Right). Stretches of both of these streets have been excavated; only a short stretch of the via praetoria , near the homonymous gate on the modern Alcide De Gasperi Street, while two stretches of

23040-401: The winter of 306–307. He drove them back beyond the Rhine and captured kings Ascaric and Merogais ; the kings and their soldiers were fed to the beasts of Trier Amphitheater in the adventus (arrival) celebrations which followed. Constantine began a major expansion of Trier. He strengthened the circuit wall around the city with military towers and fortified gates, and he began building

23200-487: Was Latin , and during his public speeches he needed Greek translators. In April 286, Diocletian declared Maximian , another colleague from Illyricum, his co-emperor. Each emperor would have his own court, his own military and administrative faculties, and each would rule with a separate praetorian prefect as chief lieutenant. Maximian ruled in the West, from his capitals at Mediolanum ( Milan , Italy) or Augusta Treverorum ( Trier , Germany), while Diocletian ruled in

23360-488: Was abandoned in the late 3rd or early 4th century and the civilian town expanded over it. Constantine I (306-337) founded the Cathedral of San Giovanni Battista at Albano Laziale during the pontificate of Pope Silvester I (314-335), providing it with decorations and substantial property nearby, including the sceneca deserta vel domos civitatis (the abandoned tents or the houses of the city). The modern Albano Laziale

23520-576: Was born on 27 February, c.  AD 272 in the city of Naissus , a time where the unity of the Empire was threatened by the breakaway wars of the Palmyrene Empire . The city—which is modern day Niš in Serbia —was located in Dardania within Moesia Superior . His father was Flavius Constantius an Illyrian who was born in the same region, and a native of the province of Moesia. His original full name, as well as that of his father,

23680-644: Was built in 312 BC to connect Rome with Capua and passed through the Alban Hills. in Campania . The ease of direct communication with Rome led to many suburban villas of Roman nobles being built in the area, including the villas of Publius Clodius Pulcher (near Ercolano in Castel Gandolfo ). and perhaps of Pompey the Great (in the Villa Doria ) Nevertheless, until the time of Domitian ,

23840-658: Was built on his orders at the claimed site of Jesus' tomb in Jerusalem and was deemed the holiest place in all of Christendom . The papal claim to temporal power in the High Middle Ages was based on the fabricated Donation of Constantine . He has historically been referred to as the "First Christian Emperor", but while he did favour the Christian Church, some modern scholars debate his beliefs and even his comprehension of Christianity. Nevertheless, he

24000-629: Was built on the remains of the castra which are generally found up to 2 m below the modern ground level. Like all Roman castra , the Castra Albana followed a regular design of a large fortified rectangle with rounded corners reinforced by circular turrets (an unusual feature, but similar to the castra of Hadrian's Wall in Britain ), and with four gates ( praetoria , decumana , principalis sinistra and principalis dextra ),. The walls are of opus quadratum , one of its latest appearances in

24160-572: Was covered by a low dome of very poor workmanship, probably a modern repair. A well-preserved stretch of about fifty metres serves as the boundary wall between the episcopal seminary and the Missionaries of the Precious Blood , which govern the church of San Paulo. This stretch was built with very great care, because it had to function as the external retaining wall. For this reason it is also very monumental and robust. No trace remains of

24320-403: Was discovered in 1915–6 at the intersection of Alcide De Gasperi Street and San Francesco d'Assisi Street. The first discoveries near Selvotta, a place on the borders between Albano Laziale and Ariccia , were made in 1866 by a farmer called Lorenzo Fortunato and were analysed by the young Russian archaeologist Nicola Wendt. The German archaeologist Wilhelm Henzen was the first to suggest that

24480-404: Was killed in 326. Thus Constantine became the sole emperor of the Roman Empire. Diocletian had chosen Nicomedia in the East as his capital during the Tetrarchy —not far from Byzantium, well situated to defend Thrace, Asia, and Egypt, all of which had required his military attention. Constantine had recognised the shift of the empire from the remote and depopulated West to the richer cities of

24640-439: Was lost under Maxentius, recalling political exiles, and releasing Maxentius' imprisoned opponents. An extensive propaganda campaign followed, during which Maxentius' image was purged from all public places. He was written up as a "tyrant" and set against an idealised image of Constantine the "liberator". Eusebius is the best representative of this strand of Constantinian propaganda. Maxentius' rescripts were declared invalid, and

24800-649: Was nonetheless a prominent member of the court: he fought for Diocletian and Galerius in Asia and served in a variety of tribunates ; he campaigned against barbarians on the Danube in 296 and fought the Persians under Diocletian in Syria in 297, as well as under Galerius in Mesopotamia in 298–299. By late 305, he had become a tribune of the first order, a tribunus ordinis primi . Constantine had returned to Nicomedia from

24960-528: Was not yet a Christian. He probably judged it a more sensible policy than open persecution and a way to distinguish himself from the "great persecutor" Galerius. He decreed a formal end to persecution and returned to Christians all that they had lost during them. Constantine was largely untried and had a hint of illegitimacy about him; he relied on his father's reputation in his early propaganda, which gave as much coverage to his father's deeds as to his. His military skill and building projects, however, soon gave

25120-474: Was open, fluid, and socially mobile; in it, Constantine could mix with intellectuals both pagan and Christian. He may have attended the lectures of Lactantius, a Christian scholar of Latin in the city. Because Diocletian did not completely trust Constantius—none of the Tetrarchs fully trusted their colleagues—Constantine was held as something of a hostage, a tool to ensure Constantius' best behavior. Constantine

25280-524: Was probably garrisoned by a detachment of the Praetorian Guard when the Emperor was in residence. The villa was frequently used by Domitian but later fell into disuse, on account of the construction of Villa of Hadrian at Tivoli in (117-136), who also began a policy of selling surplus Imperial property, including some of the villas on the edge of "Albanum Caesarum". The castra was built in about 198 by Septimius Severus (193-211) who came to

25440-485: Was proposed that a new Eastern capital should represent the integration of the East into the Roman Empire as a whole, as a centre of learning, prosperity, and cultural preservation for the whole of the Eastern Roman Empire. Among the various locations proposed for this alternative capital, Constantine appears to have toyed earlier with Serdica (present-day Sofia ), as he was reported saying that " Serdica

25600-445: Was put into a fury by the message; he almost set the portrait and messenger on fire. His advisers calmed him and argued that outright denial of Constantine's claims would mean certain war. Galerius was compelled to compromise: he granted Constantine the title "caesar" rather than "augustus" (the latter office went to Severus instead). Wishing to make it clear that he alone gave Constantine legitimacy, Galerius personally sent Constantine

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