Constantine, Divine Emperor of the Christian Golden Age

Constantine, Divine Emperor of the Christian Golden Age offers a radical reassessment of Constantine as an emperor, a pagan and a Christian. The book examines in detail a wide variety of evidence, including literature, secular and religious architectural monuments, coins, sculpture and other works of art. Setting the emperor in the context of the kings and emperors who preceded him, Jonathan Bardill shows how Constantine's propagandists exploited the traditional themes and imagery of rulership to portray him as having been elected by the supreme solar God to save his people and inaugurate a brilliant golden age. The author argues that the cultivation of this image made it possible for Constantine to reconcile the long-standing tradition of imperial divinity with his monotheistic faith by assimilating himself to Christ.

Introduction; 1. A change of image; 2. Emperors and divine protectors; 3. The saving ruler and the Logos-Nomos; 4. The hippodrome procession; 5. The symbol from the sun, the standard, and the sarcophagus; 6. The Roman Colossus; 7. Constantine and Christianity; 8. Sol and Christianity; 9. Constantine as Christ; Epilogue.

A radical reassessment of Constantine as an emperor, a pagan and a Christian. This book explores how Constantine's propagandists exploited the traditional themes and imagery of rulership to portray him as having been elected by the supreme solar God to save his people and inaugurate a brilliant golden age.

Jonathan Bardill has held fellowships at the University of Oxford, Dumbarton Oaks, Newcastle University and Koç University's Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations, Istanbul. He has contributed articles to numerous archaeological and historical journals, including the American Journal of Archaeology, the Journal of Roman Archaeology and Dumbarton Oaks Papers, as well as several edited volumes, including Social and Political Life in Late Antiquity and The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. He is the author of the reference work Brickstamps of Constantinople.

Constantine, Divine Emperor of the Christian Golden Age offers a radical reassessment of Constantine as an emperor, a pagan and a Christian. The book examines in detail a wide variety of evidence, including literature, secular and religious architectural monuments, coins, sculpture and other works of art. Setting the emperor in the context of the kings and emperors who preceded him, Jonathan Bardill shows how Constantine's propagandists exploited the traditional themes and imagery of rulership to portray him as having been elected by the supreme solar God to save his people and inaugurate a brilliant golden age. The author argues that the cultivation of this image made it possible for Constantine to reconcile the long-standing tradition of imperial divinity with his monotheistic faith by assimilating himself to Christ.