Table of Contents
List of Maps and Stemmata xi
Preface xxiii
Introduction 1
Part I Faith and Power in the Third Century
1 Religion in the Later Roman Empire 13
Roman state religion and imperial cults
The cult of the standards
Private religious devotion and cults
The mysteries of Mithras
2 The Rise of Christianity 38
Women and the spread of Christianity
Christianity as an urban phenomenon
Christian exceptionalism and martyrdom
Early Christian attitudes to warfare
Christians in the Roman army
Military martyrs and warrior saints
3 The Unconquered Emperor and his Divine Patron 62
The crisis of empire
The emperor and the army
The Roman theology of victory
The unconquered emperor and the Sun - Aurelian
Christ the true Sun
4 The Tetrarchy 87
The first Tetrarchy
Jovians and Herculians
The Caesars at war
The army of the Tetrarchs
The Great Persecution
Lactantius: On the Deaths of the Persecutors
Part II Constantine Invictus
5 Constantine Invictus 113
The second Tetrarchy
Constantine's accession
Trier
A vision
The road to Rome
The Battle of the Milvian Bridge
Constantine Invictus and the theology of victory
6 Constantine and Rome 141
Maxentius in Rome
Adventus Constantini
The Arch of Constantine
Meanwhile: Licinius and Maximinus Daia
Constantine confronts Licinius
7 Constantine's Conversion 167
A Christian education
The setting Sun?
Legislating toleration
The battle for toleration
Eusebius and the labarum
A common vision?
8 Constantinople 190
Nikopolis: victory city
Location and foundation
The monumental core
A Christian city?
A second senate
A new Alexander, a new Moses
Part III Victor Constantine
9 Victor Constantine 215
Victor eris
The new Flavians and the Great Cameo
The deaths of Crispus and Fausta
Goths and Sarmatians
Christian soldiers?
The Greatest Victor
10 Constantine Maximus Augustus 236
Government
Life at court
Pentarchy
Persia
The Holy Places
11 Constantine and the Bishops 256
Constantine the universal bishop
The Donatist schism and the Council of Aries
The Arians and the Council of Nicaea
The Christian emperor after Nicaea
The Church after Constantine
12 Death and Succession 279
Constantine's death
Apotheosis
Constantine as Christ The succession
Constantius Victor
Christian victory
Conclusion 303
Glossary 309
Abbreviations 313
Primary Sources 314
Bibliographical Essays 316
Index 351