“Constantine: Roman Emperor, Christian Victor”, by Paul Stephenson

 

352 pages, Harry N. Abrams, ISBN-13: 978-1590203248

Mr. Stephenson, the author of Constantine: Roman Emperor, Christian Victor, would appear to be a competent historian who certainly knows a great deal about Roman civilization, but while he may think that “[t]his work…is as much a story as a history”, that statement would seem to have been intended more for his peers, rather than for the public at large, for from a casual reader’s perspective Constantine comes across as more of a straight-up history than as the “story” of Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus Augustus, the Emperor Constantine I (or “the Great”, if you like). For, although (as the author says) there are no notes in the narrative, that narrative – the “story” so called – is routinely sidetracked by detailed descriptions and in-depth analyses of ancient monuments, which contrast what the historians of the day would have us believe and what the inscriptions on the monuments tell us. Furthermore, those looking for a general historical biography will be disappointed, as will those looking for a military history or narrative account of Constantine’s life, as Stephenson has written an admittedly fascinating scholarly examination of the Emperor’s imperial ideology.

He meticulously examines artifacts, murals, sculptures in great (at times, too great) detail to describe how Constantine projected his power and wanted to appear to the masses; there is a great discussion of various religions competing with Christianity, the ideology of the imperial cult and how Constantine co-opted existing pagan symbolism and iconography into his new Christian religion in an attempt to unify the empire (it really is fascinating to see the author describe how many of the holidays Christians take for granted were co-opted from the pagans and reused and recycled, all with the intention of converting the pagan hordes). What we get, then, is contrary to the traditional tale of Constantine, that the historian Eusebius described as a vision Constantine had while marching at midday in which “he saw with his own eyes in the heavens and a trophy of the cross arising from the light of the sun, carrying the message, In Hoc Signo Vinces” (in this sign you will conquer). The implication, rather, is that Constantine didn’t experience this epiphany, suddenly convert to Christianity and make Christianity the official religion of Rome; but, as Stephenson indicates, he was gradually converted to Christianity over a period of many years.

As to why Constantine did so, perhaps the old saw “If You Can’t Beat ‘em, Join ‘em” applies best: if you cannot destroy an organization and its belief system, then why not join that organization and take control of it; then, once you have assumed this control, one can always pervert the initial teachings and insert his or her own people into the hierarchical structure of the organization and destroy the ideas and beliefs from within. This is what many argue was done to Christianity. So if you want to learn a bit about Constantine and about how the Roman Empire made the transition from pagan to Christian, you will certainly learn a lot by reading this book…but you’ll also learn a lot more about Roman history and about the Roman Empire’s monuments than you will about the Christian Emperor who, near the end of his life, termed himself Victor Constantine.