Constantine II

Origin

Constantine II belonged to the second dynasty of Flavius , whose representatives were Roman emperors, beginning in 293. His father was Constantine the Great , the son of Constance Chlorus and Helen of the Equal-to-the-Apostles . Some sources call Chlorus the granddaughter of Claudius II of Gotha (emperor in 268-270) ^[1] , but in historiography this is considered a fiction ^[2] .

Constantine II was the second son in the family. Sources either do not report anything about his mother, or claim that it was the wife of his father, Flavius ​​Maxim Faust , the daughter of Emperor Maximian . Scientists who consider Constantine's most likely birth date to be February 317, reject Fausta's motherhood, because just seven months later this matron gave birth to another baby, Constance ^[3] . According to this point of view, Konstantin was an illegitimate child: some resident of the city of Arelat in Gaul , who was a short time mistress of the emperor, could have given birth to him. It is known that Constantine the Great at the beginning of May 316, nine months before the alleged birth of his son, was in Vienne and from there could make a short trip to Arelat ^[4] . Zosim calls the son of the concubine not Constantine, but Constance ^[5] , and there is an opinion that he simply confused this representative of the dynasty with his older brother ^[6] . But there is another option: Constantine II could be born from Faust, but not in 317, but earlier ^[3] .

The brothers of Constantine, in addition to Constantius, were the son of Minervina Crisp , born about 305, and another son of Faust Constant , born in 320 or 323. He also had sisters, Konstantin and Elena ^{[7] [8]} .

Early years

Constantine II was born in Arelate. The exact date of this event is unknown: various authors write about March 314 ^[9] , summer ^[10] , or rather, August 7, 316 ^[11] , February 317 ^[4] . On March 1, 317 (possibly in the first month of his life) in Sirmia, Constantine was proclaimed Caesar along with his approximately twelve-year-old half-brother Crispus and cousin Licinian (son of the then-ruler of East Licinius ), who was twenty months old ^{[12] [13]} . In childhood, Konstantin received the consulate four times: in 320, 321, 324 and 329, and in the first and fourth cases his father was a colleague, and in the second and third - his older brother. Licinius' dissatisfaction with the fact that the honorable position was given to this boy, and not his son, was one of the reasons for the deterioration of relations between the two emperors, which led to an open conflict ^[3] . In particular, Licinius did not recognize the consuls of 321, declaring himself and his son as consuls in the East ^{[14] [15]} ; later the war broke out, in which by 324 Constantine Sr. had won, becoming the master of the entire empire.

Young Caesar celebrated his quinquennials in 321, and decenals in 326. During the first of these holidays, Konstantin was at his father’s court in Serdik , in Moesia , and even then they expected him to soon command the armies; Konstantin had to play the nominal role of a military leader in Gaul shortly after 326, when his brother Crispus was executed by his father ^[4] .

Starting at least 331 years old, Constantine wore the honorary title Alemanni ( Alamannicus ). Such a name is not fixed in relation to his brother or father, and hence the researchers conclude that the merit of victory over the German tribe of Alemanni was attributed only to this member of the dynasty. When the Sarmatians asked Rome for help against the Goths - Tervings , Constantine the Great sent Constantine to them with the army, and he himself remained with the reserve army in Martianopol . Caesar crossed the Danube and defeated the enemy in a big battle on April 20, 332 ^[16] . Sources do not provide details ^[17] ; it is only known that on the side of the Goths five hundred horsemen from the German tribe of typhals participated in the battle. After this rout, almost one hundred thousand Goths perished from hunger and cold. The survivors entered into an agreement with the empire, according to which they provided hostages, including the son of the leader, pledged to supply a certain number of soldiers for cash and received the right to trade on the Danube ^{[18] [19] [20]} .

Soon the Sarmatians started a war with Rome, but Constantine also defeated them (maybe ^[21] , just then a stone bridge was built across the Danube, mentioned by Pseudo-Aurelius Victor ^[22] ). Later, according to sources, up to three hundred thousand Sarmatians received land from the imperial authorities for settlement (in Thrace , Pannonia , Macedonia and Italy). In 333, his father transferred Constantine to the Rhine border, in Augusta Treverorum ^[23] ; around these years (and precisely before the year 335), Caesar married ^[21] .

Paternal Inheritance

Feeling the approach of death, Constantine the Great in 335 divided the empire between his sons and nephews. Constantine Jr. received the lands that his grandfather Constantius Chlorus once ruled over - Gaul (one of the sources dating back to Philostorgius writes that “Lower Gaul” went to Constant, but it is unclear what is meant ^[24] ) and Britain , as well as Spain ; thus he ruled the entire west of the empire. The Byzantine historian Zonara also names Tingitansky Mauritania among his possessions ^[25] . At the same time, Constant got Italy , Africa and Pannonia , Constance - Asia , Syria and Egypt , their cousin Hannibalian the Younger Roman Armenia and Pontus , and another cousin Dalmatia the Younger - a number of Balkan provinces, including the new capital of the empire of Constantinople ^[26] . It is believed that in this way the emperor restored the Diocletian system of the tetrarchy , but on a new basis: now the co-rulers were members of the same family ^[27] . According to the assumption of Jacob Burkhardt , Constantine did not give the capital to any of his sons, so that they would not begin to challenge this city from each other ^[28] .

On May 22, 337, Constantine the Great died at one of his villas in Bithynia . His body was brought to Constantinople; the emperor’s eldest son, who was then in the West, could not come to the funeral, and in his absence tragic events took place in the capital, of which little is known. The soldiers of the local garrison rebelled, saying that they wanted to obey only the sons of the deceased emperor, but not their nephews, and staged a massacre in which a number of representatives of the dynasty died. In particular, Dalmatius the Younger, Hannibalian the Younger, the brothers of Constantine the Great, Dalmatius the Elder and Julius Constantius with his son, four more emperor’s nephews were killed. As a result, of the entire ramified dynasty, only three sons of Constantine and three nephews ( Constantius Gall , Julian and Nepocian ) survived ^[29] .

There is no consensus on the causes of these events. Philostorgius writes that Konstantin was poisoned by his brothers and, “having exposed the cunning plan,” demanded that his sons avenge him; Constantius, the only one of the three who came to the funeral, complied with this requirement ^[30] . Julian, becoming emperor, saw Constantius ^{[31] as} criminal arbitrariness in the incident, and researchers have different views on this view of the problem. In particular, there is an opinion that the massacre was organized jointly by all the sons of Constantine the Great ^[23] . Finally, there are hypotheses that the three Caesars have nothing to do with it: the events of 337 can be interpreted as a military action against the political system created by the deceased emperor ^[32] or a clash of the Nicene people with the Arians ^[33] .

In any case, Constantius, Constant and Constantine quickly established control over the situation and adopted the titles of August (September 9, 337). From that moment on, they ruled the empire three together ^[21] .

Board

From the very beginning, tensions began to arise between the brothers on various issues. So, Konstantin gave the Treverorum hiding in August the bishop Athanasius the official permission to return to his diocese, to Alexandria , which was in Constantia’s possessions, although the latter was categorically against ^[23] . In these attempts, some researchers see the desire of the ruler to assert his power throughout the empire. However, this could not have real consequences due to the too weak position of Constantine, who remained in the far West at the same time as the de facto role of the senior emperor passed to Constance ^[34] .

To resolve all controversial issues, the three Augustas met in the summer of 338 in the capital of Moesia Viminatsium . During the meeting, it was decided to stop the repressions that began after the tragic events of Constantinople and burn all anonymous denunciations, as well as allow all Christian bishops expelled during church feuds to return to their dioceses. But the main theme was the division of the empire, or rather, the fate of Achaea , Macedonia and Thrace with Constantinople, which belonged to the deceased Dalmatia the Younger. This issue has become a stumbling block for the brothers. In the end, it was decided that the disputed provinces would go to the youngest, Constant ^[35] . It was assumed that in this way the empire was divided into three parts of equal strength, and this was to become a reliable guarantee of peace ^[36] .

In the future, according to some sources, Konstantin took custody of the too young Constant, who in the year 338 was 15 or 18 years old. The elder brother issued legislative acts for the possessions of the younger, appointed senior officials for these territories. Constant tried to resist this, relying on the support of Constance; in order to cement an alliance with the latter, he even abandoned Thrace. After making sure that it was not possible to control the provinces through his brother, Konstantin tried to expand his possessions directly: he demanded that Constant give him Africa and Italy, and when he was refused, he started the war ^[37] . However, not all historians agree with this interpretation. There is an opinion that it is not necessary to talk about Konstantin’s personal custody of his underage brother: the eldest of the sons of Konstantin the Great already had special rights throughout the empire, including the land of Constance, as the senior emperor. Such a conclusion can be drawn, in particular, from numismatic data and from inscriptions calling this ruler (but not his brothers) “The Greatest Augustus” ( Maximus Augustus ) ^[38] .

According to the German researcher Bruno Blackman, only one document from the Chancellery of Constantine can be considered a legislative act intended for the possession of Constant: this is a message to the African consul Celsin , compiled in August Treverorum on January 8, 339. The question remains whether Celsin submitted to the senior emperor. In any case, in the internecine war that soon began, he apparently supported Constant. There is a possibility that the message really has nothing to do with Constantine II: this emperor is indicated only by the name of the city, which could have appeared by mistake ^[39] .

War with Constant and Doom

All sources reporting at least something about the causes of the war between Constantine II and Constant blame the eldest of the brothers, who claimed the lands of the younger. According to the data of Pseudo-Aurelius Victor and Zosim , Constantine was initially unhappy that Italy and Africa went to Constant; Zonara writes that Constantine demanded a territorial redistribution. By 340, Constantius was busy with the war with the Persians on the eastern border, so that Constantine could not be afraid of his intervention, and he, according to Zonara, justified the movement of his army south, by the need to help his middle brother. The Byzantine chronicler Leo Grammatik claims that Konstantin really moved to the eastern border, but Constantius, under the influence of bad advisers, misunderstood everything; as a result, an internecine battle took place in which the eldest of the brothers died. Apparently, Leo simply confused Constance with Constant ^[40] .

At the beginning of 340, Constantine moved the army across the Alps. Presumably, he deliberately chose the moment when Constant was not in Italy: it is known that on February 2 he was in Naissa , in the central part of the Balkan Peninsula. Konstantin had the advantage, initially controlling all the alpine passes. In addition, Constant did not have enough troops to cover the Danube border and the Gallic. Senior August expected that the military and officials in his brother's lands would go over to his side en masse, and perhaps it was: this could explain why Konstantin was able to go through the whole of Upper Italy, without major battles, from the Cottian Alps to Aquileia ^{[41 ]} .

A full-fledged military confrontation began later, when Constant sent an army to Aquileia. The younger August did not lead the army himself, so Constantine had a moral advantage; nevertheless, the very first battle ended in defeat and death of the aggressor ^[42] . According to Eutropius , Konstantin thoughtlessly entered the battle with his brother’s generals and died in the battle ^[43] . Oroziy writes that he “fought without a trace, despising danger” ^[44] ; Pseudo-Aurelius Victor - that August “was robbery, carelessly and, moreover, shamefully, in hops, invaded a foreign area and was hacked” ^[45] . The most detailed description of what happened was left by Zonar. According to him, the warlords of Constant, by feigned retreat, lured the enemy under the blow of an ambush detachment. Most of Constantine’s army was surrounded and killed, and August himself fell from a wounded horse and died of many wounds ^[46] . The body of Constantine was thrown into the river Alsa ^[37] .

Constantine II died before April 9, 340: it is known that on this day Constant arrived in Aquileia from Naiss and found out about what had happened. The deceased was proclaimed hostis publicis and was betrayed by the curse of memory . In particular, all inscriptions with his name were subject to destruction - but the corresponding orders of the Constant were not fully implemented ^[37] .

It is known that Constantine II was married. The marriage was concluded before 335 ^[21] . Constantine did not leave offspring ^[47] .

Almost nothing is known about the personality of Constantine II ^[23] . There is an assumption that this particular emperor is captured in a portrait bust, stored in the National Museum in Rome. The sculptor depicted an ugly, very elongated face with a protruding chin, a long nose, protruding ears and close-set eyes. Губы плотно сжаты, глаза смотрят пристально из-под низких бровей; это придаёт лицу твёрдость и значительность ^[48] .

Предположительно именно Константин и трое его братьев изображены на золотой чаше, хранящейся в Римско-германском музее в Кёльне . Учитывая наличие портрета Криспа, эту чашу датируют 325/326 годами ^[49] . Индивидуальные различия на этих изображениях стёрты, и, по мнению немецкого исследователя Уве Зюссенбаха, чаша представляет интерес в первую очередь как пример соседства дионисийских мотивов в портретах императорских сыновей с христианскими сюжетами о Спасении ^[50] .

Источники содержат немного информации о Константине II, оставляя место для научных дискуссий. В частности, ведутся споры о планах Константина Великого в отношении своего старшего сына и, соответственно, в отношении устройства империи после своей смерти. Есть взаимоисключающие гипотезы в пользу того, что Константин-старший хотел сделать сына единоличным властителем либо возродить в новом виде созданную Диоклетианом систему тетрархии — теперь уже на семейной основе ^[51] . По мнению Якоба Буркхарда, характеризующего трёх братьев, включая Константина II, как «пропащих людей, лишённых как совести, так и веры», император понимал, что, если он назначит преемником одного сына, тот немедленно займётся устранением братьев; поэтому Константин Великий разделил империю, чтобы сохранить династию ^[26] . Существует и компромиссный подход, отрицающий необходимость жёсткой дихотомии (либо единоначалие, либо коллегиальность): с этой точки зрения можно спорить только о том, удалось ли Константину-старшему воплотить в жизнь свою идею иерархизированного соправления членов одной семьи ^[51] . Распространено мнение, что Константин II должен был стать одним из двух августов (наряду с братом Констанцием), а титулы цезарей были уготованы Константу и Далмацию ^[52] .

Майкл Грант считает, что, провозгласив малолетних сыновей и племянника цезарями, Константин Великий окончательно похоронил идею Диоклетиана об императорской власти как награде для наиболее достойных. При этом позже Константин не назначил старшего сына своим единственным преемником, поскольку тот не обладал в глазах отца необходимыми для правителя способностями ^[23] .

Войны между братьями, как считал Буркхард, очень похожи на распри между сыновьями Людовика Благочестивого в IX веке ^[47] . Современный немецкий исследователь Бруно Блекман относит войну Константина II с Константом к «тяжелейшим по своим последствиям событиям в истории позднеантичной империи»: гибель Константина означала гибель установленного его отцом порядка и фактический распад империи на две части, конфронтация между которыми усиливалась за счёт религиозных мотивов ^[53] .

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• A biography of Constantine II on livius.org .