The Arch of Constantine, which stands in the shadow of the Colosseum, is one of Rome’s
most visible monuments, peered at and dutifully photographed by millions of tourists each
year.
At first glance, the arch is a straightforward monument – a celebration of imperial victory
like the arches of Titus and Septimius Severus in the forum.
But a closer look reveals a remarkably complex message, crafted in the uncertain years immediately
after Constantine’s victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge.
Constantine’s career grew out of the Tetrarchy, the college of four emperors set up by Diocletian.
Constantius Chlorus, Constantine’s father, was one of the men Diocletian chose to help
him govern the empire.
As a boy, Constantine was sent to Diocletian’s court in Nicomedia, where he was tutored by
eminent scholars, and accompanied Diocletian and Galerius on campaigns against the Persians.
After Diocletian abdicated, Constantine rejoined his father, who was then campaigning in northern
Britain.
In 306, when Constantius suddenly died, his army proclaimed Constantine their new emperor.
Maxentius, the son of Maximian – another of Diocletian’s co-emperors – was born
a few years after Constantine.
Raised in the imperial court at Milan, he was groomed to succeed his father; and though
passed over in Diocletian’s succession plans, he was declared emperor in Rome a few months
after Constantine.
For the remainder of the decade, Constantine governed Britain, Spain, and Gaul, and Maxentius
ruled Italy and North Africa.
At first, relations between the two were amicable, not least because Constantine had married
Maxentius’ sister.
But tensions gradually mounted.
Neither man was content with his share of the Empire, and each stood to benefit from
the other’s removal.
And so, in 311, Maxentius declared war on Constantine.
Constantine invaded Italy the following spring.
With a relatively small army – he only had about 30,000 men – he crossed the Alps,
scattered the forces guarding the cities of northern Italy, and marched on the ancient
capital.
Maxentius sallied forth to meet him, and the emperors met at the Milvian Bridge just north
of Rome.
Our two sources for what happened next, both produced decades later by Christian authors,
present different accounts.
According to one author, Constantine was instructed in a dream the night before the battle to
set a Christian emblem on his soldiers’ shields.
The other author reports that Constantine experienced a vision of the cross while marching,
which was explained in a dream the following night.
It is clear, in any case, that Constantine instructed his soldiers to mark their shields
with a Christian emblem – either a cross or the Christogram, a symbol consisting of
the superimposed letters chi and rho – the first two letters of Christos (Christ in Greek).
The following day, Constantine won a resounding victory over Maxentius.
The victory at the Milivan Bridge started Constantine along his path to patronage of,
and eventual membership in, the Christian church.
Within a few months, he would issue the famous Edict of Milan, which proclaimed full toleration
of the Christian faith and the restoration of all church property seized in Diocletian’s
Great Persecution.
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Immediately after his victory, Constantine entered Rome in triumph, and was acclaimed
by the Senate.
He spent the next three years in the city, where he disbanded the Praetorian Guard, completed
Maxentius’ public works, and began a massive program of church building.
In 313, he tore down the barracks of Maxentius’ cavalry guards, gave the land to the Bishop
of Rome, and began building the Church of St. John Lateran.
A few years later, he financed the construction of the first St. Peter’s Basilica over the
traditional site of the Apostle’s tomb.
In 315, the final year of Constantine’s residence in Rome, a monumental arch was constructed
to commemorate his defeat of Maxentius and liberation of Rome.
Though nominally erected by the Senate, the arch’s design was almost certainly orchestrated
by Constantine himself, and so provides a unique glimpse into the emperor’s public
image at a crucial point in his career.
The most distinctive feature of the Arch of Constantine is its extensive use of spolia
– that is, of sculptures and other elements taken from older monuments.
To some degree, this was a matter of convenience; the arch was built quickly, and there was
plenty of material from decommissioned monuments lying in storage.
The chief motivation for the inclusion of spolia, however, seems to have been to associate
Constantine with the great emperors of the past.
The statues and relief panels re-used in the arch came from monuments constructed by Trajan,
Hadrian, and Marcus Aurelius – three of Rome’s greatest rulers.
Although all of the emperors in the re-used pieces were re-carved to resemble Constantine,
no attempt was made to disguise the contrast between their style and that of the cruder
new reliefs beneath them.
The spolia of Constantine’s Arch may have been intended to offset the impression made
by Constantine’s radical religious policies.
Rome would not be a majority Christian city until at least the late fourth century, and
some members of the Senatorial aristocracy would remain resolutely pagan for decades
longer.
The arch, accordingly, makes no explicit reference to Christianity.
Even the inscription is ambiguous.
Constantine, it says, gained victory over Maxentius “instinctu divinitatis” (by
the inspiration of the divine) – without clarifying which god or gods was doing the
inspiring.
In 315, Constantine left Rome, and would only return once in the remaining twenty-two years
of his reign.
Over the next decade, he would defeat Licinius, his sole remaining rival, and become the first
man in forty years to govern the entire Roman Empire.
He brought Diocletian’s military and financial reforms to their logical conclusions, establishing
highly-mobile field armies and a stable gold currency.
Constantine also became increasingly invested in Christian theology and unity, calling the
Council of Nicaea – the first ecumenical council of the Church.
There, under the emperor’s direction, three hundred bishops declared that the God the
father and God the son were equal – and a precedent was established for the coordination
of church and state authority.
Equally pivotal for Roman history was Constantine’s establishment of Constantinople – a new,
Christian Rome on the Bosporus.
In the final years of his reign, this was his capital.
It was near Constantinople that Constantine was finally baptized at age 65.
Many early Christians deferred baptism until the end of their lives; and Constantine was
no exception.
Feeling a serious illness overtaking him, he summoned bishops from the surrounding cities,
and asked them to perform the ritual.
A few days later, during the festival of Pentacost, he died.
When the news reached Rome, a painting was hung in the Senate house, showing the emperor’s
entry into heaven.
The God or gods to whom that heaven belonged, however, were left diplomatically unclear.
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