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Constantine II (emperor)

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Constantine II (Latin: Flavius Claudius Constantinus; 316 – 340) was Roman emperor from 337 to 340. The son of the emperor Constantine I, he was proclaimed caesar by his father shortly after his birth. He was associated with military victories over the Sarmatians, Alamanni and Goths during his career, for which he was granted a number of victory titles.[4] He held the consulship four times – in 320, 321, 324, and 329.

Constantine II
Large statue of Constantine II
Statue of Constantine II as caesar, on top of the Cordonata (the monumental staircase climbing up to Piazza del Campidoglio) in Rome[1]
Roman emperor
in the West
Augustus9 September 337 – April 340 (Gaul, Hispania, and Britain)
PredecessorConstantine I
SuccessorConstans
Co-emperorsConstantius II (East)
Constans (Italy, Illyricum and Africa)
Caesar1 March 317 – 9 September 337
Born316
Arelate, Viennensis
DiedApril 340 (aged 23 or 24)
Aquileia, Italy
Names
Flavius Claudius Constantinus[2][a]
Regnal name
Imperator Caesar Flavius Claudius Constantinus Augustus
DynastyConstantinian
FatherConstantine I
MotherFausta
ReligionChristianity

Constantine I had arranged for his sons to share power with their cousins Dalmatius and Hannibalianus, but this was not accepted by Constantine II and his brothers. As a result, Constantine II's brother Constantius II ordered the killings of numerous male relatives following Constantine I's death, including Dalmatius and Hannibalianus, thus eliminating any possible opponents to the succession of Constantine I's sons. Constantine II then ascended to the throne alongside his two younger brothers, ruling Gaul, Hispania, and Britain. However, his belief in his rights of primogeniture and attempts to exert them over his youngest brother Constans caused conflict, which ended with his death in a failed invasion of Italy in 340. Constans subsequently took control of Constantine's territories, with the latter being subjected to damnatio memoriae.

Life

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Born in Arles in 316,[5][b] Constantine II was the second son of the Roman emperor Constantine I, and the eldest with his wife Fausta,[c] the daughter of the emperor Maximian.

Caesar

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On 1 March 317, he was made caesar at Serdica.[12] After accompanying his father on his campaign against the Sarmatians in 323,[13] he was commemorated on coinage produced to recognize the ensuing victory.[14] Constantine II usually resided with his father until 328, when his own court was installed at Trier.[15] An inscription dated to 328–330[d] records the title of Alamannicus, indicating that his generals won a victory over the Alamanni.[17] His military career continued when Constantine I made him field commander during the 332 winter campaign against the Goths.[17] As a result of his leadership,[4] the military operation concluded with 100,000 Goths reportedly slain and the surrender of the ruler Ariaric.[18] Festival games were initiated in Rome to celebrate the caesar's role in the successful military campaigns, in a public advertisement of his capability to rule.[4] He was married prior to 336, although his wife's identity remains unknown.[19]

While Constantine I had intended for his sons to rule together with their cousins Dalmatius and Hannibalianus, soon after his death in May 337 the army murdered several of their male relatives, including Dalmatius and Hannibalianus,[20] on the orders of Constantine II's younger brother Constantius II.[21] Although Constantine himself appears to not have been directly involved,[22][23] Burgess observed from numismatic evidence that he and his brothers "not only seem not to have fully accepted the legitimacy of Dalmatius and viewed him as an interloper, but also appear to have communicated with one another on this point and agreed on a common response."[24]

 
Solidus of Constantine II as caesar

In what seemed to be an attempt to distance themselves from the massacre,[25][26] the three brothers proceeded to print coins of Theodora, whom their murdered relatives had been descended from.[20] Most of the coins were generated at Constantine II's capital, Trier, indicating that he was the one responsible for designing and producing the coinage at the start, as well as convincing his brothers to do the same.[27] Woods considered it to suggest that he was more sympathetic to Theodora's memory than his brothers,[28] possibly because his wife may have been a granddaughter of Theodora.[19]

In June 337, before he was named emperor, Constantine had already begun attempting to assert his seniority.[29] He issued an order allowing the exiled bishop Athanasius to return to Alexandria, which was under the control of Constantius II,[30] claiming to be carrying out the unfulfilled intentions of his father.[17][31] While Constantine's motives remain unclear, suggested explanations include him truly believing in the bishop's innocence, him wanting to get rid of a religious nuisance, or him wanting to cause trouble for Constantius,[17][32] who would oust Athanasius from Alexandria only two years later.[29]

Augustus

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The three brothers were not named as Augusti until 9 September 337,[2] when they gathered together in Pannonia and divided the Roman territories among themselves.[22] Constantine received Gaul, Britannia and Hispania.[22][33] Unlike his younger brothers, he gained little from Dalmatius's removal.[34]

 
Division of the Empire among the Caesars appointed by Constantine I: from west to east, the territories of Constantine II, Constans, Dalmatius and Constantius II[35]
 
Solidus of Constantine II as augustus

Constantine was evidently left unsatisfied with the results of their meeting,[36][37] seemingly believing that his age granted him some sort of seniority in the imperial college[38] and, by extension, control over the dominion of his youngest brother Constans, who was still a teenager in 337.[31][39] Even after campaigning successfully against the Alamanni in 338, Constantine continued to maintain his position.[31][40][41] The Theodosian Code recorded his legislative intervention in Constans's territory through issuing an edict to the proconsul of Africa in 339.[31][42]

In April 340,[43] Constantine launched an invasion into Italy to claim territory from Constans.[17][31] Constans, at that time in Naissus,[36] sent a number of troops to confront him, and Constantine was killed in an ambush near Aquileia.[31][44][e] Constans then took control of his brother's realm, whose inhabitants seem to have been largely unaffected by their change in ruler.[48]

After his death, Constantine was subjected to damnatio memoriae.[31] Constans issued legislation repealing Constantine's acts shortly after his death, where the deceased emperor was branded as "the public enemy and our own enemy."[49] Years later, when Libanius delivered a panegyric for both Constans and Constantius, Constantine was completely omitted from the narrative, as if he had never existed.[31]

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    Coin of Constantine II as caesar (aged 1–7), marked: d·n· fl· cl· constantinus nob· c· (Our Lord Flavius Claudius Constantine, Noblest Caesar)
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    Aureus of Constantine II as caesar (aged 8), marked: constantinus iun· nob· c· ("Constantine Junior, Noblest Caesar") on the obverse
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    Solidus of Constantine II as caesar (aged 19), marked: constantinus iun· nob· caes· on the obverse ("Constantine Junior, Noblest Caesar") and principi iuventutis (Princeps of youth) on the reverse

Notes

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  1. ^ One belief is that the "Claudius" was added to his name to further strengthen his connection to Claudius Gothicus, his alleged ancestor.[3]
  2. ^ The only extant outright attestation of Constantine II's birth date states he was born on August 7. This has sometimes been dismissed as a confusion with Constantius II, who was certainly born on the same date, but Barnes commented that the coincidence is possible. He additionally cited Constantine I's documented presence in Constantine II's birthplace in August 316 as support for accepting August 7.[6] Burgess is more skeptical, arguing that evidence of public celebration of Constantine II's birthday would not have survived due to his condemnation of memory.[7]
  3. ^ Based on the report that Constantine II was proclaimed Caesar only a few days after he was born,[8] the Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire assumed his birth date was in February 317 and, therefore, that he was not Fausta's son, as Constantius II was born less than 9 months later.[2] However, Constantine had already been styled as Caesar on his father's coinage prior to his formal proclamation on 1 March 317, so he cannot have been born as late as February 317.[9][10] Evidence for Constantine II being Fausta's son includes an inscription outright describing him as such, and Julian calling Fausta the mother of "many emperors."[11]
  4. ^ Barnes favors the date 330,[13] while Drinkwater prefers an earlier date of 328–9.[16]
  5. ^ In a confused account, Zosimus does not say Constantine II invaded his youngest brother's territory. He instead reported that Constans sent troops to Constantine on the pretext of assisting Constantius II in the Persian war, but in reality to assassinate him by surprise.[45] Constans's troops would've been marching away from the Persians if they were heading to Constantine’s territory.[46][47] Some modern historians, trying to make sense of Zosimus's confusion, have suggested that instead it was Constantine who claimed to be assisting Constantius II.[31][39][46]

References

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  1. ^ http://laststatues.classics.ox.ac.uk, LSA-559 (Fittschen, K. and P. Zanker)
  2. ^ a b c Jones, Martindale & Morris, p. 223.
  3. ^ Craven, Maxwell (2019). "Constantine II". The Imperial Families of Ancient Rome. Fonthill Media. ISBN 978-1781557389.
  4. ^ a b c Baker-Brian 2022, p. 140.
  5. ^ Barnes 1981, p. 66.
  6. ^ Barnes 1973, p. 38.
  7. ^ Burgess 2008, p. 7.
  8. ^ Barnes & Vanderspoel 1984, p. 175.
  9. ^ Barnes & Vanderspoel 1984, p. 176.
  10. ^ Barnes 1973, p. 37.
  11. ^ Barnes 1973, p. 36.
  12. ^ Barnes 1981, p. 67.
  13. ^ a b Barnes 1982, p. 84.
  14. ^ Baker-Brian 2022, p. 120.
  15. ^ Barnes 1981, p. 221.
  16. ^ Drinkwater 2007, pp. 198–199.
  17. ^ a b c d e DiMaio Jr, Michael; Frakes, Robert (2 May 1998). "Constantine II (337–340 A.D.)". De Imperatoribus Romanis. Archived from the original on 25 March 2022.
  18. ^ Barnes 1981, p. 250.
  19. ^ a b Woods 2011, p. 195.
  20. ^ a b Hunt 1998, p. 3.
  21. ^ Burgess 2008, pp. 25–27.
  22. ^ a b c Hunt 1998, p. 4.
  23. ^ Crawford 2016, p. 33.
  24. ^ Burgess 2008, pp. 21–22.
  25. ^ Woods 2011, pp. 194–195.
  26. ^ Crawford 2016, p. 32.
  27. ^ Burgess 2008, p. 23.
  28. ^ Woods 2011, p. 194.
  29. ^ a b Lewis 2020, p. 69.
  30. ^ Crawford 2016, p. 105.
  31. ^ a b c d e f g h i Hunt 1998, p. 5.
  32. ^ Crawford 2016, pp. 105–106.
  33. ^ "Constantine II – Roman Emperor". Encyclopedia Britannica. 2021.
  34. ^ Lewis 2020, p. 59.
  35. ^ Crawford 2016, p. 30.
  36. ^ a b DiMaio 1988, p. 240.
  37. ^ Baker-Brian 2022, p. 136.
  38. ^ Crawford 2016, p. 35.
  39. ^ a b Crawford 2016, p. 64.
  40. ^ Crawford 2016, p. 63.
  41. ^ Drinkwater 2007, p. 199.
  42. ^ Crawford 2016, pp. 63–64.
  43. ^ Lewis 2020, pp. 74–75, 82–84.
  44. ^ DiMaio 1988, p. 241.
  45. ^ Baker-Brian 2022, p. 144.
  46. ^ a b Baker-Brian 2022, p. 145.
  47. ^ Lewis 2020, p. 78.
  48. ^ Hunt 1998, pp. 5–6.
  49. ^ Lewis 2020, p. 74.

Sources

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Constantine II (emperor)
Born: 316 Died: 340
Regnal titles
Preceded by Roman emperor
337–340
With: Constantius II and Constans 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Roman consul
320–321
with Constantine I ,
Crispus 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Roman consul
324
with Crispus 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Roman consul
329
with Constantine I 		Succeeded by
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