Constantine the Emperor

New
Illustrated
2013
$32.44

This year Christians worldwide will celebrate the 1700th anniversary of Constantine's conversion and victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. No Roman emperor had a greater impact on the modern world than did Constantine. The reason is not simply that he converted to Christianity but that he did so in a way that brought his subjects along after him. Indeed, this major new biography argues that Constantine's conversion is but one feature of a unique administrative style that enabled him to take control of an empire beset by internal rebellions and external threats by Persians and Goths. The vast record of Constantine's administration reveals a government careful in its exercise of power but capable of ruthless, even savage actions. Constantine executed (or drove to suicide) his father-in-law, two brothers-in-law, his eldest son, and his once beloved wife. An unparalleled general throughout his life, even on his deathbed he was planning a major assault on the Sassanian Empire in Persia. Alongside the visionary who believed that his success came from the direct intervention of his God resided an aggressive warrior, a sometimes cruel partner, and an immensely shrewd ruler. These characteristics combined together in a long and remarkable career, which restored the Roman Empire to its former glory. Beginning with his first biographer Eusebius, Constantine's image has been subject to distortion. More recent revisions include John Carroll's view of him as the intellectual ancestor of the Holocaust (Constantine's Sword) and Dan Brown's presentation of him as the man who oversaw the reshaping of Christian history (The Da Vinci Code). In Constantine the Emperor, David Potter confronts each of these skewed and partial accounts to provide the most comprehensive, authoritative, and readable account of Constantine's extraordinary life.

Synopsis

This year Christians worldwide will celebrate the 1700th anniversary of Constantine's conversion and victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. No Roman emperor had a greater impact on the modern world than did Constantine. The reason is not simply that he converted to Christianity but that he did so in a way that brought his subjects along after him. Indeed, this major new biography argues that Constantine's conversion is but one feature of a unique administrative style that enabled him to take control of an empire beset by internal rebellions and external threats by Persians and Goths. The vast record of Constantine's administration reveals a government careful in its exercise of power but capable of ruthless, even savage actions. Constantine executed (or drove to suicide) his father-in-law, two brothers-in-law, his eldest son, and his once beloved wife. An unparalleled general throughout his life, even on his deathbed he was planning a major assault on the Sassanian Empire in Persia. Alongside the visionary who believed that his success came from the direct intervention of his God resided an aggressive warrior, a sometimes cruel partner, and an immensely shrewd ruler. These characteristics combined together in a long and remarkable career, which restored the Roman Empire to its former glory. Beginning with his first biographer Eusebius, Constantine's image has been subject to distortion. More recent revisions include John Carroll's view of him as the intellectual ancestor of the Holocaust (Constantine's Sword) and Dan Brown's presentation of him as the man who oversaw the reshaping of Christian history (The Da Vinci Code). In Constantine the Emperor, David Potter confronts each of these skewed and partial accounts to provide the most comprehensive, authoritative, and readable account of Constantine's extraordinary life.

$32.44

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20+ in stock

More Information

Format: Illustrated
Pages: 386
Edition: Illustrated
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 01 Feb 2013
ISBN 10: 0199755868
ISBN 13: 9780199755868

Media Reviews

He has examined, with gusto and an unrivalled mastery of detail, the aspects of Constantine neglected by those who concentrate only on his relations with Christianity. * Peter Brown, London Review of Books *
[This is a book] for anyone who really wants to understand how the Roman Empire functioned, how the Church came to be absorbed into imperial structures and administration, and how the Emperor's aims and ideas developed as his experience of running (or at least heading) the empire grew. * The Revd Dr Cally Hammond, Church Times *
Potter's mission is to chip away at the meretricious facts of Constantine's life and throw back over him the more truthful shroud of obscurity...[I]t would be hard to find a more convincing account of the military and administrative prowess and the conviction with which Constantine carved out a new style of monarchy against the long shadow of Diocletian. * The Tablet *
Potter's admirably comprehensive account of this most significant of all emperors clearly and judiciously plots the way in which he grew into the role that he was convinced it was his destiny to play. * BBC History Magazine *
Based closely on contemporary evidence, David Potter has written a penetrating and original analysis of the evolution of Constantine's role as Emperor, and of his conception of that role. * Military History Monthly *
[Potter] has produced a new, readable and authoritative account of Constantine's life. * The Church of England Newspaper *

Author Bio

David Potter is Francis W. Kelsey Collegiate Professor of Greek and Roman History and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Greek and Latin at the University of Michigan. His books include The Victor's Crown (OUP), Emperors of Rome, and Ancient Rome: A New History.