Emperor Probus
Emperor
Carus (282 - 283)
Co-Emperors Carinus (283 - 284) and Numerian (283 - 284)
Diocletian
R. 284 - 305
Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus Augustus (244 - 311) reigned
as emperor from 284 to 305. Diocletian was from the Roman province
of Dalmatia (the area of Albania and the former Yugoslavia) (called Ilyria in Greek and Illyricum in Latin).
The Emperor Carus named his sons Carinus
and Numerian junior emperors with Carinus in the west and Numerian in the east.
Following the death of Carus, the brothers became co-emperors.
Numerian
died on his way to Rome.
Diocletian,
commander of the imperial body guard assigned to Numerian, was proclaimed emperor by the troops.
Carinus met Diocletian in battle and lost.
- Diocletian
ended a long
period of chaos in the empire (235 - 284) and reunited it.
Diocletian
chose a Roman general, Maximian, to be the junior-emperor (285).
- Established a diarchy (two-man rule) in the empire, with two co-emperors, one
in the east and one in the west.
Diocletian promoted his
junior emperor to the rank of subordinate co-emperor and assigned him to rule of the western half of
the Roman Empire (286).
Diocletian ruled the East
and Maximian ruled the West.
-
Diocletian established the capital of the eastern empire in Nicomedia (Izmit) in western Anatolia (286).
- Diocletian established the capital of the Western Empire in Mediolanum (Milan)
in northern Italy.
However, Diocletian's co-emperor, Maximian,
made his headquarters in Augusta Treverorum (Trier) in Germany.
The Tetrarchy
- Diocletian established the Tetrarchy (Greek:
leadership of four), to govern four regions of the empire with two co-emperors, one in the east and one in the west, each
with a junior emperor, one in the east and one in west, from four capitals (293).
As the paramount leader and ruler,
Diocletian ruled the Eastern Empire from Nicomedia. His subordinate co-emperor, Maximian, ruled the Western Empire
from Mediolanum.
Each emperor had a deputy emperor to rule two further
"divisions" or regions of the east and west.
Each senior
co-emperor was called the Augustus.
Each deputy emperor was called the Caesar.
Thus, the empire was "divided" into four regions, two in the east and two in the west. The
four regions were actually separate military spheres of influence, essentially for border defense, and not clearly
defined geographic administrative zones.
Constantius, the junior
emperor, the Caesar, in the west ruled from Augusta Treverorum (Trier) in Germany.
The junior emperor in the east, Galerius, ruled from (Simium) Sremska
Mitrovica, a town near Belgrade in Serbia. Galerius married the daughter of Diocletian.
Of the two Caesars, Constantius, in the West, at Trier, was the senior.
- Diocletian launched the last and harshest
or most extensive persecution of Christians in Roman history (called the Great Persecution), from 303 to 311/313.
- Diocletian was the first emperor to abdicate on his
own, during (or after) a long illness, and compelled his co-emperor in the West, Maximian, to abdicate at the same time.
Both
co-emperors (Augustii) retired (305).
Diocletian retired to his
palace in Split in Dalmatia. He died in 312.
The junior emperors, Constantius
in the West and Galerius in the East, were promoted to co-emperors.
.gif)
Map of the
Tetrarchy: the Roman Empire divided into four military regions, each ruled by an emperor.
In the East, an Augustus with the
capitol in Nicomedia (Izmit) and a Caesar at Simium (Sremska Mitrovica).
In the West, an Augustus in at Mediolanum (Milan)
and a Caesar at Augusta Treverorum (Trier).
A Quick Overview of Diocletian's
Tetrarchy
The Roman
"Rule by Four"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cwf8e_RSfw
Diocletian
Episode from the documentary series Emperors of Rome
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuKSi8_w-hw
Diocletian built a palace for himself in Split.
Reconstruction
Tour
of Split, Croatia
Highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUiVlqpGXMM
The Tetrarchs, porphyry sculpture taken from Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204 and today in the
San Marco Basilica in Venice.
Pompey's Pillar, Alexandria, Egypt, Corinthian column erected in AD 297 in commemoration of Diocletian's suppression
of a revolt in Alexandria. It had nothing to do with Pompey. Below are the ruins of the Serapeum, part of the Library of Alexandria (see
below).
The Early Middle Ages
Two lectures by Paul Freedman from a course, The Early Middle
Ages, 284--1000 (HIST 210), at Yale U., Fall 2011
Lecture # 1
Rome's Greatness and First Crises
The Roman Empire before the Crisis of the Third Century -
Flaws of the Roman Empire.
You Tube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC8JcWVRFp8
Yale:
Transcript:
Lecture # 2
The Crisis
of the Third Century and the Diocletianic Reforms
Introduction and Logistics - Third
Century Crisis and Barbarian Invasions - The Problem of Succession - The Problem of Inflation -
The Ruin of the Local Elite - Diocletian and his Reforms
You
Tube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B9b9mUPJik
Yale:
Transcript:
The History of Christian Thought and Practice
Lecture from the
course The
History of Christian Thought and Practice (1) by Jim L. Papandrea at the Garrett-Evangelical Theological
Seminary in Evanston, Illinois (2012)
Lecture 10.
Persecution
and the Controversies over the Lapsed and Baptism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCpVRTFDl_s
(see more lectures by Papandrea below)
Rome Redux:
The
Tetrarchic Renaissance
Lecture by Diana Kleiner,
# 22 of the course Roman Architecture HSAR 252, Yale U., Spring 2009
- Crisis in the Third Century and the Aurelian Walls
- The Rise of the Tetrarchy -
The Decennial or Five-Column Monument in the Roman Forum - The Senate House or Curia Julia
- The Baths of Diocletian - The Palace of Diocletian at Split -
Tetrarchic Palaces around the Empire
You Tube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3FFDOUytPs
or
Yale U:
http://oyc.yale.edu/history-art/hsar-252/lecture-22
Transcript:
http://oyc.yale.edu/transcript/404/hsar-252
-----------
Ancient Rome and its Mysterious Cities
Docomentary from the Ancient Mysteries series with Leonard Nimoy
Brief description of the history of Rome from the Etruscans to Constantine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roQ78GMjTZM
---------------
Constantius I
Marcus
Flavius Valerius Constantius Herculius Augustus (c. 250 - 306), Constantius I, called
Constantius Chlorus.
Constantius had one son, Constantine, by Helena, c. 272.
Constantius was
junior emperor, or Caesar, in the west, with its capital in
Milan and Constantius' headquarters in Trier, from 293 to 305.
In 289, Constantius,
junior co-emperor (Caesar) in the West, married Theodora, the daughter of Maximian, the co-emperor (Augustus) in
the West.
Upon the retirement of Diocletian and Maximian in 305, Constantius
became the co-emperor, or Augustus, and ruled in the West.
Galerius ruled the East.
Constantius was the senior of the two co-emperors (Augustii).
The
junior emperors (Caesars) were Severus is the West and Maximinus in the East.
Constantius
died in Eboracum (York) in the Roman province of Britain in the following year (306) and his troops proclaimed his
son, Constantine, emperor (Augustus) of the West.
Galerius, who ruled in the East, and now the lone emperor, proclaimed Severus, the Caesar under Constantius,
as the new Augustus in the west.
However, Constantius' troops proclaimed his son Constantine the new Augustus.
Maxentius, the son of Maximian, fought and defeated Severus,
forced him to abdicate and had him killed, and his forces gained control of Italy and Africa.
Licinius (c. 263 - 325)
To settle the conflict of succession, in 308, Diocletian,
Maximian and Galerius agreed that Licinius, the right-hand man of Galerius, would be the Augustus in
the West, with Constantine as his Caesar.
Galerius, emperor in the East, died in 311. His
Caesar, Maximinus, succeeded him.
Constantine the Great
R. 306 - 337
Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus Augustus (Constantine the Great)
(Constantine I) (Saint Constantine) (AD 272 - AD 337), son of Constantius, and Constantius' first wife, Helena, a Greek.
Proclaimed emperor by the Roman legions of Constantius, in York, on his father's death in 306.
First Roman emperor (306 - 337) to convert to Christianity. There is some question about
his conversion.
Moved the capital of the Roman Empire to
Byzantium (Constantinople).
-------------
Maxentius, son of the retired co-emperor Maximian, who had
been Diocletian's co-emperor, was proclaimed emperor by the legion in Rome (306- 312).
Constantine defeated Maxentius in Rome in 312.
Battle of the Milvian Bridge
Rome,
312
Constantine defeats Maxentius
Constantine sole Roman emperor
of the West
Kai-Rho (or Chi-Rho), the first two letters of the name of
Christ in Greek, Christos, which means Messiah in Hebrew - the king and saviour of the Jews.
The symbol on the shield on Constantine's soldiers.
-------------
Licinius, emperor in the West, married the half-sister
of Constantine in Mediolanum in 313.
Licinius, ruler in the West, defeated Maximinus, ruler in the East, in 313.
Licinius and Constantine agreed that Licinius would rule
the East and Constantine the West.
Edict of Milan,
313
Universal Freedom of Worship
Initiated by Constantine and proclaimed with Licinius, Emperor of the East
-------------
The Civil War
Constantine and Licinius
314? 316? - Battle of Cibalae - Constantine victor
316? 317? - Battle of Mardia - Constantine victor
324 - Battle of Adrianopole - Constantine victor
324 - Naval Battle of the Hellespont - Constantine's son, Crispus, victor
The Battle of Chysopolis - victory for Constantine
325
Constantine defeated Licinius. Licinius surrendered in Nicomedia.
Constantine imprisoned Licinius in Salonika and had him hanged in 325.
Constantine ordered the death of Licinius's son (Constantine's nephew).
-----------
The Colossus of
Constantine and the Basilica Nova
The marble bust of the Colossus of Constantine
Pieces
of the Colossus of Constantine in the Capitoline Museum
An artist's restoration of
the Colossus of Constantine in the western apse of the Basilica of Maxentius (Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine) (Basilica
Nova) in Rome. The basilica, begun by Maxentius, has the structure of the frigidarium of a Roman bath.
Reconstruction of the Colossus of Constantine in the Basilica Nova.
Brief description
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuD06cnjtAM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZQJgqBcyw4
The Restoration (In Dutch)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVMWEgJV8A4
The Basilica of Maxentius and the Colossus of Constantine
Reconstruction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srJV9VLW4eM
Constantine the Great
Discussion on the weekly
Thursday BBC radio programme In Our Time hosted by Melvyn Bragg
With Chrisopther Kelly,
Lucy Crig and Creg Woolf
5 October 2017
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b096gjw0
Constantine the Great
Biography
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LaSFigCm50
The Arch of Constantine in Rome
Constantine
Episode # 10 of the documentary series Ancient Rome - The Rise and Fall of an Empire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JA13pdqJNo
Constantine the Great
Rise and Spread of Christianity in Rome
How Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire
National Geographic documentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fdwyAprd6g
Constantine and the Early Church
Lecture # 3 by Paul Freedman from a course The Early Middle Ages, 284--1000
(HIST 210) at Yale U., Fall 2011
Introduction -
Constantine's Rise to Power - The Battle of the Milvian Bridge and Constantine's Conversion
- Constantine as a Christian Emperor - The City of Constantinople -
Constantine intervenes in Church Doctrine - Constantine and Diocletian
You
Tube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcIuAJ-jaSg
Yale:
Transcript:
Rome
Episode # 2 of the 2009 documentary series Christianity: A History
Michael Portillo considers Constantine
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x27voog_christianity-a-history-2-rome_creation
Constantine and the Cross
1962 Hollywood movie (1:59:20)
Selling Christianity
Secrets
of Christianity
Episode
from the 2010 documentary series Decoding the Ancients with Simcha Jacobovici
Like many
people at the time, Constantine was a worshiper of the sun - Sol Invictus, the "Invincible Sun".
.
Constantine decreed Sunday - Dies Sol, the Day of the Sun -
a day of rest (321).
Constantine's mother, Helena, became a devout
Christian.
Did Constantine really become a
Christian? Was he indifferent to religion?
Did
Constantine really have a vision before the Battle of Milvian Bridge? Was it really related to Christ?
Did he really instruct his soldiers to paint a khai-rho (XP) on their
shields before the Battle of Milvian Bridge? Or were many of his soldiers Christians?
It was claimed that he was baptised late in life and accepted Christianity in his
last moments, on his death bed.
Are
these misunderstood events? Were they accounts of Constantine later invented or embellished by Eusebius of Caesaria Maritima?
Constantine
built many churches in the empire, especially in Rome and Constantinople.
Constantine decreed the 25th day of December, the date of the winter solstice in the Roman calendar, celebrated
by Romans as the day of the birth of the sun, Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, as the Day of the Nativity
- Christmas Day (325).
The Sons of Constantine
Constantine + (305) Minervina =
Crispus (295 or 299 or 305 - 325) (executed by his father). A Caesar.
Constantine + (307)
Fausta (289 - 326) (executed by her husband) =
Constantine
II (316), co-emperor 337 - 340 (killed on campaign)
Constantius II (317), co-emperor 337 - 353 and sole emperor 353 - 361 (died of illness on campaign)
Constans (c. 323), co-emperor 337 - 350 (assassinated)
Crispus
Constantine's first son, Crispus, by
his first wife, Minervina, was close to his father. Crispus
was a Caesar, commanding Gaul from Trier, and a very competent general. He defeated the Franks and Alamanni. He twice
defeated his father's rival Augustus, Licinius, in important land and sea battles, for which he received tribute,
as in the Roman coins displayed above. He was popular with the soldiers. He was considered the likely heir
of Constantine.
For reasons that are not clear, Constantine ordered
the trial and execution of Crispus in 326.
At
the same time, Constantine ordered the death also of his second wife, Fausta.
The empire in the time of Constantine
Animated map displays the Roman Empire from the First Tetrarchy
established by Diocletian in 295 to the defeat of Licinius by Constantine and the rule of the entire empire by Constantine
as sole emperor in 324.
Constantine sole Roman emperor in the East and the West in 324.
--------------
Byzantium - Constantinople
Nova Roma (New Rome)
The Second Rome
Greeks from Megara in Attica founded Byzantium, on
the European shore of the Bosporous, in 667 B. C. In the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine (r. 306 - 337), Byzantium
was a small 1,000-year-old village of Greek-speaking Christians. Its inhabitants were called Byzantines. They called
the empire Romania.
Constantine chose
the village for the site of the new capital of the Roman Empire in 324. He called it New Rome
- Nova Roma. It was on the European side of the Bosporous,
across the straight from the Asian side and the empire's current capital, Nicomedia.
The inhabitants of Nova Roma called the new city Constantine’s City - Constantinople.
They considered themselves Romans. Westerners called them Greeks.
Academics divide the history of Byzantium
(sometimes called the Eastern Roman Empire) into three periods:
Late
Antiquity
1.
Early Period (324 - mid-600s):
Foundation of Constantinople in 324
The Roman Empire, ruled from Constantinople, extended
throughout the entire Mediterranean and was at its height in this period.
Late
Middle Ages
2. Middle Period (mid-600s - 1060):
Islamic/Muslim/Mohammaden Arab Conquest of the eastern and southern Mediterranean in the mid-600s.
The Arab Conquest reduced the Roman Empire to Anatolia (Asia
Minor), the Balkans, Greece and Sicily.
The
Roman Empire faded into legend and became something to recall and try to emulate.
The Great Schism of 1053 split the Christian Church into the Orthodox in the east, centred at
Constantinople, and the Catholic in the west, centred at Rome.
3.
Late Period (1060 - 1453):
The 3rd or Late Period can be divided into three sub-periods
1. Arrival of the Seljuk Turks in Anatolia in 1064
The Seljuk Turks stormed through the Near East, taking Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine and the holy city
of Jerusalem. They occupied most of Anatolia. The Turks called their empire, the Turkish Sultanate, Rome (Rum).
The
Byzantines appealed to the Pope in Rome for help to combat the Seljuk Turks. The
Pope called for a Christian crusade against the Turks. Armies assembled and headed east. Three Crusades.
2. The knights of the Fourth Crusade laid siege to Constantinople
in 1203, sacked it in 1204 and occupied it to 1261
The Crusaders founded the Empire of Romania (or Latin Empire of
Constantinople), with
a Roman Catholic emperor.
The
Roman Empire dissolved and fragmented into small rival Greek and Latin states.
3. The Byzantines recaptured Constaninople in 1261 and held it to 1453.
The Ottoman Turks laid siege to Constaninople and
captured and sacked the city in 1453.
- The Turks called the inhabitants
of Constantinople Romans.
-
Constantinople was the capital of the Ottoman Empire until its dismemberment by the
victorious Allies in the Great War (First World War) in 1922. The much smaller successor state of Turkey was created in 1922. The Turks moved the capital to Ankara
in central Anatolia in 1923 and renamed the city of Constantinople Istanbul
in 1930.
- Byzantium as a term designating the eastern half of the Roman Empire with its capital in Constantinople was
applied for the first time during the Renaissance, after the fall of Constantinople
to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.
Eugen Weber lectures
The Western Tradition
1. Byzantine Empire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlG1IKwRArk
2. Fall of Byzantium
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZiuNqevql4&feature=related
Engineering the Byzantine Empire
Episode from a documentary series with Peter Weller
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3DsHEVZSu8
or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5VM_oKY3r4
Byzantium, the Lost Empire
Four-part documentary series with John Romer
1. Building the Dream
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqEA1fLSZgo
2. Heaven on Earth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEcJ-qoVY3k
3. Envy of the world
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0t6e3iYXAYU
4. Forever and Ever
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It6q-5cDqGM
All four episodes in one clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWljhb1DEQ8
or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K-Nfh84onQ
Constantinople
The Hippodrome of Constantinople
Architecture of New Rome
Rome of Constantine and a New Rome
Lecture # 23 by Diana Kleiner from the course Roman Architecture (HSAR 252), Yale U.,
Spring 2009
- The End of the Tetrarchy and the Rise of Constantine the Great
- The Baths of Constantine in Rome and the Porta Nigra at Trier
- The Basilica or Aula Palatina at Trier -
The Temple of Minerva Medica in Rome - The Basilica Nova in Rome -
The Arch of Constantine and the Enduring Impact of Roman Architecture
You Tube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggwf8c0wkck
Yale site:
Transcript:
Constantine and Christianity
The nature of Jesus
Was Jesus a mere mortal, an extraordinary being who did
exceptional things?
Was Jesus, the son of God, divine?
Was Jesus a demi-god?
Did God send his son to
die for man's salvation?
When filled with the holy spirit, at conception or baptism, did Jesus become God's instrument?
Was Jesus, like God,
eternal?
Arianism
?
Arius (250 - 336),
a priest in Alexandria:
'If the Father begat the Son, then he who was begotten had a beginning in existence, and from this it follows there
was a time when the Son was not.'
(Letter from Arius to Eusebius of Nicomedia.)
Thus, Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, was not eternal.
For the Emperor Constantine, such question was irrelevant. But the dispute over it had to be addressed.
Council of Nicea, A. D.
325
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBszFV90ZSE&feature=related
About the Council of Nicea
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nhcgzsaWck&feature=related
Council of Nicaea
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxmyfu5XJVs&feature=related
Nicean Creed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Muo5W5GlGys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQL3qtkzMT0
Original
Nicene Creed, 325
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, the only-begotten;
that is, of the essence of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one
substance with the Father;
By whom all things were made both in heaven and on earth;
Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down and was incarnate and was made
man;
He suffered, and the third day he rose again, ascended into heaven;
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
And in the Holy Ghost.
But those who say: 'There was a time when he was not;' and 'He was not before
he was made;' and 'He was made out of nothing,' or 'He is of another substance' or 'essence,' or 'The Son of God is created,'
or 'changeable,' or 'alterable' — they are condemned by the holy catholic and apostolic Church.
The Constantinopolitan Creed, 381
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all
that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten from
the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of the same substance as the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy
Spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, died, and was buried.
On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into
heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will
have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the
Father (and the Son). With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.
Amen.
The Nicene Creed
Discussion on the BBC weekly radio programme In Our Time hosted by Melvyn
Bragg
27 December 2007
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008jglt
The History of Christian Thought and Practice
(1)
Course lectures 11 - 14 by Jim L. Papandrea at
the Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois (2012)
11. The Great Persecution and Constantine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKWe9ZXscog
12. The Arian Controversy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPuBblvDivw
13. The Council of Nicaea
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR3e5jssD0w
14. The Nicene Creed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRCSWGFt1Fk
Shield of the
Trinity
Athanasian Creed (c. 400):
'The Father is made of none; neither
created, nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone; not made, nor created; but begotten. The Holy Ghost is of the Father
and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten; but proceeding.'
Author(s) unknown, first attributed to Athanasius
(296/8 - 373), Orthodox Patriarch/Bishop of Alexandria (328 - 373).
Athanase
d'Alexandrie
La Foi prise au Mot
29/11/2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxaX0zezQ6Y
Constantine and Athanasias
Chapter 10 of the lecture series on Edward Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire
Books that Matter
by the Great Courses
Leo Damrosch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMT0B4U0Qkw
The
Trinity
God, the Father;
Jesus, the Son;
and
the Holy Ghost/Spirit
The Trinity
Discussion on the weekly BBC radio programme In Our
Time hosted by Melvyn Bragg
13 March 2014
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03xgl3m
Source: The Orthodox Life
- The Twenty Ten Theme - Blog
at WordPress.com
Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christianity
Episode from the documentary series Religions of the World
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7cUuxh3CYY
or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkoDZdqBaFM
or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOIODKd-Eg0
Constantine died in Nicomedia in 337.
The two sides of a coin minted in 337, the year of Constantine's death.
Profile of Constantine on the left and the labarum, with the Kai-Rho on top, on the right. On the left: CONSTANTINUS
MAX AUG. On the left: SPES PUBLICA CONS.
The five major patriarchates of the Christian Church, in order of importance, in 381,
were
(1) Rome, considered the centre of the church in the western half of the
Roman Empire;
(2) Constantinople,
centre of the church in the eastern half of the Roman Empire;
(3) Alexandria,
(4) Antioch and
(5) Jerusalem were the other major centers of the church in the eastern half of the Roman
Empire.
The five patriachates eventually divided into two churches -
the Catholic Church, also referred to as the Western Church and Roman Catholic Church, centered in Rome,
and
the Orthodox Church, also referred to as the Eastern Church and Greek Orthodox
Church, centered in Constantinople.
The patriarchates of Alexandria and Antioch split with Constantinople in 451;
thus, the Coptic (Egyptian) Church, centered in Alexandria, and the Assyrian (or Syriac) Church, centered in Antioch,
became the Oriental Orthodox Church.
Emperor Justinian I (r. 527 to 565) gave the five patriarchates the designation of the Pentarchy in 531.
-------------
The Fall
of the Pagans and the Origins of Medieval Christianity
24-lecture Course by Kenneth W. Harl
The Great Courses
Advertisement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqSrZ3DAQhw
1. Religious Conflict in the Roman World
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bZ9SJUoRBo
2. Gods and their
Cities in the Roman Empire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK11dt4X2tA
3. The Roman Imperial
Cult
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QudKJmPIW7M
---------------------
Julian the Apostate
Julian the Philosopher
Julian the Hellene
Bronze coin from Antioch with the Emperor Julian - Julian the Apostate (Julianus Apostata)
- from 360 - 363.
Flavius Claudius Julianus Augustus (331/332 – 363), nephew of Constantine the
Great; called Julian the Apostate and Julian the Philosopher; junior emperor in the West (355 - 361); proclaimed
emperor by his troops in 360; challenged Emperor Constantius II, who fell ill and died and left Julian sole emperor (361);
the last non-Christian emperor, he restored traditional worship of the Greek and Roman gods as the state religion.
Julian attempted to rebuild
the Temple in Jerusalem (363).
Killed at the Battle
of Samarra against the Sassanids.
-------------
Theodosius the Great
r. 379 -395
Flavius Theodosius Augustus (347 - 395), Theodosius I, Theodosius the Great, Saint Theodosius, last Roman Emperor (379 - 395) to rule an united empire, with both
the eastern and western halves.
Theodosius made Eastern or Orthodox Nicaean Christianity the Roman Empire's official religion. He is considered
a saint by the Orthodox Church. He terminated the Olympic Games in Greece.
Brief biography:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGSL5K8jehQ&feature=topics
The Christian Roman Empire
Lecture
# 4 by Paul Freedman from a course The Early Middle Ages, 284--1000 (HIST 210) at Yale U., Fall 2011
Introduction - Julian the Apostate - Essential Heresies:
Arianism and Donatism - Essential Heresies 2: Manicheanism - Roman Emperors
and Christian Heresies - Introduction to St. Augustine's Confessions - Platonism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzibwdsl_SI
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Saint Ambrose
Aurelius Ambrosius (Ambrose) (337-340 -
397),
an Orthodox Catholic and Nicene
Christian,
Archbishop of Mediolanum (Milan) (374 - 397).
Mosaic portrait of Saint Ambrose in the Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio in Milan.
Conflicts with the Arians
and Emperor Theodosius.
Saint
Amboise de Milan
La foi prise au mot
30 - 11 - 14
--------------
Decline and Fall of Rome
Two
lectures by Eugen Weber of UCLA from the 1986 lecture series The Western Tradition
Decline of Rome
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SouL-h70wQ
Fall of Rome
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgkraiyqmXc&feature=related
The Fall of Rome
Episode from the German documentary series Fall of Great
Empires (50 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R28GUH9xPY4
-------------------
Artist's conception of
The Library of Alexandria.
Little
is known about the library, its actual location in Alexandria, if it was one large library in one place or several
libraries in several places, if it was actually a library, and what it contained or what books or scrolls it held. Was
it destroyed? Was it destroyed by Caesar, or by Christian
mobs, or conquering Arabs? Or was it neglected over time and fall into disuse?
The Lost Treasure
of the Alexandria Library
Episode from
the documentary series Ancient Mysteries narrated by Leonard Nimoy (1996) (46:33)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIMu2FmLtdM
The Library of Alexandria
Episode rom the documentary
series In Search of History (43:33)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wImpfdpL9eQ
Serapis, Greco-Egyptian
deity of the sun.
The Burning
of the Library of Alexandria in A. D. 391.
Also called The Burning of the Serepeum.
Did it really happen?
----------------------
Hypatia
of Alexandria
ca. A. D. 350-370 - A. D. 415
Hypatia,
Greek philosopher,
mathematician
and astronomer
in
Alexandria
Carl Sagan
on Alexandria and Hypatia
Excerpts from the series Cosmos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=qT_OrdrtZpk
(22:39)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BPc1WBEmmA
Agora Movie about Hypatia of Alexandria
(2009)
(2 hrs. 7 min. 8 sec.)
Part 1.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3aykb4
Part 2.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3aw75u
or
Part 1.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1z2mtj
Part
2.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1z59li
Entire film - dubbed in
Spanish:
https://vimeo.com/129808812
Agora
Review
of the movie Agora on History Buffs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwUwjkEveBE
Alexandria - The Greatest City
Episode # 1 from the documentary series The Ancient Worlds
with Bettany Hughes
Includes scenes from
the 2009 movie Agora
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjQ6lbwN9R8
Hypatia
Sifting the Myths
Lecture by Fenny Smith
Gresham College (2015) (39:36)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqzpHYfAdsE
Hypatia
TED
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1mwZrVJ-TI
Hypatia
Eine aussergewöhnliche Philosophin der Antike
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fu2NfaF3dA
The Astrolabe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwDU0VFWlQ8
Astrolabe (TW en long)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmX3ePwNnVA
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