Constantine II (emperor)

Constantine II (

The eldest son of Constantine the Great and Fausta,^[a] Constantine II was born in Arles in 316 and raised as a Christian.^[3]

Caesar

On 1 March 317, he was made

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 slaughtered almost all of their male relatives, including Dalmatius and Hannibalianus.^[12] Burgess observed from numismatic evidence that Constantine II 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.”^[13]

In what seemed to be an attempt to distance themselves from the massacre,^[14] the three brothers proceeded to print coins of Theodora, whom their murdered relatives had been descended from.^[12] The evidence indicates that Constantine II was the one responsible for designing and producing the coinage at the start, as well as convincing his brothers to do the same.^[15] Woods considered it to suggest that he was more sympathetic to Theodora’s memory than his brothers,^[16] possibly because his wife may have been a granddaughter of Theodora.^[11]

In June 337, before he was named emperor, Constantine had already begun attempting to assert his seniority.^[17] He issued an order allowing the exiled bishop Athanasius to return to Alexandria, claiming to be carrying out the unfulfilled intentions of his father.^[3][18]

Augustus

The three brothers were not named as Augusti until 9 September 337,^[1] when they gathered together in Pannonia^[3] and divided the Roman territories among themselves. Constantine received Gaul, Britannia and Hispania.^[19][20] Unlike his younger brothers, he gained little from Dalmatius’ removal.^[21]

Constantine was evidently left unsatisfied with the results of their meeting,^[22][10] seemingly believing that his age granted him some sort of seniority in the imperial college^[7] and, by extension, control over the dominion of his youngest brother Constans, who was still a teenager in 337.^[18][23] Even after campaigning successfully against the Alamanni in 338, he continued to maintain his position.^[18][23][9] The Codex Theodosianus recorded Constantine’s legislative intervention in Constans’ territory through issuing an edict to the proconsul of Africa in 339.^[18][23]

In 340, Constantine launched an invasion into Italy to claim territory from Constans.

Gallery

• 
  Coin of Constantine II as caesar, marked: d·n· fl· cl· constantinus nob· c· ("Our Lord Flavius Claudius Constantine, Noblest Caesar")
• 
  Solidus of Constantine II as caesar, marked: constantinus iun· nob· caes· on the obverse ("Constantine Junior, Noblest Caesar") and victoria caesar· n·n· ("the Victory of Our Caesars")
• 
  Aureus of Constantine II as caesar, marked: constantinus iun· nob· c· ("Constantine Junior, Noblest Caesar") on the obverse and virtus caesar n· ("the Virtue of Our Caesar") on the reverse
• 
  Coin of Constantine II as augustus.
• 
  Division of the Roman Empire among the Caesars appointed by Constantine I: from west to east, the territories of Constantine II, Constans, Dalmatius and Constantius II.

Notes

References

Sources

Primary sources

• Zosimus, Historia Nova, Book 2 Historia Nova
• Aurelius Victor, Epitome de Caesaribus
• Eutropius, Breviarium ab urbe condita

Secondary sources

• Baker-Brian, Nicholas (2022). The Reign of Constantius II. Taylor & Francis.
  ISBN 978-1-0006-1991-1
  .
• Barnes, T. D. (7 December 1973). "Lactantius and Constantine". The Journal of Roman Studies. 63: 29–46.
  S2CID 163051414
  .
• ISBN 978-0-674-16531-1
  .
• Barnes, Timothy D. (1982). The New Empire of Diocletian and Constantine. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  ISBN 0-674-28066-0
  .
• Burgess, R.W. (2008). "THE SUMMER OF BLOOD: The "Great Massacre" of 337 and the Promotion of the Sons of Constantine". Dumbarton Oaks Papers. 62: 5–51.
  JSTOR 20788042
  .
• Crawford, Peter (2016). Constantius II: Usurpers, Eunuchs, and the Antichrist. Pen & Sword.
  ISBN 978-1-78340-055-3
  .
• DiMaio, Michael, and Robert Frakes, "Constantine II (337–340 A.D.)", D.I.R.
• DiMaio, Michael (23 January 1988). "Smoke in the Wind : Zonaras' Use of Philostorgius, Zosimus, John of Antioch, and John of Rhodes in His Narrative on the Neo-Flavian Emperors". Byzantion. 58 (1): 230–255.
  JSTOR 44171050
  .
• Drinkwater, John F. (2007). The Alamanni and Rome 213–496. Caracalla to Clovis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  ISBN 978-0-19-929568-5
  .
• Hunt, David (1998). "The successors of Constantine". In
  ISBN 0-521-30200-5
  .
• ISBN 0-521-07233-6
  .
• Lewis, William (2020). "Constantine II and His Brothers: The Civil War of AD 340". In Nicholas Baker-Brian; Shaun Tougher (eds.). The Sons of Constantine, AD 337–361: In the Shadows of Constantine and Julian. Springer International Publishing. pp. 57–94.
  ISBN 978-3-0303-9898-9
  .
• Woods, David (2011). "Numismatic Evidence and the Succession to Constantine I". The Numismatic Chronicle. 171: 187–196.
  JSTOR 42667233
  .
• Gibbon, Edward. Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire (1888)

• Media related to Flavius Claudius Constantinus at Wikimedia Commons