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Constantine II (Template:Langx; 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.Template:Sfn He held the consulship four times – in 320, 321, 324, and 329.
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.
LifeEdit
Born in Arles in 316,Template:SfnTemplate:Efn Constantine II was the second son of the Roman emperor Constantine I, and probably the eldest with his wife Fausta,Template:Efn the daughter of the emperor Maximian.
CaesarEdit
On 1 March 317, he was made caesar at Serdica.Template:Sfn After accompanying his father on his campaign against the Sarmatians in 323,Template:Sfn he was commemorated on coinage produced to recognize the ensuing victory.Template:Sfn Constantine II usually resided with his father until 328, when his own court was installed at Trier.Template:Sfn An inscription dated to 328–330Template:Efn records the title of {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, indicating that his generals won a victory over the Alamanni.<ref name=dimaio>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> His military career continued when Constantine I made him field commander during the 332 winter campaign against the Goths.<ref name=dimaio/> As a result of his leadership,Template:Sfn the military operation concluded with 100,000 Goths reportedly slain and the surrender of the ruler Ariaric.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn He was married prior to 336, although his wife's identity remains unknown.Template:Sfn David Woods has theorized that she may have been a half-cousin, possibly a daughter of Julius Constantius, as Constantine minted coins of his grandfather's second wife Flavia Maximiana Theodora. Another sugestion by Barnes is that she could have been a daughter of Flavius Optatus.Template:Sfn
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,Template:Sfn on the orders of Constantine II's younger brother Constantius II.Template:Sfn Although Constantine himself appears to not have been directly involved,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn 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."Template:Sfn
In what seemed to be an attempt to distance themselves from the massacre,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn the three brothers proceeded to print coins of Theodora, whom their murdered relatives had been descended from.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn Woods considered it to suggest that he was more sympathetic to Theodora's memory than his brothers,Template:Sfn possibly because his wife may have been a granddaughter of Theodora.Template:Sfn
In June 337, before he was named emperor, Constantine had already begun attempting to assert his seniority.Template:Sfn He issued an order allowing the exiled bishop Athanasius to return to Alexandria, which was under the control of Constantius II,Template:Sfn claiming to be carrying out the unfulfilled intentions of his father.<ref name=dimaio/>Template:Sfn 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,<ref name=dimaio/>Template:Sfn who would oust Athanasius from Alexandria only two years later.Template:Sfn
AugustusEdit
The three brothers were not named as Augusti until 9 September 337,Template:Sfn when they gathered together in Pannonia and divided the Roman territories among themselves.Template:Sfn Constantine received Gaul, Britannia and Hispania.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Unlike his younger brothers, he gained little from Dalmatius's removal.Template:Sfn
Constantine was evidently left unsatisfied with the results of their meeting,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn seemingly believing that his age granted him some sort of seniority in the imperial collegeTemplate:Sfn and, by extension, control over the dominion of his youngest brother Constans, who was still a teenager in 337.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Even after campaigning successfully against the Alamanni in 338, Constantine continued to maintain his position.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Theodosian Code recorded his legislative intervention in Constans's territory through issuing an edict to the proconsul of Africa in 339.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
In April 340,Template:Sfn Constantine launched an invasion into Italy to claim territory from Constans.<ref name=dimaio/>Template:Sfn Constans, at that time in Naissus,Template:Sfn sent a number of troops to confront him, and Constantine was killed in an ambush near Aquileia.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Efn Constans then took control of his brother's realm, whose inhabitants seem to have been largely unaffected by their change in ruler.Template:Sfn
After his death, Constantine was subjected to damnatio memoriae.Template:Sfn 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."Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn
GalleryEdit
- INC-2046-a Ауреус. Константин II. Ок. 337—340 гг. (аверс).png
Coin of Constantine II as caesar (aged 1–7), marked: Template:Smallcaps (Our Lord Flavius Claudius Constantine, Noblest Caesar)
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Aureus of Constantine II as caesar (aged 8), marked: Template:Smallcaps ("Constantine Junior, Noblest Caesar") on the obverse
- Constantine II as Caesar.jpg
Solidus of Constantine II as caesar (aged 19), marked: Template:Smallcaps on the obverse ("Constantine Junior, Noblest Caesar") and Template:Smallcaps (Princeps of youth) on the reverse
NotesEdit
ReferencesEdit
SourcesEdit
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- DiMaio, Michael, and Robert Frakes, "Constantine II (337–340 A.D.)", D.I.R.
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External linksEdit
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