Creating a Christian emperor: policies of imperial legitimation in Vita Constantini
Authors
-
Benjamín Concha
University College London
https://orcid.org/0009-0003-8706-9296
Abstract
Constantine I ruled (306-337 A.D.) during a period in which the status of Christians changed from a persecuted minority into a respected and supported imperial religion. In this article we address in which ways Eusebius of Caesarea created the image of a Christian emperor in Vita Constantini. In this sense, we assert that Eusebius represented Constantine’s Christian imperial legitimacy emphasizing two fundamental conditions: an ideal model of a virtuous Christian emperor and a codependent relationship with bishops.
Keywords:
Constantine, Eusebius of Caesarea, Christianity, bishops, legitimacyReferences
BARNES, T.D. (1981). Constantine and Eusebius. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
--- (1975). “Two Senators under Constantine”, en The Journal of Roman Studies 65, pp. 40-49.
BAYNES, N. (1974). Byzantine Studies and Other Essays. Westport: Greenwood Press Publishers.
BEARD, M., NORTH., J., & PRICE, S. (eds.). (1998). Religions of Rome vol. I. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
BOWERSOCk, G.W. (1986). “The Self-Conscious Transformation of Political Power in the Fourth Century A.D”, en Classical Philology nº4, pp. 298- 307.
BOWMAN, A.k. (2008). “Diocletian and the First Tetrarchy, A.D. 284-305”, en A.K. Bowman, P. Garnsey, A. Cameron (eds.), The Cambridge Ancient History Second Edition Volume XII, The Crisis of Empire A.D. 193-337. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 67-89.
BROWN, P. (1995). Authority and the Sacred. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
CAMERON, A. (1999). Life of Constantine. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
DRAkE, H.A. (2000). Constantine and the Bishops: The Politics of Intolerance. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press.
DE STE. CROIX, G.E.M. (1954). “Aspects of the «Great» Persecution”, en The Harvard Theological Review nº2, pp. 75-113.
EUSEBIO DE CESAREA. (2010). Vida de Constantino. Traducción: Martín Gurruchaga. Madrid: Editorial Gredos.
HOLLERICH, M. (1989). “Myth and History in Eusebius’s «De Vita Constantini»: Vit. Const. 1.12 in Its Contemporary Setting”, en The Harvard Theological Review nº4, pp. 421-445.
HUMPHRIES, M. (2008). “From Usurper to Emperor: The Politics of Legitimation in the Age of Constantine”, en Journal of Late Antiquity nº1, pp. 82-100.
JOHNSON, M.J. (2007). “Architecture of Empire”, en N. Lenski (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Constantine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 278-298.
JONES, A.H.M. (1954). “Notes on the Genuineness of the Constatinian Documents in Eusebius’ Life of Constantine”, en Journal of Ecclesiastical History nº2, pp. 196-200.
LENSKI, N. (2007). “The Reign of Constantine”, en N. Lenski (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Constantine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 59-82.
NOREÑA, C. (2001). “The Communication of the Emperor’s Virtues”, en The Journal of Roman Studies 91, pp. 146-160.
RAPP, C. (1998). “Imperial Ideology in the Making: Eusebius of Caesarea on
Constantine as «Bishop»”, en The Journal of Theology nº2, pp. 685-695.
SALZMAN, M. (2008). “Pagans and Christians”, en S. Ashbrook y D. Hunter (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 186-203.
SESTON, W. (1947).“Constantine as a «Bishop»”, en The Journal of Roman Studies Parts 1 and 2, pp. 127-131.
STORCH, R. (1971). “The «Eusebian Constantine»”, en Church History nº2, pp.
-149.
VAN DAM, R. (2007). The Roman Revolution of Constantine. New York:
Cambridge Univesity Press.
