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medieval worlds • no. 21 • 2024
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Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Austrian Academy of Sciences Press
A-1011 Wien, Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2
Tel. +43-1-515 81/DW 3420, Fax +43-1-515 81/DW 3400 https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at, e-mail: verlag@oeaw.ac.at |
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DATUM, UNTERSCHRIFT / DATE, SIGNATURE
BANK AUSTRIA CREDITANSTALT, WIEN (IBAN AT04 1100 0006 2280 0100, BIC BKAUATWW), DEUTSCHE BANK MÜNCHEN (IBAN DE16 7007 0024 0238 8270 00, BIC DEUTDEDBMUC)
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medieval worlds • no. 21 • 2024, pp. 67-86, 2024/11/28
Historians have questioned the contribution of Constantine to the city of Rome, but they have not usually considered that of Constantius II, which may be tied to his presence in the city in 357 and to his dealings with the bishops of Rome. The traditional image of Constantine’s contribution to the creation of Christian Rome, the supposed site of his conversion and thus integral to the history of the Christianisation of the Roman Empire, is essentially one that was created in the sixth century, set out in the Liber Pontificalis. Although many of the legends recounting Constantine’s dealings with the papacy, most especially his supposed baptism at the hands of Pope Silvester, have long been known to be false, the narrative of his involvement in the creation of many of Rome’s greatest churches has largely survived. But the papal view of Constantine was certainly not the only one in circulation before the sixth century, as Jerome’s continuation of the Chronicle of Eusebius, with its much more jaundiced view, attests. Moreover, one knock-on effect of questioning the account provided by the Liber Pontificalis is the need to consider the significance for Rome of Constantine’s son, Constantius II, who is given very little credit for the development of the Christian Empire, and indeed of Christian Rome, arguably above all because of his unquestioned association with the Arian, or rather Homoean, party, an association which, unlike that of his father, was never discreetly hidden by Christian historians. Yet there are reasons for thinking that Christian Rome in the later fourth century owed much to Constantius, as it did to Constantine, which
this article will consider.
Keywords: Constantine, Constantius II, Rome, St Peter’s, Liberius, Felix, Homoeans