Constantine and the Ancient Cults of Rome: The Legal Evidence

Abstract

The relationship between Constantine and the ancient cults of Roman civilization remains one of the most important and discussed features of late antique history. It is a relationship which has defied those who see in his victory over Maxentius a sudden, monolithic shift in the religious consciousness of the ancient world, because the sources stubbornly refuse to yield to such a tidy interpretation. In this paper I review a body of evidence that reveals Constantine to be a flesh-and-blood emperor, confronting the difficulties of transition and reining in his own passions, sometimes for narrow political reasons and sometimes for what might be taken as statesmanship. What follows is neither exhaustive nor definitive. It is an attempt to gauge the complexity of some of Constantine's problems and assess his skills in dealing with them.