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Constantine II (emperor)

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Constantine II
Campidoglio, Roma - Costantino II cesare fronte.jpg
Statue of Caesar Constantine II on top of the Cordonata (the monumental staircase climbing up to Piazza del Campidoglio), in Rome
Roman emperor
Augustus 9 September 337 – 340 (Gaul, Hispania, and Britain)
Predecessor Constantine I
Successor Constans
Co-emperors Constantius II (East)
Constans (Italy and Africa)
Caesar 1 March 317 – 9 September 337
Born316
Arelate, Viennensis
Died340 (aged 24)
Aquileia, Italy
Names
Flavius Claudius Constantinus [1]
Regnal name
Imperator Caesar Flavius Claudius Constantinus Augustus
Dynasty Constantinian
Father Constantine the Great
Mother Fausta
ReligionChristianity

Constantine II (Latin : Flavius Claudius Constantinus; 316 – 340) was Roman emperor from 337 to 340. Son of Constantine the Great and co-emperor alongside his brothers, his attempt to exert his perceived rights of primogeniture led to his death in a failed invasion of Italy in 340.

Contents

Career

The eldest son of Constantine the Great and Fausta, [lower-alpha 1] Constantine II was born in Arles in 316 and raised as a Christian. [3]

Caesar

On 1 March 317, he was made caesar. [3] [1] Constantine II usually resided with his father, such as accompanying him on his campaign against the Sarmatians in 323, [4] until his own court was installed at Trier in 328. [5] An inscription dated to 328-330 [lower-alpha 2] records the title of Alamannicus, indicating that his generals won a victory over the Alamanni. [3] His military career continued when Constantine I made him field commander during the 332 winter campaign against the Goths. [3] [7] The military operation was successful and decisive, with 100,000 Goths reportedly slain and the surrender of the ruler Ariaric. [8] 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. [9] He was married prior to 336, although his wife’s identity remains unknown. [10]

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. [11] 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.” [12]

In what seemed to be an attempt to distance themselves from the massacre, [13] the three brothers proceeded to print coins of Theodora, whom their murdered relatives had been descended from. [11] 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. [14] Woods considered it to suggest that he was more sympathetic to Theodora’s memory than his brothers, [15] possibly because his wife may have been a granddaughter of Theodora. [10]

In June 337, before he was named emperor, Constantine had already begun attempting to assert his seniority. [16] 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] [17]

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. [18] [19] Unlike his younger brothers, he gained little from Dalmatius’ removal. [20]

Constantine was evidently left unsatisfied with the results of their meeting, [21] [9] 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. [17] [22] Even after campaigning successfully against the Alamanni in 338, he continued to maintain his position. [17] [22] [23] The Codex Theodosianus recorded Constantine’s legislative intervention in Constans’ territory through issuing an edict to the proconsul of Africa in 339. [17] [22]

In 340, Constantine launched an invasion into Italy to claim territory from Constans. [17] [3] Constans, at that time in Naissus, [21] sent a number of troops to confront him, and Constantine was killed in an ambush near Aquileia. [17] [24] [lower-alpha 3] Constans then took control of his deceased brother's realm, who seem to have been largely unaffected by their change in ruler. [26] After his death, Constantine was subjected to damnatio memoriae, [17] which his other brother Constantius II also followed. [22]

Family tree

Family of Constantine II (emperor)

Emperors are shown with a rounded-corner border with their dates as Augusti, names with a thicker border appear in both sections

1: Constantine's parents and half-siblings

Helena
Flavia Maximiana Theodora
  • Constantine I
  • 306–337
 Flavius Dalmatius Hannibalianus Flavia Julia Constantia
Anastasia Bassianus
Galla Julius Constantius Basilina Licinius II Eutropia Virius Nepotianus
Hannibalianus Constantina Constantius Gallus
Helena Nepotianus


2: Constantine's children

Minervina
  • Constantine I
  • 306–337
 Fausta
Crispus
  • Constantine II
  • 337–340
 Hannibalianus Constantina Constantius Gallus
Faustina
Helena
Constantia

Notes

  1. ↑ The PLRE’s statement that Constantine II was not Fausta’s son [1] is wrong. [2]
  2. ↑ Barnes favors the date 330, [4] while Drinkwater prefers an earlier date of 328-9. [6]
  3. ↑ In a confused account, Zosimus does not say Constantine II invaded his youngest brother’s territory. He instead reported that Constans sent troops to Constantine on the pretext of assisting in the Persian war, but in reality to assassinate him by surprise. Constans’ troops would’ve been marching away from the Persians if they were heading to Constantine’s territory. [9] [25] Modern historians, trying to make sense of Zosimus’ confusion, have suggested that instead it was Constantine who claimed to be assisting Constantius II. [17] [22] [9]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Jones, Martindale & Morris, p. 223.
  2. ↑ Barnes 1973, pp. 36–37.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DiMaio Jr, Michael; Frakes, Robert (2 May 1998). "Constantine II (337–340 A.D.)". De Imperatoribus Romanis - Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors.
  4. 1 2 Barnes 1982, p. 84.
  5. ↑ Barnes 1981, p. 221.
  6. ↑ Drinkwater 2007, pp. 198–199.
  7. 1 2 Crawford 2016, “Preparation for the Purple: Constantius’ Upbringing and Accession”.
  8. ↑ Barnes 1981, p. 250.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Baker-Brian 2022, “Making and Shaping a Dynasty”.
  10. 1 2 Woods 2011, p. 195.
  11. 1 2 Hunt 1998, p. 3.
  12. ↑ Burgess 2008, pp. 21–22.
  13. ↑ Woods 2011, pp. 194–195.
  14. ↑ Burgess 2008, p. 23.
  15. ↑ Woods 2011, p. 194.
  16. ↑ Lewis 2020, p. 69.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Hunt 1998, p. 5.
  18. ↑ "Constantine II – Roman Emperor". Encyclopedia Britannica. 2021.
  19. ↑ Hunt 1998, p. 4.
  20. ↑ Lewis 2020, p. 59.
  21. 1 2 DiMaio 1988, p. 240.
  22. 1 2 3 4 5 Crawford 2016, “Fraternal Civil War and the Usurpation of Magnentius”.
  23. ↑ Drinkwater 2007, p. 199.
  24. ↑ DiMaio 1988, p. 241.
  25. ↑ Lewis 2020, p. 78.
  26. ↑ Hunt 1998, pp. 5–6.

Sources

Primary sources

Secondary sources