Anthony and Cleopatra, by Lawrence Alma-Tadema

Caesar's

Consular Power

five-year term

A historical oddity of the Triumvirate is that it was, in effect

a three-man directorate with dictatorial powers which included Antony, who as consul in 44 BC had obtained a lex Antonia which had abolished the dictatorship and expunged it from the Republic's constitutions.

Octavian's colleague in the consulate that year, his cousin and nephew of Caesar, Quintus Pedius, died before the proscriptions got underway.

Caesar's death,

Octavian

Antony

Despite having married Octavia, Octavian's sister, in 40 BC (Octavian had married Antony's stepdaughter Clodia Pulchra three years earlier), Antony openly lived in Alexandria with Cleopatra VII of Egypt, even siring children with her. A master of propaganda, Octavian turned public opinion against his colleague. When the Triumvirate's second term expired in 33 BC, Antony continued to use the title Triumvir; Octavian, opting to distance himself from Antony, refrained from using it. Octavian illegally obtained Antony's will in July 32 BC, and exposed it to the Roman public: it promised substantial legacies to Antony's children by Cleopatra, and instructed that his body should be shipped to Alexandria for burial. Rome was outraged, and the Senate declared war.

Octavian's forces

Antony

Cleopatra

Constantine with his army was marching (Eusebius does not specify the actual location of the event, but it clearly is not in the camp at Rome),

At first he was unsure of the meaning of the apparition, but in the following night he had a dream in which Christ explained to him that he should use the sign against his enemies.

Both authors agree that the sign was not readily understandable to denote Christ, which corresponds to the fact that there is no certain evidence of the use of the letters chi and rho as a Christian sign before Constantine. Its first appearance is on a Constantinian silver coin from c. 317, which proves that Constantine did use the sign at that time, though not very prominently.[

Some[6] have interpreted the vision in a solar context (e.g., as a solar halo phenomenon), which may have been reshaped to fit with the Christian beliefs later expressed by Constantine.

It was expected that Maxentius would remain within Rome and endure a siege, as he already had successfully employed this strategy during the invasions of Severus and Galerius.

The next day, the two armies clashed, and Constantine won a decisive victory.

Tiber were either taken prisoner or killed. Maxentius' Praetorian Guard seem to have made a stubborn stand on the northern bank of the river.[11] Maxentius was among the dead, having drowned in the river while trying to swim across it in a desperate bid to escape or, alternatively, he is described as having been thrown by his horse into the river.[12] Lactantius describes the death of Maxentius in the following manner: "The bridge in his rear was broken down. At sight of that the battle grew hotter. The hand of the Lord prevailed, and the forces of Maxentius were routed. He fled towards the broken bridge; but the multitude pressing on him, he was driven headlong into the Tiber."[13]

ormed gov

al Horse

western Roman Empire, paving the way for Christianity as the dominant religion for the Roman Empire and ultimately for Europe."[18] [edit] Notes

amuel N.C., and Dominic Montserrat, eds. From Constantine to Julian. London: Routledge, 1996. ISBN 0415093368 Nixon, C.E.V. and Barbara Saylor Rodgers. In Praise of Later Roman Emperors: The Panegyrici Latini, with the Latin Text of R.A.B. Mynors. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994. ISBN 0520083261 Odahl, Charles Matson. Constantine and the Christian Empire. London: Rou

em. Constantine's infantry then advanced, most of Maxentius's troops fought well b

A contemporary image of the battle from the Arch of Constantine, Rome. In the frieze at the foot of the image Constantine's cavalry drive Maxentius' troops into the waters of the Tiber.

ped at the locatio

dly be reconciled with each other, though they have been merged in popular notion into Constantine seeing the Chi-Rho sign at the eve

tine, Eusebius gives a de

ring for battle, Constantine had a vision which led him to fight under the protection of the Christian God. T

or, Sev

uggle for