Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Heliodromus, post: 8002206, member: 120820&quot;]I think even the idea of conversion isn&#039;t really appropriate to the 4thC. The whole idea of believing exclusively in one god was something new - the romans had previously been much more inclusive, happily adopting foreign gods alongside their own. Even 100+ years after Constantine we have Pope Leo I complaining about his congregation turning east on the steps of St Peters to bow to the rising sun.</p><p><br /></p><p>While Constantine appears to have started to adopt Christian beliefs around the time of his Italian victory, you won&#039;t find any such references on his arch commemorating the event, and even when founding Constantinople a decade later he chose to erect a massive column topped with a statue of Sol (or perhaps himself in guise of Sol, with a radiate crown), which only later evolved to become considered as a Christian monument. It&#039;s hard to guess how he was internalizing his simultaneous embrace of Christianity with his waning solar monotheism, but certainly the idea of a &quot;conversion&quot; does not seem appropriate. It&#039;s interesting to note that after taking control of Rome in 313AD, not only do we see Constantine doubling down on his already established Sol coinage, but then also going out of his way to issue coins celebrating the festival of Isis, which Maxentius had not done!</p><p><br /></p><p>On Constantine&#039;s coinage we see explicitly pagan themes disappear, or become much toned down, but never really replaced with Christian ones. There&#039;s a period around 318-320AD where it seems he is going to, but then he instead chooses just to switch to generic themes of security (campgates) and army (gloria exercitus) and roma/constantinopolis. We see Christian symbols used as issue marks appearing from a few mints (seems more like a choice of the mint), but very few coins where Christian symbols were used as part of the actual design, which is why his very brief &quot;SPES PVBLIC&quot; type with labarum piercing a snake is so famous.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in