1991/01/01 by T. G. Elliott · 38 citations
Arts and Humanities · #Archaeology and Historical Studies #Art #Byzantine Studies and History #Classical Studies and Legal History
paper · doi:10.2307/1088553
published in Phoenix 45(2), 162 (Classical Association of Canada)
openalex publication_date 1991/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/04/04
ON THE BASIS OF EUSEBIUS' ACCOUNT one might describe the religious character of Constantine, which he says in 1.11 will be his subject, as that of a heaven-sent deliverer, patron, and impartial peacemaker. The nouns can all be accepted. That he was heaven-sent in the manner described by Eusebius is debatable: it can depend on what one thinks of the evidence regarding Christianity in his family, and of Eusebius' conversion story. That he was impartial regarding theological disputes is implied in Eusebius' accounts of the Councils at Nicaea in 325, Antioch in 326, and Tyre in 335. However, in 3.66 Eusebius represents Constantine as banning the books of heretics who were not Arians. In fact, Constantine's council at Nicaea in 325 anathematized Arianism, and its decisions were not tampered with during his lifetime. Eusebius' Constantine was also aggressively anti-pagan and I shall discuss the prohibition of pagan sacrifice which he recounts in 2.45.