Constantine (Crosscurrents in world history)

by Ramsay MacMullen

Book Overview

This study, first published in 1969, presents an astute and authoritative depiction of the cultural, religious and secular developments which shook the Roman world in the late 3rd and early 4th... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0006CU5V6
• Release Date: January 1969
• Publisher: Dial Press
• Length: 263 Pages
• Weight: 1.16 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A great resource

In my book, "Astronomical Symbols on Ancient and Medieval Coins", I devote an entire chapter to the visions of Constantine, the depiction of these visions on Constantinian coinage, and what Constantine actually saw in the heavens. As part of my research, I read numerous books on the life of Constantine, and I found that Macmullen's book, "Constantine," was especially useful. Not only were there many items of interest that added to my understanding of the history of his reign, but of all the books about Constantine that I read, Macmullen's book was one of the easiest and most interesting reads. He really brought ancient history to life. I highly recommend this book to all who are interested in Roman history. Marshall Faintich

like the statue of Constantine's head, the book is aged but still significant

Though the book is copyright 1987, this is a reprint, the original book came out in 1969, so I don't know if the book is outdated or not. One of the problems with this book is that there are no sources or footnotes, which is unusual considering that MacMullen is known for filling his books with footnotes and sources that take up half the books themselves. Perhaps the original 1969 version had the footnotes, but whatever the situation, there were none in the 1987 version. Constantine, the first Christian ruler of the Roman Empire is often perceived as somebody who distorted the "pure" teachings of Christianity with the "pagan" background he was brought up in. True, he had his faith in the divine sun, whome he identified with Apollo, before his conversion. When he became Christian, he simply identified Christ with Sol, whome had been often described in solar like imagery anyway. This was how people expressed the power of their favorite god in those days, by identifying him with the sun. Mithras is a good example of this and some people were even identifying Zeus with the sun. But it seems as time went by, Constantine distanced himself from identifying Christ with Sol, but not before he declared SUNday to be an imperial holiday or before putting the birth of Christ on the winter solstice, the birthday of the sun. Another controversy surrounding Constantine is the Nicene Creed, which established what Jesus was in relation to God. Constantine originally thought that this dispute (was Jesus created by God or was he always a part of God?) was stupid and that the bishops were arguing for arguments sake. But as the dispute was spread throughout the empire, Constantine was left with no choice but to have all the bishops meet at a council and vote to see which point of view would become orthodox. It's interesting that todays scholars are trying to argue that Constantine was just going along with the pressures of his time, but I learned that from this book that was written 37 years ago. Another thing I learned from this book is that Constantine's drive eastward could easily be described as the real first crusade, since his only motivation stated was purely religious, to stop the pagan threat of the emperor in the east from persecuting and restricting Christianity.

This Is the Classic

When you want to know anything about the late Roman Empire, read Ramsay MacMullen. This is one of the best biographies of Constantine extant. If you can get a copy buy it.