Constantine the Great (jan 1, 272 – jan 1, 337)

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Constantine was the son of Flavius Valerius Constantius, an army officer, and his wife, Helena. His father was raised to the rank of deputy emperor and served under Augustus Maximian in the west. Constantine was raised in the eastern empire at the imperial court of the senior emperor Diocletian. Constantius requested his son's presence at Gesoriocum where they crossed to Britain and fought a campaign in the north before Constantius’s death in 306. Constantine was acclaimed emperor by the army and became involved in a series of civil wars in which the son of Maximian, Maxentius, rebelled at Rome. Constantine, who had married Maximians daughter in 307, invaded Italy in 312 and defeated his brother in law at the Milvian Bridge near Rome. There was an alliance in which Constantine became emperor of the West and Licinius shared the East with Maximinus, but Licinius defeated Maximinus and became sole emperor of the East. Constantine became the sole emperor of both the East and West when he defeated Licinius in 324 over territory. Constantine ascribed his success to his conversion to Christianity, believing that he had brought peace and prosperity to all lands through the divine aid of God. After Licinius’s defeat, Constantine renamed Byzantium to Constantinople and rebuilt the city as the capital. The dedication of Constantinople the separation between the emperor and Rome, which became of little political importance.

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