Constantius I 'Chlorus' Ancient Roman Coins for
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Example of Authentic Ancient
Coin of:
Constantius I 'Chlorus' - Roman Emperor: 293-306
A.D.
Silver Argenteus Rome mint: 294 A.D.
Reference: RIC 33 (Rome), C 315
CONSTANTIVS CAES - Laureate head right.
VIRTVS MILITVM Exe: R - The Four Tetrarchs sacrificing over tripod, city
gate in background.
The term Tetrarchy (Greek:
"leadership of four [people]") describes any form of government where
power is divided among four individuals, but in modern usage usually
refers to the system instituted by
Roman Emperor
Diocletian in 293, marking the end of
the
Crisis of the Third Century and the
recovery of the
Roman Empire. This Tetrarchy lasted
until c.313, when internecine conflict eliminated most of the claimants
to power, leaving
Constantine in the West and
Licinius in the East.
Terminology
Although the term "tetrarch" was current in antiquity, it was never
used of the imperial college under Diocletian. Instead, the term was
used to describe independent portions of a kingdom that were ruled under
separate leaders. The
tetrarchy of Judaea, established after
the death of
Herod the Great, is the most famous
example of the antique tetrarchy. The term was understood in the Latin
world as well, where
Pliny the Elder glossed it as follows:
"each is the equivalent of a kingdom, and also part of one" (regnorum
instar singulae et in regna contribuuntur).
As used by the ancients, the term describes not only different
governments, but also a different system of government from the
Diocletianic arrangements. The Judaean tetrarchy was a set of four
independent and distinct states, where each tetrarch ruled a quarter of
a kingdom as they saw fit, the Diocletianic tetrarchy was a college, led
by a single supreme leader. When later authors described the period,
this is what they emphasized:
Ammianus has Constantius II admonish
Julian for disobedience by appealing to the example in submission set by
Diocletian's lesser colleagues; Julian himself would compare the
Diocletianic tetrarchs to a chorus surrounding a leader, speaking in
unison under his command. Only
Lactantius, a contemporary of
Diocletian and a deep ideological opponent of the Diocletianic state,
referred to the tetrarchs as a simple multiplicity of rulers.
Much modern scholarship was written without the term. Although
Edward Gibbon pioneered the description
of the Diocletianic government as a "new empire", he never used the
term. Neither did
Theodor Mommsen. It did not appear in
the literature until 1887, when it was used by the schoolmaster Hermann
Schiller in a two-volume handbook on the Roman Empire, Geschichte der
Rφmischen Kaiserzeit. Schiller called it "die diokletianische
Tetrarchie". The term did not catch on in the literature, however,
until
Otto Seeck used it in 1897.
Creation
The first phase, sometimes referred to as the
Diarchy ("rule of two"), involved the
designation of the general
Maximian as co-emperor firstly as
Caesar (junior emperor) in 285,
followed by his promotion to
Augustus in 286.
Diocletian took care of matters in the
Eastern regions of the Empire while Maximian similarly took charge of
the Western regions. In 293, feeling more focus was needed on both civic
and military problems, Diocletian, with Maximian's consent, expanded the
imperial college by appointing two Caesars (one responsible to
each Augustus)
Galerius and
Constantius Chlorus.
In 305, the senior emperors jointly abdicated and retired, allowing
Constantius and Galerius to be elevated in rank to Augusti. They
in turn appointed two new Caesars
Severus II in the west under
Constantius, and
Maximinus in the east under Galerius
thereby creating the second Tetrarchy.
Regions and
capitals
Map of the Roman Empire under the Tetrarchy, showing the
dioceses and the four Tetrarchs' zones of influence.
The four Tetrarchs based themselves not at Rome but in other cities
closer to the frontiers, mainly intended as headquarters for the defence
of the Empire against bordering rivals (notably
Sassanian Persia) and
barbarians (mainly Germanic, and an
endless procession from the eastern steppe; many nomadic or elsewhere
chased tribes) at the Rhine and Danube. These centres are known as the
Tetrarchic capitals. Although Rome ceased to be an operational
capital, Rome continued to be nominal capital of the entire Roman
Empire, not reduced to the status of a province but under its own,
unique Prefect of the City (praefectus
urbis, later copied in Constantinople).
The four Tetrarchic capitals were:
-
Nicomedia in northwestern Asia
Minor (modern
Izmit in Turkey), a base for
defence against invasion from the Balkans and Persia's Sassanids was
the capital of Diocletian, the eastern (and most senior) Augustus;
in the final reorganisation by Constantine the Great, in 318, the
equivalent of his domain, facing the most redoubtable foreign enemy,
Sassanid Persia, became the
pretorian prefecture Oriens 'the East', the core of later
Byzantium.
-
Mediolanum (modern
Milan, near the Alps) was the
capital of Maximian, the western Augustus; his domain became
"Italia et Africa", with only a short exterior border.
-
Augusta Treverorum (modern
Trier, in Germany) was the capital
of Constantius Chlorus, the western Caesar, near the
strategic Rhine border, it had been the capital of Gallic emperor
Tetricus I; this quarter became the
prefecture Galliae.
Aquileia, a port on the Adriatic coast,
and
Eboracum (modern
York, in northern England near the
Celtic tribes of modern Scotland and Ireland), were also significant
centres for Maximian and Constantius respectively.
In terms of regional jurisdiction there was no precise division
between the four Tetrarchs, and this period did not see the Roman state
actually split up into four distinct sub-empires. Each emperor had his
zone of influence within the Roman Empire, but little more, mainly high
command in a 'war theatre'. Each Tetrarch was himself often in the
field, while delegating most of the administration to the hierarchic
bureaucracy headed by his respective
Pretorian Prefect, each supervising
several
Vicarii, the governors-general in
charge of another, lasting new administrative level, the civil
diocese. For a listing of the
provinces, now known as
eparchy, within each quarter (known as
a praetorian prefecture), see
Roman province.
In the West, the Augustus Maximian controlled the provinces
west of the Adriatic Sea and the Syrtis, and within that region his
Caesar, Constantius, controlled Gaul and Britain. In the East, the
arrangements between the Augustus Diocletian and his Caesar,
Galerius, were much more flexible.
However, it appears that some contemporary and later writers, such as
the Christian author
Lactantius, and
Sextus Aurelius Victor (who wrote about
fifty years later and from uncertain sources), misunderstood the
Tetrarchic system in this respect, believing it to have involved a
stricter division of territories between the four emperors.
Public image
Although power was shared in the Tetrarchic system, the public image
of the four emperors in the imperial college was carefully managed to
give the appearance of a united empire (patrimonium indivisum).
This was especially important after the civil war of the third century.
The Tetrarchs appeared identical in all official portraits. Coinage
dating from the Tetrarchic period depicts every emperor with identical
features only the inscriptions on the coins indicate which one of the
four emperors is being shown. The Byzantine sculpture
Portrait of the Four Tetrarchs
(pictured at right) shows the Tetrarchs again with identical features
and wearing the same military costume.
Military successes
One of the greatest problems facing emperors in the Third Century
Crisis was that they were only ever able to personally command troops on
one front at any one time. While
Aurelian and
Probus were prepared to accompany their
armies thousands of miles between war regions, this was not an ideal
solution. Furthermore, it was risky for an emperor to delegate power in
his absence to a subordinate general, who might win a victory and then
be proclaimed as a rival emperor himself by his troops (which often
happened). All members of the imperial college, on the other hand, were
of essentially equal rank, despite two being senior emperors and two
being junior; their functions and authorities were also equal.
Under the Tetrarchy a number of important military victories were
secured. Both the Dyarchic and the Tetrarchic system ensured that an
emperor was nearby to every crisis area to personally direct and remain
in control of campaigns simultaneously on more than just one front.
After suffering a defeat by the
Persians in 296, Galerius crushed
Narseh in 298 reversing a series of
Roman defeats throughout the century capturing members of the imperial
household and a substantial amount of booty and gaining a highly
favourable peace treaty, which secured peace between the two powers for
a generation. Similarly, Constantius defeated the British usurper
Allectus, Maximian pacified the Gauls,
and Diocletian crushed the revolt of
Domitianus in
Egypt.
Demise
When in 305 the 20-year term of Diocletian and Maximian ended, both
abdicated. Their Caesares, Galerius and Constantius Chlorus, were both
raised to the rank of Augustus, and two new Caesares were appointed:
Maximinus (Caesar to Galerius) and
Flavius Valerius Severus (Caesar to
Constantius). These four formed the second Tetrarchy.
However, the system broke down very quickly thereafter. When
Constantius died in 306, Galerius promoted Severus to Augustus while
Constantine the Great was proclaimed
Augustus to succeed his father Constantius, by his father's troops. At
the same time,
Maxentius, the son of Maximian,
resenting having been left out of the new arrangements, defeated Severus
before forcing him to abdicate and then arranging his murder in 307.
Maxentius and Maximian both then declared themselves Augusti. By 308
there were therefore no fewer than four claimants to the rank of
Augustus (Galerius, Constantine, Maximian and Maxentius), and only one
to that of Caesar (Maximinus).
In 308 Galerius, together with the retired emperor Diocletian and the
supposedly retired Maximian, called an imperial "conference" at
Carnuntum on the River Danube. The
council agreed that
Licinius would become Augustus in the
West, with Constantine as his Caesar. In the East, Galerius remained
Augustus and Maximinus remained his Caesar. Maximian was to retire, and
Maxentius was declared an usurper. This agreement proved disastrous: by
308 Maxentius had become de facto ruler of Italy and Africa even
without any imperial rank, and neither Constantine nor Maximinus who
had both been Caesares since 306 and 305 respectively were prepared to
tolerate the promotion of the Augustus Licinius as their superior.
After an abortive attempt to placate both Constantine and Maximinus
with the meaningless title filius Augusti ("son of the Augustus",
essentially an alternative title for Caesar), they both had to be
recognised as Augusti in 309. However, four full Augusti all at odds
with each other did not bode well for the Tetrarchic system.
Between 309 and 313 most of the claimants to the imperial office died
or were killed in various civil wars. Constantine forced Maximian's
suicide in 310. Galerius died naturally in 311. Maxentius was defeated
by Constantine at the
Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 and
subsequently killed. Maximinus committed suicide at
Tarsus in 313 after being defeated in
battle by Licinius.
By 313, therefore, there remained only two emperors: Constantine in
the West and Licinius in the East. The Tetrarchic system was at an end,
although it took until 324 for Constantine to finally defeat Licinius,
reunite the two halves of the Roman Empire and declare himself sole
Augustus.
Flavius Valerius Constantius (March 31 c. 250
July 25, 306), also Constantius I, was an
emperor of the
Western Roman Empire (305306). He was
commonly called Chlorus (the Pale) an epithet given to him by
Byzantine historians. He was the father
of
Constantine the Great and initiator of
the
Constantinian dynasty.
History
The
Historia Augusta says Constantius
was the son of
Eutropius, a
noble from northern
Dardania in modern
Serbia, and Claudia, a niece of the
emperors
Claudius II and
Quintillus. Historians, however,
suspect this maternal connection to be a
genealogical
fabrication created by his son
Constantine I, thus connecting his
family to two rather highly regarded predecessors. His father, however,
might have been the brother of Eutropia, wife of Maximian.
Under the emperor
Carus, he was governor of
Dalmatia, and Carus is said to have
considered adopting him as his heir in place of his dissolute son,
Carinus.
In 293 the emperor
Diocletian created the
Tetrarchy, dividing the
Roman Empire into
Western and
Eastern portions. Each would be ruled
by an
Augustus, supported by a
Caesar. Diocletian became Augustus of
the Eastern empire, with
Galerius as his Caesar. Constantius was
appointed Caesar to the Western Augustus,
Maximian, and married
Theodora, Maximian's stepdaughter. They
had six children. Constantius divorced his first wife (or concubine),
Helena, by whom he already had a son,
Constantine. Helena was probably from
Nicomedia in Asia Minor. He was given
command of
Gaul,
Britain and possibly
Hispania.
In 293, Constantius defeated the forces of
Carausius, who had declared himself
emperor in Britain and northern Gaul in 286, near
Bononia. Carausius was killed by his
rationalis
Allectus, who took command of Britain
until 296, when Constantius sent
Asclepiodotus, a prefect of the
Praetorian Guard, to invade the island.
Allectus was defeated and killed, and Roman rule in Britain restored.
Also in 296, Constantius fought a battle against the
Alamanni at the city of
Lingonae (Langres)
in Gaul. He was shut up in the city, but was relieved by his army after
six hours, and defeated the enemy. He
defeated them again at Vindonissa (Windisch,
Switzerland), thereby strengthening the
defenses of the
Rhine frontier.
Galerius, became co-emperors.
Constantius ruled the western empire, Galerius the eastern.
Severus and
Maximinus Daia were appointed Caesars.
Constantine, who had hoped to be a Caesar, joined his father's campaigns
in Gaul and Britain. Constantius died in Britain, at
York, in 306, and Constantine was
declared emperor by the army.
Legend
Christian
legends
As the father of Constantine, a number of Christian
legends have grown up around Constantius.
Eusebius's Life of Constantine
claims that Constantius was himself a Christian, although he pretended
to be a pagan, and while Caesar under Diocletian, took no part in the
emperor's persecutions. His first wife,
Helena, is the subject of many legends,
including the finding of the
True Cross.
British
legends
Constantius's activities in Britain were remembered
in medieval British legend. In
Geoffrey of Monmouth's
History of the Kings of Britain
(1136), he is sent to Britain by the
Senate after Asclepiodotus, here a
British king, is overthrown by
Coel of Colchester. Coel submits to
Constantius and agrees to pay tribute to Rome, but dies only eight days
later. Constantius marries Coel's daughter Helena and becomes king of
Britain. He and Helena have a son, Constantine, who succeeds to the
throne of Britain when his father dies at York eleven years later. The
identification of Helena as British had previously been made by
Henry of Huntingdon, but has no
historical validity: Constantius had divorced Helena before he went to
Britain.
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