Constantine I 'The Great'- Roman
Emperor: 337-361 A.D. -
The Founding of Rome Commemorative -
Bronze AE3 18mm (2.7 grams) Struck at the mint of
Cyzicus circa 332-335 A.D.
Reference: RIC 105 (VII, Cyzicus)
VRBSROMA - Roma helmeted, draped and cuirassed bust
left.
She-wolf standing left, suckling Romulus and Remus; two
stars above, ●SMKS in exergue.
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Romulus
and Remus (traditionally c. 771 BC[1]–c.
717 BC and c. 771 BC–c. 753 BC respectively) are the
traditional
founders of
Rome, appearing in
Roman mythology as the twin sons of the
Vestal Virgin
Rhea Silvia, fathered by the god of war,
Mars. According to the
tradition recorded as history by
Plutarch and
Livy, Romulus served as the first
King of Rome.
Romulus slew Remus with a shovel over a dispute about
which one of the two brothers had the support of the
local deities to rule the new city and give it his name.
The name they gave the city was Rome. Supposedly,
Romulus had stood on one hill and Remus another, and a
circle of birds flew over Romulus, signifying that he
should be king. After founding Rome, Romulus not only
created the
Roman Legions and the
Roman Senate, but also added citizens to his new
city by abducting the women of the neighboring
Sabine tribes, which resulted in the mixture of the
Sabines and Romans into one people. Romulus would become
one of
ancient Rome's greatest conquerors, adding large
amounts of territory and people to the dominion of Rome.
After his death, Romulus was deified as the god
Quirinus, the divine persona of the Roman people. As
a mythological figure, his historical basis is disputed,
and it is supposed that his name is a
back-formation from the name Rome. Some scholars,
notably
Andrea Carandini, believe in the historicity of
Romulus, in part because of the 1988 discovery of the
Murus Romuli on the north slope of the Palatine
Hill in Rome.[2]
Romulus and Remus are pre-eminent among the famous
feral children in mythology and fiction.
Caesar Flavius Valerius Aurelius
Constantinus Augustus[3]
(27 February c. 272[2]
– 22 May 337), commonly known in
English as Constantine I, Constantine the
Great, or (among
Eastern Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox,
Oriental Orthodox and
Byzantine Catholic Christians) Saint Constantine
(pronounced
/ˈkɒnstɛntaɪn/), was
Roman emperor from 306, and the undisputed holder of
that office from 324 until his death in 337. Best known
for being the first
Christian Roman emperor, Constantine reversed the
persecutions of his predecessor,
Diocletian, and issued (with his co-emperor
Licinius) the
Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed
religious toleration throughout the empire.
The
Byzantine liturgical calendar, observed by the
Eastern Orthodox Church and
Eastern Catholic Churches of Byzantine rite, lists
both Constantine and his mother
Helena as saints. Although he is not included in the
Latin Church's list of saints, which does recognize
several other Constantines as saints, he is revered
under the title "The Great" for his contributions to
Christianity.
Constantine also transformed the
ancient Greek colony of
Byzantium into a new imperial residence,
Constantinople, which would remain the capital of
the
Byzantine Empire for over one thousand years.
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