4case, however. After the retirement of theAugusti
(plural ofAugustus), there were quarrels among
the successors, and war broke out once again.The Chi-Rho
At the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312C.E.(see
image opposite), one of the leading contenders to be
anAugustus, a general named Constantine, defeated
his last rival for control of the western half of the
Empire. According to his biographers, on the eve of
the battle, he had a vision and heard a voice declare
“In this sign, you will conquer.” The sign was the
Chi-Rho, a symbol of the Christian faith. Constantine
had an elaborate banner bearing the emblem carried
before his army. He also had the sign inscribed on his
soldiers’ shields. His victory convinced him that
service to the God of the Christians brought success.
Constantine’s theological shift would have
momentous consequences for the Christian faith and
for the course of the empire. In the following year, he
the Edict of Milan, proclaiming religious
ation for Christianity. Thus, Christianity
gone from a religious sect whose
embers were persecuted and cruelly
ppressed to an accepted part of the
mpire. What is more, Constantine
ublicly proclaimed himself a Christian.
A new era had begun.Byzantium It Is!
There followed ten years of uneasy
co-rule with Licinius, who sought to
control the eastern part of the Empire.Milion
When Constantine establishe
his “New Rome,” he copied
many features of “Old Rome.”
Among these was theMilion.I
was from this zero-mile
marker that the distances for
all the roads leading to the
cities of the Byzantine Empire
were measured. The mileston
served the same function as
the Golden Milestone in
Rome’s Forum. Thus, it stood
as a symbol of both continuit
and organized power.AndSoItS
This statue of the first four partners in The
Tetrarchy was taken from Constantinople
around 1203Ƌƍ,WQRZIRUPVSDUWRID
ZDOOLQ,WDO\W
hen Diocletian became emperor in
284 C.E., he soon recognized the chaos
that threatened to destroy his empire.
Determined to address the problem,
he decided to divide the lands he controlled into
more manageable administrative districts and to
share power with co-rulers.‘The Tetrarchy’
Diocletian’s new system of governance had two
senior and two junior partners. It was called "The
Tetrachy," from the Greek tetra ("four") and arkhein
("to rule"). The senior partners, Diocletian and
Maximian, were joint emperors and shared the title
of Augustus (Latin for "honored"). The junior partners
were called Caesars and were seen as the successors
to the senior rulers. In addition to the administrative
and military advantages this system offered, it was
meant to provide for an orderly succession of rulers
and to avoid civil war. Such was not the
issuedt
tolera
hadg
me
op
em
p
Ad ” t e e y