Murders after the death of Constantine the Great

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The murders after the death of Constantine the Great were a series of political murders in the Roman Empire carried out by high-ranking military officials after the death of the Roman emperor Constantine I on May 22, 337. Most of Constantine's male relatives fell victim to the "purge" - with the exception of his sons, whose claims to power were supposed to secure the murders.

prehistory

Constantine still followed a policy in the twenties of the fourth century that provided for his sons Crispus , Constantine II , Constantius II and Constans for his successors. As early as 317 he named Crispus and Constantine II nominal Caesares , in 324 Constantius II followed and 333 Constans. Since the thirties, however, he changed his ideas, in which he now also included descendants of his stepmother Theodora , whom he had previously largely kept out of politics. A sign of this change was the marriage of his son Constantius to a daughter of Julius Constantius , whom he also honored with the title of Patricius ; For Flavius ​​Dalmatius , Constantine re- created the title of censor in 333 . He also honored both with the consulate : 333 Flavius ​​Dalmatius, 335 Julius Constantius.

335 appointed Konstantin finally his nephew Dalmatius to Caesar (Crispus was like 326 a family tragedy victim and executed by his father). However, the troops, who traditionally followed the model of direct hereditary succession, apparently did not take this well. This latent resentment was probably reinforced by the appointment of Hannibalianus as rex regum et Ponticarum gentium and nobilissimus . The title of rex regum ("King of Kings") was supposed to secure Hannibalianus, to whom Constantine married his daughter Constantina at the same time , presumably the rule over the still to be conquered Armenia : In 336/37 Constantine planned a campaign against the Persian Sassanid Empire for this reason (cf. Roman-Persian Wars ), but in the middle of the preparations he suddenly died without finally settling his uncertain succession. Some researchers (e.g. Hartwin Brandt ) assume that Constantine intended that his three sons and their cousin Dalmatius should rule as an imperial college (based on the model of the Diocletian tetrarchy ).

course

The course of the months after Constantine's death on May 22, 337 can no longer be conclusively clarified. It is certain that Constantius (II.), Who was closest to the place where Constantine died, immediately hurried to Constantinople and arranged for his father to be buried there. The question of succession remained unresolved for months, and formally there was only one Augustus : the dead Constantine. A law dated August 2nd was passed in Constantine's name. It was not until September 9 that the Roman Senate proclaimed the three sons of Constantine, Constantine II, Constantius II and Constans zu Augusti , after they had previously been proclaimed emperors by the troops. It is unclear, however, whether the murders took place before and during this proclamation or after it. It is likely that Constantine's half-brothers, Julius Constantius and Flavius ​​Dalmatius, were murdered first ( Flavius ​​Hannibalianus , who incidentally never became politically important, had probably died before Constantine). Shortly thereafter, further murders of Dalmatius and Hannibalianus and four other nephews of Constantine followed. Several civil officials, such as the influential Praetorian prefect Ablabius and Patricius Optatus , also fell victim to the purge. How many people actually perished in the confusion is not certain. Only Julian and Gallus , the sons of Julius Constantius, escaped from the closer family circle - either because they were too young to follow suit or because they were protected.

The question of guilt

With this almost all possible intra-family competitors of the sons of Constantine, Constantine II , Constans and Constantius II, were eliminated. It is unclear whether the murders were actually ordered by them, or whether the military acted in a kind of anticipatory obedience. Constantius II was later accused by some of his opponents of having his relatives on his conscience. Athanasius the Great, for example, who was a bitter opponent of the emperor in the Arian dispute of the 4th century, blamed Constantius for the murders. Julian, who had been on the brink of civil war with Constantius since the end of 360, and his admirers Libanios and Ammianus Marcellinus reported the same . In contrast, the Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea saw the military act on a “higher inspiration”. Even Gregory Nazianzen , death 361 addressed by Constantius as a Christian against the pagan emperor Julian, spoke out against a responsibility of the emperor.

literature

  • Richard Burgess: The Summer of Blood. The "Great Massacre" of 337 and the Promotion of the Sons of Constantine . In: Dumbarton Oaks Papers . tape 62 , 2008, p. 5-51 .
  • Richard Klein : The struggle for succession after the death of Constantine the Great. In: Richard Klein: Roma versa per aevum. Selected writings on pagan and Christian late antiquity (= Spudasmata . Volume 74). Edited by Raban von Haehling and Klaus Scherberich . Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim / Zurich / New York 1999, ISBN 3-487-11032-6 , pp. 1-49.
  • Xavier Lucien-Brun: Constance II et le massacre des princes . In: Bulletin de l'Association Guillaume Budé . 1973, p. 585-602 .
  • Klaus Rosen : Julian. Emperor, God and haters of Christians . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-608-94296-3 , p. 50-53 .

Remarks

  1. ↑ Aurelius Victor 41.15. In addition Richard Klein , The Struggles for the Succession after the Death of Constantine the Great , p. 8.
  2. ↑ Codex Theodosianus 13,4,2.
  3. ↑ Athanasius, History of the Arians 69,1; Julian, Letter to the Athenians 270c – d; 281b; Libanios, Speech 18:10; 31; Ammian 21,16,8; 25.3.23.
  4. ↑ Eusebius, Vita Constantini 4.68, 1-3; Gregory of Nazianz, speech 4:22.