The Reign of Constantine, 306–337: Continuity and Change in the Late Roman Empire by Stanislav Doležal

Author:Stanislav Doležal [Doležal, Stanislav]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9783030974640
Google: 4hVuEAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Springer
Published: 2022-09-15T20:42:30+00:00

The Problem of 305 CE

On 1 May 305, a ceremony was held near Nicomedia, the same place where Diocletian had once been proclaimed emperor. Lactantius describes it for us. Generals, soldiers serving at court, and representatives of distant legions were all invited to witness this solemn act in person and, in doing so, to lend it more gravitas. Diocletian, flanked by his caesar Galerius, made a speech in which he is said to have explained that old age and weariness prevented him from continuing in office; he wished to spend the rest of his life at peace and rest, and for this reason he was handing over power to his successor. Galerius became the new Eastern augustus, with Constantius set to be the new Western augustus. Diocletian took this opportunity to appoint two new caesares—Maximinus Daia for the East and Severus for the West.

Maximinus Daia, the son of Galerius’ sister, shared the same origin and destiny as his uncle. In fact, he was even named after him—as we saw in the previous chapter, Maximinus appears to have been Galerius’ original name.82 His career is described for us by Lactantius: “until recently, he herded cattle, but then he became a soldier, protector, tribune, and finally caesar”. Lactantius adds contemptuously that Daia was a half-barbarian (semibarbarus) who, on account of his youth, was skilled in neither soldiering nor statecraft.83 Lactantius’ use of the term “semi-barbarian” may indicate mixed Roman-Carpi descent—for example, if Galerius’ sister had married a Carpus. We are guided down the same path by Lactantius’ mention of the fact that, upon becoming emperor, Maximinus surrounded himself with barbarians who had previously been expelled from Dacia by the Goths; those “barbarians” are likely to have been Carpi (see the previous chapter). By contrast, both of Galerius’ parents were evidently of Roman origin, as otherwise Lactantius would doubtless have jumped on such mixed ancestry. Even less is known about Severus—virtually all we can say is that, like Maximinus, he was from Illyricum, that he was of humble birth, that he was a friend and drinking companion of Galerius, and that before his appointment he had held some position of command in the army.84

Diocletian took off his purple cloak when Maximinus came before the assembly and put it on the new caesar. At that moment, Diocletian became “the elder augustus, father of augusti and caesares” (senior augustus, pater imperatorum et caesarum).85 The same ceremony took place on the same day in Milan in the presence of the abdicating Maximian, the new augustus Constantius, and the new caesar Severus. These details, reported to us by Lactantius, are not in doubt.86 However, the problem is not what did or did not happen, but what—if Lactantius is to be believed—should have happened. Right from the start of the ceremony, he says, all eyes were on Constantine, who was present, because apparently no one was in any doubt that he was the one who was going to be proclaimed caesar of the East (Constantinum omnes intuebantur. Nulla erat dubitatio).

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