Two of Constantine's "official lies"

Stanislav Doležal

doi:10.5817/GLB2020-2-5

Two of Constantine's "official lies"

Vol.25,No.2(2020)

Stanislav Doležal

https://doi.org/10.5817/GLB2020-2-5

Stable URL (handle):
http://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/143315

PDF

Abstract

The article deals with the twin lie, devised by the Emperor Constantine the Great in 310: his fake ancestry (his relationship to the Emperor Claudius Gothicus) and his alleged "pagan vision" of Apollo (which was either a lie or, perhaps less probably, a product of hallucination). Both lies served to buttress his shaken political position in that year and to provide him with a hereditary claim to rule. This claim was presented as superior to the tetrarchic principles of succession which were already flouted by Constantine in 306 by his usurpation, and to his elevation to the position of augustus by Maximian in 307. In contrast, the story of the famous "Christian vision" was most probably fabricated by Eusebius after Constantine's death and bears no relation (not even a resemblance) to the "pagan vision" of Constantine.

Keywords:
Constantine the Great; Claudius Gothicus; Apollo; vision

Pages:
61–71

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