Constantine

by Ramsay MacMullen

This study, first published in 1969, presents an astute and authoritative depiction of the cultural, religious and secular developments which shook the Roman world in the late 3rd and early 4th centuries AD, much of it under the auspices of the Emperor, Constantine the Great. Constantine was at the heart of the transition from pagan antiquity to Christendom. Rejecting the collegiate imperial system of his recent predecessors, he reunited the two halves of the Empire; established Christianity as its formal religion; and shifted the capital of the Roman world definitively to the city which would survive the collapse of the West and persevere for another thousand years, Constantinople. The general reader will enjoy Constantine as a lucidly composed and accessible synthesis of ancient sources and modern contributions to the study of this towering figure.

Genres: Biography

290 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

A specialist in Roman social history and the rise of Christianity in the Roman world, Ramsay MacMullen was Dunham Professor of History and Classics at Yale University, where he taught from 1967 until his retirement in 1993. Educated at Phillips Exeter and Harvard, from which he held all three of his degrees, MacMullen taught at the University of Oregon and Brandeis before moving to Yale.

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sad to say, but many books written by academics are dry and dull. This one by historian MacMullen is an exception. Not only does he present as lively a picture of the emperor Constantine 'the Great' as we're able to surmise, but he manages to convey something of the cultural atmosphere of Rome, East and West, during the fourth century--and he does this, punctuating his text with occasional flashes of humor. I imagine he was a popular lecturer.

The biggest controversy surrounding Constantine concerns his 'conversion' to Christianity, then a minority movement. Here MacMullen does an admirable job in reconciling Constantine's behaviors with his beliefs, basically by downplaying the latter and emphasizing the practicalities of the former. Constantine was certainly not a Christian in any deep sense. Indeed he only submitted to baptism at his deathbed. As regards theology, he had little sense, his own 'Christian' god being barely distinguishable from the pagan 'monotheism' of Sol Invictus. As regards ethics, he was quite selective with little or no regard for the implied ethics of the gospels or the explicit ethics of the Sermon on the Mount or Beatitudes. One wonders--and here MacMullen makes no claim--if he ever read the gospels.

Highly recommended.