Constantius II 337-361 AD, Roman Imperial . HIGH GRADE

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Historical Period:Roman: Imperial (27 BC-476 AD)
Year:337 AD
Era:Ancient
Ruler:Constantine I

Constantius II(Latin:Flavius Julius Constantius;Greek:; 7 August 317 3 November 361) wasRoman emperorfrom 337 to 361. His reign saw constant warfare on the borders against theSasanian EmpireandGermanic peoples, while internally theRoman Empirewent through repeated civil wars, court intrigues, andusurpations. His religious policies inflamed domestic conflicts that would continue after his death.Constantius was a son ofConstantine the Great, who elevated him to the imperial rank ofCaesaron 8 November 324 and after whose death Constantius becameAugustustogether with his brothers,Constantine IIandConstanson 9 September 337. He promptly oversaw the massacre of hisfather-in-law, anuncle, and several cousins, consolidating his hold on power. The brothers divided the empire among themselves, with Constantius receivingGreece,Thrace, the Asian provinces, andEgyptin the east. For the following decade a costly and inconclusivewaragainstPersiatook most of Constantius’s time and attention. In the meantime, his brothers Constantine and Constans warred over the western provinces of the empire, leaving the former dead in 340 and the latter as sole ruler of the west. The two remaining brothers maintained an uneasy peace with each other until, in 350, Constans was overthrown and assassinated by the usurperMagnentius. Unwilling to accept Magnentius as co-ruler, Constantius waged acivil waragainst the usurper, defeating him at the battles ofMursa Majorin 351 andMons Seleucusin 353. Magnentius committed suicide after the latter battle, leaving Constantius as sole ruler of the empire. In 351, Constantius elevated his cousinConstantius Gallusto the subordinate rank ofCaesarto rule in the east, but had him executed three years later after receiving scathing reports of his violent and corrupt nature. Shortly thereafter, in 355, Constantius promoted his last surviving cousin, Gallus’ younger half-brotherJulian, to the rank ofCaesar. As emperor, Constantius promotedArianheresy, banned pagan sacrifices, and issued laws againstJews. His military campaigns against Germanic tribes were successful: he defeated theAlamanniin 354 and campaigned across theDanubeagainst theQuadiandSarmatiansin 357. The war against the Sasanians, which had been in a lull since 350, erupted with renewed intensity in 359 and Constantius travelled to the east in 360 to restore stability after the loss of several border fortresses. However, Julian claimed the rank ofAugustusin 360, leading to war between the two after Constantius’ attempts to persuade Julian to back down failed. No battle was fought, as Constantius became ill and died of fever on 3 November 361 inMopsuestia, allegedly naming Julian as his rightful successor before his death. Constantius was born in 317 atSirmium,Pannonia. He was the third son ofConstantine the Great, and second by his second wifeFausta, the daughter ofMaximian. Constantius was madecaesarby his father on 8 November 324. In 336, religious unrest inArmeniaand tense relations between Constantine and kingShapur IIcaused war to break out between Rome andSassanid Persia.Though he made initial preparations for the war, Constantine fell ill and sent Constantius east to take command of the eastern frontier. Before Constantius arrived, the Persian general Narses, who was possibly the king’s brother, overranMesopotamiaand capturedAmida. Constantius promptly attacked Narses, and after suffering minor setbacks defeated and killed Narses at the Battle of Narasara. Constantius captured Amida and initiated a major refortification of the city, enhancing the city’s circuit walls and constructing large towers. He also built a new stronghold in the hinterland nearby, naming itAntinopolis.In early 337, Constantius hurried toConstantinopleafter receiving news that his father was near death.After Constantine died, Constantius buried him with lavish ceremony in theChurch of the Holy Apostles.Soon after his father’s death Constantius supposedly ordered a massacre of his relatives descended from the second marriage of his paternal grandfatherConstantius Chlorus(also known as Constantius I), though the details are unclear. Eutropius, writing between 350 and 370, states that Constantius merely sanctioned the act, rather than commanding it.The massacre killed two of Constantius’ uncles and six of his cousins,includingHannibalianusandDalmatius, rulers ofPontusandMoesiarespectively. The massacre left Constantius, his older brotherConstantine II, his younger brotherConstans, and three cousinsGallus,JulianandNepotianusas the only surviving male relatives of Constantine the Great. Soon after, Constantius met his brothers inPannoniaatSirmiumto formalize the partition of the empire. Constantius received the eastern provinces, including Constantinople,Thrace,Asia Minor,Syria,Egypt, andCyrenaica; Constantine receivedBritannia,Gaul,Hispania, andMauretania; and Constans, initially under the supervision of Constantine II, receivedItaly,Africa,Illyricum,Pannonia,Macedonia, andAchaea. Constantius then hurried east toAntiochto resume thewar with Persia. While Constantius was away from the eastern frontier in early 337, KingShapur IIassembled a large army, which included war elephants, and launched an attack on Roman territory, laying waste to Mesopotamia and putting the city of Nisibis under siege.Despite initial success, Shapur lifted his siege after his army missed an opportunity to exploit a collapsed wall. When Constantius learned of Shapur’s withdrawal from Roman territory, he prepared his army for a counter-attack. Constantius repeatedly defended the eastern border against invasions by the aggressiveSassanid Empireunder Shapur. These conflicts were mainly limited to Sassanid sieges of the major fortresses ofRoman Mesopotamia, includingNisibis(Nusaybin),Singara, andAmida(Diyarbakir). Although Shapur seems to have been victorious in most of these confrontations, the Sassanids were able to achieve little. However, the Romans won a decisive victory at the Battle of Narasara, killing Shapur’s brother, Narses. Ultimately, Constantius was able to push back the invasion, and Shapur failed to make any significant gains. Meanwhile, Constantine II desired to retain control of Constans’ realm, leading the brothers into open conflict. Constantine was killed in 340 nearAquileiaduring an ambush.As a result, Constans took control of his deceased brother’s realms and became sole ruler of the Western two-thirds of the empire. This division lasted until 350, when Constans was assassinated by forces loyal to theusurperMagnentius. War against Magnentius As the only surviving son of Constantine the Great, Constantius felt that the position of emperor was his alone,and he determined to march west to fight the usurper,Magnentius. However, feeling that the east still required some sort of imperial presence, he elevated his cousinConstantius Gallustocaesarof the eastern provinces. As an extra measure to ensure the loyalty of his cousin, he married the elder of his two sisters,Constantina, to him. Before facing Magnentius, Constantius first came to terms withVetranio, a loyal general inIllyricumwho had recently been acclaimed emperor by his soldiers. Vetranio immediately sent letters to Constantius pledging his loyalty, which Constantius may have accepted simply in order to stop Magnentius from gaining more support. These events may have been spurred by the action of Constantina, who had since traveled east to marry Gallus. Constantius subsequently sent Vetranio the imperial diadem and acknowledged the general’s new position asaugustus. However, when Constantius arrived, Vetranio willingly resigned his position and accepted Constantius offer of a comfortable retirement inBithynia. In 351, Constantius clashed with Magnentius inPannoniawith a large army. The ensuingBattle of Mursa Majorwas one of the largest and bloodiest battles ever between two Roman armies.The result was a victory for Constantius, but a costly one. Magnentius survived the battle and, determined to fight on, withdrew into northern Italy. Rather than pursuing his opponent, however, Constantius turned his attention to securing the Danubian border, where he spent the early months of 352 campaigning against theSarmatiansalong the middleDanube. After achieving his aims, Constantius advanced on Magnentius in Italy. This action led the cities of Italy to switch their allegiance to him and eject the usurper’s garrisons. Again, Magnentius withdrew, this time to southernGaul. In 353, Constantius and Magnentius met for the final time at theBattle of Mons Seleucusin southern Gaul, and again Constantius emerged the victor.Magnentius, realizing the futility of continuing his position, committed suicide on 10 August 353. Constantius spent much of the rest of 353 and early 354 on campaign against theAlamannion the Danube frontier. The campaign was successful and raiding by the Alamanni ceased temporarily. In the meantime, Constantius had been receiving disturbing reports regarding the actions of his cousin Gallus. Possibly as a result of these reports, Constantius concluded a peace with the Alamanni and traveled toMediolanum(Milan). In Mediolanum, Constantius first summonedUrsicinus, Gallusmagister equitum, for reasons that remain unclear. Constantius then summoned Gallus and Constantina.Although Gallus and Constantina complied with the order at first, when Constantina died inBithynia, Gallus began to hesitate. However, after some convincing by one of Constantius agents, Gallus continued his journey west, passing throughConstantinopleandThracetoPoetovio(Ptuj) inPannonia. In Poetovio, Gallus was arrested by the soldiers of Constantius under the command ofBarbatio.Gallus was then moved toPolaand interrogated. Gallus claimed that it was Constantina who was to blame for all the trouble while he was in charge of the eastern provinces. This angered Constantius so greatly that he immediately ordered Gallus’ execution.He soon changed his mind, however, and recanted the order.Unfortunately for Gallus, this second order was delayed byEusebius, one of Constantius’ eunuchs, and Gallus was executed. Religious issues Paganism Laws dating from the 350s prescribed the death penalty for those who performed or attended pagansacrifices, and for the worshipping ofidols.Pagan temples were shut down,and theAltar of Victorywas removed from the Senate meeting house.There were also frequent episodes of ordinary Christians destroying, pillaging and desecrating many ancient pagan temples, tombs and monuments. Paganism was still popular among the population at the time. The emperor’s policies were passively resisted by many governors and magistrates. In spite of this, Constantius never made any attempt to disband the various Roman priestly colleges or theVestal Virgins. He never acted against the various pagan schools. At times, he actually made some effort to protect paganism. In fact, he even ordered the election of a priest for Africa. Also, he remainedpontifex maximusand was deified by the Roman Senate after his death. His relative moderation toward paganism is reflected by the fact that it was over twenty years after his death, during the reign ofGratian, that any pagan senator protested his treatment of their religion. Christianity Although often considered anArian,Constantius ultimately preferred a third, compromise version that lay somewhere in betweenArianismand theNicene Creed, retrospectively calledSemi-Arianism.During his reign he attempted to mold the Christian church to follow this compromise position, convening several Christian councils. “Unfortunately for his memory the theologians whose advice he took were ultimately discredited and the malcontents whom he pressed to conform emerged victorious,” writes the historianA.H.M. Jones. “The great councils of 35960 are therefore not reckonedecumenicalin the tradition of the church, and Constantius II is not remembered as a restorer of unity, but as a heretic who arbitrarily imposed his will on the church.” Judaism Judaism faced some severe restrictions under Constantius, who seems to have followed an anti-Jewish policy in line with that of his father.This included edicts to limit the ownership of slaves by Jewish peopleand banning marriages between Jews and Christian women.Later edicts sought to discourage conversions from Christianity to Judaism by confiscating theapostate’sproperty.However, Constantius’ actions in this regard may not have been so much to do with Jewish religion as with Jewish businessapparently, privately owned Jewish businesses were often in competition with state-owned businesses. As a result, Constantius may have sought to provide an advantage to state-owned businesses by limiting the skilled workers and slaves available to Jewish businesses. Further crises On 11 August 355, themagister militumClaudius Silvanusrevolted in Gaul. Silvanus had surrendered to Constantius after theBattle of Mursa Major. Constantius had made himmagister militumin 353 with the purpose of blocking the German threats, a feat that Silvanus achieved by bribing the German tribes with the money he had collected. A plot organized by members of Constantius’ court led the emperor to recall Silvanus. After Silvanus revolted, he received a letter from Constantius recalling him to Milan, but which made no reference to the revolt.Ursicinus, who was meant to replace Silvanus, bribed some troops, and Silvanus was killed.[citation needed] Constantius realised that too many threats still faced the Empire, however, and he could not possibly handle all of them by himself. So on 6 November 355, he elevated his last remaining male relative,Julian, to the rank ofcaesar.A few days later, Julian was married toHelena, the last surviving sister of Constantius.Constantius soon sent Julian off to Gaul. Constantius spent the next few years overseeing affairs in the western part of the empire primarily from his base at Mediolanum. In 357 he visitedRomefor the only time in his life. The same year, he forcedSarmatianandQuadiinvaders out of Pannonia andMoesia Inferior, then led a successful counter-attack across the Danube. In the winter of 35758, Constantius received ambassadors fromShapur IIwho demanded that Rome restore the lands surrendered byNarseh.Despite rejecting these terms,Constantius tried to avert war with theSassanid Empireby sending two embassies to Shapur II. Shapur II nevertheless launched another invasion of Roman Mesopotamia. In 360, when news reached Constantius that Shapur II had destroyedSingara(Sinjar), and takenKiphas(Hasankeyf), Amida (Diyarbakr),and Ad Tigris (Cizre),he decided to travel east to face the re-emergent threat. Usurpation of Julian and crises in the east In the meantime, Julian had won some victories against theAlamanni, who had once again invadedRoman Gaul. However, when Constantius requested reinforcements from Julian’s army for the eastern campaign, the Gallic legions revolted and proclaimed Julianaugustus. On account of the immediate Sassanid threat, Constantius was unable to directly respond to his cousin’s usurpation, other than by sending missives in which he tried to convince Julian to resign the title ofaugustusand be satisfied with that ofcaesar. By 361, Constantius saw no alternative but to face the usurper with force, and yet the threat of theSassanidsremained. Constantius had already spent part of early 361 unsuccessfully attempting to re-take the fortress of Ad Tigris. After a time he had withdrawn toAntiochto regroup and prepare for a confrontation withShapur II.The campaigns of the previous year had inflicted heavy losses on the Sassanids, however, and they did not attempt another round of campaigns that year. This temporary respite in hostilities allowed Constantius to turn his full attention to facing Julian. Death Constantius immediately gathered his forces and set off west. However, by the time he reachedMopsuestiain Cilicia, it was clear that he was fatally ill and would not survive to face Julian. The sources claim that realising his death was near, Constantius had himself baptised by Euzoius, theSemi-Arianbishop ofAntioch, and then declared that Julian was his rightful successor. Constantius II died of fever on 3 November 361. Like Constantine the Great, he was buried in theChurch of the Holy Apostles, in aporphyry sarcophagusthat was described in the 10th century byConstantine VII Porphyrogenitusin theDe Ceremoniis

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