Constantine the Great Born: Emperor Who Christianized Rome
Constantine the Great was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity — maybe. He was baptized on his deathbed, which cynics have pointed out was a reasonable hedge. He legalized Christianity throughout the empire in 313, stopped the persecutions, funded the building of churches, and convened the Council of Nicaea in 325 to settle what Christians actually believed. He moved the capital from Rome to Constantinople, a city he named after himself. He also had his own son Crispus executed on unrecorded charges, then had his wife Fausta suffocated, possibly for accusing Crispus in the first place. He died in 337, the most powerful man in the Western world, in a new capital built for a faith he may or may not have truly held.
February 27, 272
1754 years ago
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