CONSTANTIUS II Constantine the Great son Big Ancient Roman Coin Horse man i32464

Description: Item: i32464 Authentic Ancient Coin of: Constantius II - Roman Emperor: 337-361 A.D. - Bronze AE2 22mm (5.49 grams) Constantinople mint: 348-351 A.D. Reference: RIC 78v (VIII, Constantinople) DNCONSTANTIVSPFAVG - Diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right. FELTEMPREPARATIO Exe: Γ/CONSI - Soldier spearing falling horseman in Phrygian helmet. You are bidding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity. The Phrygian helmet, also known as the Thracian helmet,was a type of helmet that originated in Classical Greece and was widely use in Thrace , Dacia , Magna Graecia and the Hellenistic world until well into the Roman Empire . Characteristics The names given to this type of helmet are derived from its shape, in particular the high and forward inclined apex, which resembles the caps (usually of leather) habitually worn by Phrygian and Thracian peoples. Like other types of Greek helmet, the vast majority of Phyrgian helmets were made of bronze. The skull of the helmet was usually raised from a single sheet of bronze, though the forward-pointing apex was sometimes made separately and riveted to the skull. The skull was often drawn out into a peak at the front, this shaded the wearer's eyes and offered protection to the upper part of the face from downward blows. The face was further protected by large cheekpieces, made separately from the skullpiece. Sometimes these cheekpieces were so large that they met in the centre leaving a gap for the nose and eyes. When constructed in this manner they would have embossed and engraved decoration to mimic a beard and moustache. Use Ancient depiction of a Macedonian infantryman (right). He is equipped with a typical Phrygian/Thracian helmet with a peak. Alexander Sarcophagus . The Phrygian helmet was worn by Macedonian cavalry in King Philip 's day but his son Alexander is said to have preferred the open-faced Boeotian helmet for his cavalry, as recommended by Xenophon .[4] The royal burial in the Vergina Tomb contained a helmet which was a variation on the Phrygian type, exceptionally made of iron, this would support its use by cavalry. The Phrygian helmet is prominently worn in representations of the infantry of Alexander the Great's army, such on the contemporary Alexander sarcophagus [5] The Phrygian helmet was in prominent use at the end of the Classical Era and into the Hellenistic period , replacing the earlier 'Corinthian' type from the 5th century BC.[ In antiquity, Phrygia ( Greek : Φρυγία, Ancient Greek: [pʰryɡía]) Turkish : Frigya) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia , in what is now modern-day Turkey , centered around the Sakarya River . The Phrygians are most famous for their legendary kings of the heroic age of Greek mythology : Gordias whose Gordian Knot would later be untied by Alexander the Great , Midas who turned whatever he touched to gold, and Mygdon who warred with the Amazons . According to Homer 's Iliad , the Phrygians were close allies of the Trojans and participants in the Trojan War against the Achaeans . Phrygian power reached its peak in the late 8th century BC under another, historical King Midas , who dominated most of western and central Anatolia and rivaled Assyria and Urartu for power in eastern Anatolia. This later Midas was however also the last independent king of Phrygia before its capital Gordium was sacked by Cimmerians around 695 BC. Phrygia then became subject to Lydia , and then successively to Persia , Alexander and his Hellenistic successors, Pergamon , Rome and Byzantium . Phrygians were gradually assimilated into other cultures by the early medieval era, and the name Phrygia passed out of usage as a territorial designation after the Turkish conquest of Anatolia. Origins Inscriptions found at Gordium make clear that Phrygians spoke an Indo-European language with at least some vocabulary similar to Greek , and clearly not belonging to the family of Anatolian languages spoken by most of Phrygia's neighbors. According to one of the so-called Homeric Hymns , the Phrygian language was not mutually intelligible with Trojan.[3] According to ancient tradition among Greek historians, the Phrygians anciently migrated to Anatolia from the Balkans . Herodotus says the Phrygians were called Bryges when they lived in Europe.[4] He and other Greek writers also recorded legends about King Midas that associated him with or put his origin in Macedonia ; Herodotus for example says a wild rose garden in Macedonia was named after Midas .[5] The Phrygians were also connected by some classical writers to the Mygdones , the name of two groups of people, one of which lived in northern Macedonia and another in Mysia . Likewise the Phrygians have been identified with the Bebryces , a people said to have warred with Mysia before the Trojan War and who had a king named Mygdon at roughly the same time as the Phrygians were said to have had a king named Mygdon. The classical historian Strabo groups Phrygians, Mygdones , Mysians , Bebryces and Bithynians together as peoples that migrated to Anatolia from the Balkans .[6] This image of Phrygians as part of a related group of northwest Anatolian cultures seems the most likely explanation for the confusion over whether Phrygians , Bebryces and Anatolian Mygdones were or were not the same people. The apparent similarity of the Phrygian language to Greek and its dissimilarity with the Anatolian languages spoken by most of their neighbors is also taken as support for a European origin of the Phrygians. Some scholars have theorized that such a migration could have occurred more recently than classical sources suggest, and have sought to fit the Phrygian arrival into a narrative explaining the downfall of the Hittite Empire and the end of the high Bronze Age in Anatolia.[7] According to this recent migration theory, the Phrygians invaded just before or after the collapse of the Hittite Empire at the beginning of the 12th century BC, filling the political vacuum in central-western Anatolia, and may have been counted among the "Sea Peoples" that Egyptian records credit with bringing about the Hittite collapse. The so-called Handmade Knobbed Ware found in Western Anatolia during this period has been suggested to be an import connected to this invasion. However, most scholars reject such a recent Phrygian migration and accept as factual the Iliad 's account that the Phrygians were established on the Sakarya River before the Trojan War , and thus must have been there during the later stages of the Hittite Empire , and likely earlier. These scholars seek instead to trace the Phrygians' origins among the many nations of western Anatolia who were subject to the Hittites .[8] This interpretation also gets support from Greek legends about the founding of Phrygia's main city Gordium by Gordias and of Ancyra by Midas ,[9] which suggest that Gordium and Ancyra were believed to be date from the distant past before the Trojan War . Some scholars dismiss the claim of a Phrygian migration as a mere legend, likely arising from the coincidental similarity of their name to the Bryges . No one has conclusively identified which of the many subjects of the Hittites might have represented early Phrygians. According to a classical tradition, popularized by the Jewish-Roman historian Flavius Josephus , the Phrygians can be equated with the country called Togarmah by the ancient Hebrews, which has in turn been identified as the Tegarama of Hittite texts and Til-Garimmu of Assyrian records. Josephus called Togarmah "the Thrugrammeans, who, as the Greeks resolved, were named Phrygians". However, the Greek source cited by Josephus is unknown, and it is unclear if there was any basis for the identification other than name similarity. Scholars of the Hittites believe Tegarama was in eastern Anatolia - some locate it at Gurun - far to the east of Phrygia. Some scholars have identified Phrygia with the Assuwa league, and noted that the Iliad mentions a Phrygian (Queen Hecuba 's brother) named Asios .[10] Another possible early name of Phrygia could be Hapalla, the name of the easternmost province that emerged from the splintering of the Bronze Age western Anatolian empire Arzawa . However, scholars are unsure if Hapalla corresponds to Phrygia or to Pisidia , further south. A further claim made by Herodotus is that Phrygian colonists founded the Armenian nation.[11] This is likely a reference to a third group of people called Mygdones living in northern Mesopotamia who were apparently allied to the Armenians; Xenophon describes them in his Anabasis in a joint army with the Armenians . However, little is known about these eastern Mygdones and no evidence of Phrygian language in that region has been found. History Around the time of the Trojan war The Iliad describes the homeland of the Phrygians on the Sangarius River , which would remain the center of Phrygia throughout its history. According to the Iliad , Phrygia was famous for its wine and had "brave and expert" horsemen. According to the Iliad , before the Trojan War , a young king Priam of Troy had taken an army to Phrygia to support it in a war against the Amazons . Homer calls the Phrygians "the people of Otreus and godlike Mygdon .[12] According to Euripides , Quintus Smyrnaeus and others, this Mygdon's son, Coroebus , fought and died in the Trojan War ; he had sued for the hand of the Trojan princess Cassandra in marriage. According to the Bibliotheca , the Greek hero Heracles slew a king Mygdon of the Bebryces in a battle in northwest Anatolia that if historical would have taken place about a generation before the Trojan War . According to the story, while traveling from Minoa to the Amazons , Heracles stopped in Mysia and supported the Mysians in a battle with the Bebryces .[13] According to most interpretations, Bebryces is an alternate name for Phrygians and this Mygdon is the same person mentioned in the Iliad . King Priam married a Phrygian princess, Hecuba ,[14] and maintained a close alliance with the Phrygians, who repaid him by fighting "ardently" in the Trojan War against the Greeks. There are indications in the Iliad that the heart of the Phrygian country was further north and downriver than it would be in later history. The Phrygian contingent arrives to aid Troy coming from Lake Ascania in northwest Anatolia, and is led by Phorcys and Ascanius , an apparent eponym. The Iliad calls the Phrygians "the people of Otreus and godlike Mygdon": the name Otreus could be an eponym for Otrea , a place on the Ascanian Lake in the vicinity of the later Nicaea , and the name Mygdon is clearly an eponym for the Mygdones , a people said by Strabo to live in northwest Asia Minor, and who appear to have sometimes been considered distinct from the Phrygians .[15] However, Pausanias believed that Mygdon's tomb was located at Stectorium in the southern Phrygian highlands, near modern Sandikli .[16] In one of the so-called Homeric Hymns , Phrygia is said to be "rich in fortresses" and ruled by "famous Otreus ".[17] Peak and destruction of the Phrygian kingdom Detail from a reconstruction of a Phrygian building at Pararli, Turkey, 7th–6th Centuries BC; Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara . A griffin, sphinx and two centaurs are shown. During the 8th century BC the Phrygian kingdom with its capital at Gordium in the upper Sakarya River valley expanded into an empire dominating most of central and western Anatolia and encroaching upon the larger Assyrian Empire to its southeast and the kingdom of Urartu to the northeast. According to the classical historians Strabo ,[18] Eusebius and Julius Africanus , the king of Phrygia during this time was another Midas . This historical Midas is believed to be the same person named as Mita in Assyrian texts from the period and identified as king of the Mushki . Scholars figure that Assyrians called Phrygians "Mushki" because the Phrygians and Mushki , an eastern Anatolian people, were at that time campaigning in a joint army.[19] This Midas is thought to have reigned Phrygia at the peak of its power from about 720 BC to about 695 BC (according to Eusebius ) or 676 BC (according to Julius Africanus ). An Assyrian inscription mentioning "Mita", dated to 709 BC, during the reign of Sargon of Assyria , suggests Phrygia and Assyria had struck a truce by that time. This Midas appears to have had good relations and close trade ties with the Greeks, and reputedly married an Aeolian Greek princess. A system of writing in the Phrygian language developed and flourished in Gordium during this period, using a Phoenician-derived alphabet similar to the Greek one. A distinctive Phrygian pottery called Polished Ware appears during this period. However, the Phrygian Kingdom was then overwhelmed by Cimmerian invaders, and Gordium was sacked and destroyed. According to Strabo and others, Midas committed suicide by drinking bulls' blood. Tomb at Midas City (6th century BC), near Eskişehir A series of digs have opened Gordium as one of Turkey's most revealing archeological sites. Excavations confirm a violent destruction of Gordium around 675 BC. A tomb from the period, popularly identified as the "Tomb of Midas," revealed a wooden structure deeply buried under a vast tumulus, containing grave goods, a coffin, furniture, and food offerings (Archaeological Museum, Ankara). As a Lydian province After their destruction of Gordium , the Cimmerians remained in western Anatolia and warred with Lydia , which eventually expelled them by around 620 BC, and then expanded to incorporate Phrygia, which became the Lydian empire's eastern frontier. The Gordium site reveals a considerable building program during the 6th century BC, under the domination of Lydian kings including the proverbially rich King Croesus . Meanwhile, Phrygia's former eastern subjects fell to Assyria and later to the Medes . There may be an echo of strife with Lydia and perhaps a veiled reference to royal hostages, in the legend of the twice-unlucky Phrygian prince Adrastus , who accidentally killed his brother and exiled himself to Lydia , where King Croesus welcomed him. Once again, Adrastus accidentally killed Croesus ' son and then committed suicide. As a Persian province Some time in the 540s BC, Phrygia passed to the Persian Empire when Cyrus conquered Lydia . After Darius became Persian Emperor in 521 BC, he remade the ancient trade route into the Persian "Royal Road" and instituted administrative reforms that included setting up satrapies. The Phrygian satrapy lay west of the Halys River (now Kızıl River ) and east of Mysia and Lydia . Its capital was established at Dascylium , modern Ergili . Under Alexander and his successors Alexander the Great passed through Gordium in 333 BC, famously severing the Gordian Knot in the temple of Sabazios ("Zeus"). According to a legend, possibly promulgated by Alexander's publicists, whoever untied the knot would be master of Asia. With Gordium sited on the Persian Royal Road that led through the heart of Anatolia, the prophecy had some geographical plausibility. With Alexander, Phrygia became part of the wider Hellenistic world. In the chaotic period after Alexander's death, northern Phrygia was overrun by Celts , eventually to become the province of Galatia . The former capital of Gordium was captured and destroyed by the Gauls soon afterwards and disappeared from history. In 188 BC, the southern remnant of Phrygia came under the control of the Attalids of Pergamon . However, Phrygian language survived, now written in the Greek alphabet . Under Rome and Byzantium The two Phrygian provinces within the Diocese of Asia, c. 400 AD In 133 BC, the remnants of Phrygia passed to Rome. For purposes of provincial administration the Romans maintained a divided Phrygia, attaching the northeastern part to the province of Galatia and the western portion to the province of Asia . During the reforms of Diocletian , Phrygia was divided anew into two provinces: "Phrygia I" or Phrygia Salutaris, and Phrygia II or Pacatiana, both under the Diocese of Asia . Salutaris with Synnada as its capital comprised the eastern portion of the region and Pacatiana with Laodicea on the Lycus as capital the western portion. The provinces survived up to the end of the 7th century, when they were replaced by the Theme system . In the Byzantine period, most of Phrygia belonged to the Anatolic theme . It was overrun by the Turks in the aftermath of the Battle of Manzikert (1071). The Byzantines were finally evicted from there in the 13th century, but the name of Phrygia remained in use until the collapse of the Byzantine Empire in 1453. The last mentions of the Phrygian language date to the 5th century and it was likely extinct by the 7th century.[20] Culture The Phrygian goddess Cybele with her attributes It was the "Great Mother", Cybele , as the Greeks and Romans knew her, who was originally worshiped in the mountains of Phrygia, where she was known as "Mountain Mother". In her typical Phrygian form, she wears a long belted dress, a polos (a high cylindrical headdress), and a veil covering the whole body. The later version of Cybele was established by a pupil of Phidias , the sculptor Agoracritus , and became the image most widely adopted by Cybele's expanding following, both in the Aegean world and at Rome. It shows her humanized though still enthroned, her hand resting on an attendant lion and the other holding the tympanon , a circular frame drum, similar to a tambourine . The Phrygians also venerated Sabazios , the sky and father-god depicted on horseback. Although the Greeks associated Sabazios with Zeus, representations of him, even at Roman times, show him as a horseman god. His conflicts with the indigenous Mother Goddess, whose creature was the Lunar Bull , may be surmised in the way that Sabazios' horse places a hoof on the head of a bull, in a Roman relief at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston . Phrygian costumes Phrygia developed an advanced Bronze Age culture. The earliest traditions of Greek music derived from Phrygia, transmitted through the Greek colonies in Anatolia, and included the Phrygian mode , which was considered to be the warlike mode in ancient Greek music. Phrygian Midas , the king of the "golden touch", was tutored in music by Orpheus himself, according to the myth. Another musical invention that came from Phrygia was the aulos , a reed instrument with two pipes. Marsyas , the satyr who first formed the instrument using the hollowed antler of a stag , was a Phrygian follower of Cybele. He unwisely competed in music with the Olympian Apollo and inevitably lost, whereupon Apollo flayed Marsyas alive and provocatively hung his skin on Cybele's own sacred tree, a pine . Phrygia retained a separate cultural identity. Classical Greek iconography identifies the Trojan Paris as non-Greek by his Phrygian cap, which was worn by Mithras and survived into modern imagery as the "Liberty cap" of the American and French revolutionaries . The Phrygians spoke an Indo-European language . (See Phrygian language .) Although the Phrygians adopted the alphabet originated by the Phoenicians , only a few dozen inscriptions in the Phrygian language have been found, primarily funereal, and so much of what is thought to be known of Phrygia is second-hand information from Greek sources. Mythic past The name of the earliest known mythical king was Nannacus (aka Annacus).[21] This king resided at Iconium, the most eastern city of the kingdom of Phrygia at that time; and after his death, at the age of 300 years, a great flood overwhelmed the country, as had been foretold by an ancient oracle. The next king mentioned in extant classical sources was called Manis or Masdes. According to Plutarch, because of his splendid exploits, great things were called "manic" in Phrygia.[22] Thereafter the kingdom of Phrygia seems to have become fragmented among various kings. One of the kings was Tantalus who ruled over the north western region of Phrygia around Mount Sipylus . Tantalus was endlessly punished in Tartarus , because he allegedly killed his son Pelops and sacrificially offered him to the Olympians, a reference to the suppression of human sacrifice . Tantalus was also falsely accused of stealing from the lotteries he had invented. In the mythic age before the Trojan war , during a time of an interregnum , Gordius (or Gordias), a Phrygian farmer, became king, fulfilling an oracular prophecy . The kingless Phrygians had turned for guidance to the oracle of Sabazios ("Zeus" to the Greeks) at Telmissus , in the part of Phrygia that later became part of Galatia . They had been instructed by the oracle to acclaim as their king the first man who rode up to the god's temple in a cart. That man was Gordias (Gordios, Gordius), a farmer, who dedicated the ox-cart in question, tied to its shaft with the "Gordian Knot". Gordias refounded a capital at Gordium in west central Anatolia, situated on the old trackway through the heart of Anatolia that became Darius 's Persian "Royal Road" from Pessinus to Ancyra , and not far from the River Sangarius . The Phrygians are associated in Greek mythology with the Dactyls , minor gods credited with the invention of iron smelting, who in most versions of the legend lived at Mount Ida in Phrygia. Gordias 's son (adopted in some versions) was Midas . A large body of myths and legends surround this first king Midas.[23] connecting him with a mythological tale concerning Attis .[24] This shadowy figure resided at Pessinus and attempted to marry his daughter to the young Attis in spite of the opposition of his lover Agdestis and his mother, the goddess Cybele . When Agdestis and/or Cybele appear and cast madness upon the members of the wedding feast. Midas is said to have died in the ensuing chaos. The famous king Midas is said to have associated himself with Silenus and other satyrs and with Dionysus , who granted him the famous "golden touch". Man in Phrygian costume, Hellenistic period (3rd–1st century BC), Cyprus In one version of his story, Midas travels from Thrace accompanied by a band of his people to Asia Minor to wash away the taint of his unwelcome "golden touch" in the river Pactolus . Leaving the gold in the river's sands, Midas found himself in Phrygia, where he was adopted by the childless king Gordias and taken under the protection of Cybele. Acting as the visible representative of Cybele, and under her authority, it would seem, a Phrygian king could designate his successor. The Phrygian Sibyl was the priestess presiding over the Apollonian oracle at Phrygia. According to Herodotus ,[25] Herodotus), the Egyptian pharaoh Psammetichus II had two children raised in isolation in order to find the original language. The children were reported to have uttered bekos which is Phrygian for "bread", so Psammetichus admitted that the Phrygians were a nation older than the Egyptians. Flavius Iulius Constantius, known in English as Constantius II (7 August 317 – November 3 361) was a Roman Emperor (337-361) of the Constantinian dynasty . Constantius joins the lengthy list of emperors whose career was marked by a seemingly endless series of wars both domestic and foreign. He served as Caesar from 324 until his father's death in 337 at which time he shared the title of Augustus with two other brothers, Constantine II and Constans. To make sure no more Johnny-come-latelies in his family would try their hand at being emperor too it is thought that he engineered a bloodbath that left nary a relative. Constantine II died in battle and Constans was murdered by the men of Magnentius, the first of several usurpers. This left Constantius finally as sole legitimate emperor and he moved quickly to suppress Magnentius, an endeavor he eventually accomplished. The strife didn't end there, however, as he still had to deal with other revolts and wars on every corner of the empire. Caught in these never-ending battles he died while on his way to battle Julian II. Flavius Iulius Constantius was born at Sirmium (now Sremska Mitrovica in Serbia ) in province of Pannonia , the third son of Constantine the Great , and second by his second wife Fausta , the daughter of Maximian . Constantius was made Caesar by his father on 13 November 324. When the elder Constantine died at Constantinople on 22 May 337, Constantius was nearest of his sons to that city, and despite being on campaign in the eastern provinces, immediately returned to the city to oversee his father's funeral. The Massacre of 337 The role of Constantius in the massacre of his relatives (those descended from the second marriage of his paternal grandfather Constantius Chlorus and Theodora ) is unclear. Zosimus , writing 498-518 claims that Constantius “caused” the soldiers to murder his relatives, as opposed to actually ordering the action. Eutropius , writing between 350 and 370, writes that Constantius merely sanctioned “the act, rather than commanding it”. However, it must be noted that both of these sources are hostile to Constantius - Zosimus being a pagan, Eutropius a friend of Julian , Constantius’ cousin and, ultimately, his enemy. Whatever the case, Constantius himself, his older brother Constantine II , his younger brother Constans and three cousins, Gallus , his half-brother Julian and Nepotianus , son of Eutropia , were left as the only surviving males related to Constantine. Division of the Empire Meeting at Sirmium not long after the massacre, the three brothers proceeded to divide the Roman Empire among them, according to their father's will. Constantine II received Britannia , Gaul and Hispania ; Constans (initially under the supervision of Constantine II) Italia , Africa , Illyricum, Thrace , Macedon and Achaea ; and Constantius the East. Reign in the East There are few details of the early years of Constantius' sole reign in the East. He seems to have spent most of his time defending the eastern border against invasions by the aggressive Sassanid Empire under Shapur II . These conflicts seem to have been mainly limited to Sassanid sieges of the various fortresses (Nisibis, Singara , Constantia and Amida ) of Roman Mesopotamia , which achieved little for either side. Although Shapur II seems to have been victorious in most of the confrontations - except the Battle of Narasara, where one of Shapur II 's brothers, Narses, was killed - the overall result must be considered a victory for Constantius because Shapur failed to make any significant gains. In the meantime, Constantine II 's desire to retain control of Constans ' realm had lead Constantius' two surviving brothers into open conflict; resulting in the death of the elder in 340. As a result, Constans took control of his deceased elder brother’s realms and became sole ruler of the Western two-thirds of the Empire. This division lasted until 350, when Constans was killed in battle by forces loyal to the usurper Magnentius . War against Magnentius This new state of affairs proved unacceptable to Constantius, who felt that, as the only surviving son of Constantine the Great , the position of Emperor was his alone. As such, he determined to march west to enforce his claims. However, feeling that the east still required some sort of imperial control, he elevated his cousin Constantius Gallus to Caesar of the East. As an extra measure to ensure the loyalty of his cousin, he married the elder of his two sisters, Constantina , to Gallus . Before facing Magnentius , Constantius first came to terms with Vetranio , a loyal Constantian general, who had previously accepted the position of Augustus in order to retain the loyalty of his troops, and probably to stop Magnentius from gaining more support. This action may have been carried out at the urging of Constantius’ own sister, Constantina , who had since traveled east to marry Gallus . Constantius for his own part had previously sent Vetranio the imperial diadem and acknowledged the general‘s new position. However, when Constantius arrived, Vetranio willingly and gladly resigned his position and accepted Constantius’ offer of a comfortable retirement in Bithynia . The following year, Constantius finally met Magnentius in the Battle of Mursa Major , one of the bloodiest battles in Roman history. The result was a defeat for the usurper, who withdrew back to his Gaulish domains. As a result, the cities of Italy switched their allegiance to Constantius and ejected all of Magnentius ’ garrisons. Constantius spent the early months of 352 on a campaign against the Sarmatians , before moving on to invade Italy . When Constantius and Magnentius finally met again, at the Battle of Mons Seleucus in southern Gaul, Constantius once again emerged the victor. Soon after, Magnentius , realising the futility of continuing his revolt, committed suicide 10 August 353. Sole Ruler of the Roman Empire Constantius spent much of the rest of 353 and early 354 on campaign against the Alemanni on the Danubian borders. The exact details of this campaign are uncertain, though it seems to have ended with victory for Constantius. The Downfall of Gallus In the meantime, Constantius had been receiving some disturbing reports regarding the actions of his cousin, Gallus . Possibly as a result of these reports, Constantius concluded a peace with the Alemanni , and withdrew to Milan . Once there, he decided to first call Ursicinus , Gallus’ magister equitum, to Milan for reasons that remain unclear. Constantius then requested the presence of Gallus and Constantina . Although at first Gallus and Constantina complied with this order, when Constantina died in Bithynia , Gallus begun to hesitate. However, after some convincing by one of Constantius’ agents, Gallus continued his journey west, passing through Constantinople and Thrace to Petobio in the province of Noricum . It was there that Gallus was arrested by the soldiers of Constantius under the command of Barbatio . He was then moved to Pola , and interrogated. Once there, Gallus claimed that it was Constantina who was to blame for all the trouble that had been caused while he was in charge of the east. Apparently, at first, this so greatly angered Constantius that he immediately ordered the death of Gallus . However, soon after, he changed his mind, and recanted his execution order. Unfortunately for Gallus, this order was delayed by Eusebius , one of Constantius‘ eunuchs, and, as a result, Gallus was executed. More Usurpers and Julian Caesar On 11 August 355, the magister militum Claudius Silvanus revolted in Gaul. Silvanus had surrendered to Constantius after the battle of Mursa Major . Constantius had made him magister militum in 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 by Constantius that recalled 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. However, Constantius realised that too many threats still faced the Empire, and he could not possibly handle all of them by himself, so on 6 November 355, he elevated his last remaining relative, Julian, to the rank of Caesar . A few days later, Julian was married to Helena , the last surviving sister of Constantius. Not long after Constantius sent Julian off to Gaul. Constantius in the West and Return to the East Constantius spent the next few years overseeing affairs in the western part of the Empire primarily from his base at Milan . However, he also visited Rome - for the first and only time in his life - in 357, and, in that same year, he forced Sarmatian and Quadi invaders out of Pannonia and Moesia Inferior , then led a successful campaign across the Danube against the Sarmatians and the Germanic Quadi tribe. Around 357/8, Constantius received ambassadors from Shapur II , who demanded that Constantius restore the lands surrendered by Narseh . Despite rejecting these terms, Constantius still tried to avert war with the Sassanid Empire by sending two embassies to Shapur II . As a result of Constantius' rejection of his terms, Shapur II launched another invasion of Roman Mesopotamia. When news reached Constantius that Shapur II had not only invaded Roman territory, but taken Amida [46], destroyed Singara and taken Bezabde he decided to return to there to face this re-emergent threat in 360. The usurpation of Julian and Problems in the East In the meantime, Julian had won some victories against the Alemanni tribe, who had once again invaded Roman Gaul . As such, Constantius requested reinforcements from Julian for his own campaign against Shapur II. However, when he requested reinforcements from Julian ’s Gaulish army, the Gaulish legions revolted and proclaimed Julian Augustus. However, on account of the immediate Sassanid threat, Constantius was unable to directly respond to his cousin’s usurpation other than by sending missives by which he tried to convince Julian to resign the title of Augustus and be satisfied with that of Caesar. By 361, Constantius saw no alternative but to face the usurper with violent force; and yet the threat of the Sassanids remained. Constantius had already spent part of early 361 unsuccessfully attempting to take the fortress of Bezabde . After a time, he had withdrawn to Antioch to regroup, and prepare for a confrontation with Shapur II . However, as it turned out, the campaigns of the previous year had inflicted such heavy losses on the Sassanids that they did not attempt another round of engagements in 361. This allowed Constantius to turn his full attention to facing the usurpation of Julian [55]. Death As such, Constantius immediately gathered his forces and set off west. However, by the time he reached Mopsuestia in Cicilia, it was clear that he was fatally ill and would not survive to face Julian . Apparently, realising his death was near, Constantius had himself baptised by Euzoius , the Semi-Arian bishop of Antioch , and then declared that Julian was his rightful successor. Constantius II died of fever on 3 November 361. Marriages and Children Constantius II was married three times: First to a daughter of his half-uncle Julius Constantius , whose name is unknown. She was a full-sister of Gallus and a half-sister of Julian. She died c. 352/3. Second, to Eusebia, a woman of Macedonian origin from the city of Thessaloniki , whom he married before Constantius' defeat of Magnentius in 353. She died in 360. Third and lastly, in 360, to Faustina (empress) , who gave birth to Constantius' only child, a posthumous daughter named Flavia Maxima Constantia , who later married Emperor Gratian . Religious Issues Constantius seems to have had a particular interest in the religious state of the Roman Empire . As a Christian Roman Emperor , Constantius made a concerted effort to promote Christianity at the expense of Roman polytheism (‘paganism’). As such, over the course of his reign, he issued a number of different edicts designed specifically to carry out this agenda (see below). Constantius also took an active part in attempting to shape the Christian church. Paganism under Constantius In spite of the some of the edicts issued by Constantius, it should be recognised that he was not fanatically anti-pagan - he never made any attempt to disband the various Roman priestly colleges or the Vestal Virgins , he never acted against the various pagan schools, and, at times, he actually even made some effort to protect paganism. Also, most notably, he remained pontifex maximus until his death, and was actually deified by the Roman Senate after his death. The relative moderation of Constantius' actions toward paganism is reflected by the fact that it was not until over 20 years after Constantius' death, during the reign of Gratian , that any pagan senators protested their religion's treatment. Christianity under Constantius Although often considered an Arian , Constantius ultimately preferred a third, compromise version that lay somewhere in between Arianism and the Nicaean Creed , retrospectively called Semi-Arianism [61][62]. As such, during his reign, Constantius made a concerted attempt to mold the Christian church to follow this compromise position, and to this end, he convened several Christian councils during his reign, the most notable of which were one at Rimini and its twin at Seleuca , which met in 359 and 360 respectively. "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 historian A.H.M. Jones . "The great councils of 359-60 are therefore not reckoned ecumenical in 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 under Constantius Judaism faced some severe restrictions under Constantius, who seems to have followed an anti-Jewish policy in line with that of his father. Early in his reign, Constantius issued a double edict in concert with his brothers limiting the ownership of slaves by Jewish people and banning marriages between Jews and Christian women. A later edict (issued by Constantius after becoming sole Emperor ) decreed that a person who was proven to have converted from Christianity to Judaism would have their entire property confiscated by the state. However, it should be noted that Constantius' actions in this regard may not have been so much to do with Jewish religion as Jewish business; apparently, it was often the case that privately-owned Jewish businesses were in competition with state-owned businesses. As such, Constantius may have sought to provide as much of an advantage to the state-owned businesses as possible by limiting the skilled workers and the slaves available to the Jewish businesses. Religious Edicts Issued by Constantius Pagan-related edicts issued by Constantius (by himself or with others) included: The banning of sacrifices; The closing of pagan temples; Edicts against soothsayers and magicians. Christian-related edicts issued by Constantius (by himself or with others) included: Exemption from compulsory public service for the clergy; * Exemption from compulsory public service for the sons of clergy; Tax exemptions for clergy and their servants, also later for their family; Clergy and the issue of private property; Bishops exempted from being tried in secular courts; Christian prostitutes only able to be bought by Christians. Jew-related edicts issued by Constantius (by himself or with others) included: Weaving women who moved from working for the government to working for Jews, must be restored to the government; Jews may not marry Christian women; Jews may not attempt to convert Christian women; Any non-Jewish slave bought by a Jew will be confiscated by the state; if a Jew attempts to circumcise a non-Jewish slave, the slave will be freed and the Jew shall face capital punishment; any Christian slaves owned by a Jew will be taken away and freed; A person who is proven to have converted from Christianity to Judaism shall have their property confiscated by the state. Reputation Constantius II is a particularly difficult figure to judge properly, mainly as a result of the hostility of most every source that mentions him. A.H.M Jones writes that Constantius "appears in the pages of Ammianus as a conscientious emperor but a vain and stupid man, an easy prey to flatterers. He was timid and suspicious, and interested persons could easily play on his fears for their own advantage." However, Kent & M. and A. Hirmer suggest that Constantius "has suffered at the hands of unsympathetic authors, ecclesiastical and civil alike. To orthodox churchmen he was a bigoted supporter of the Arian heresy, to Julian the Apostate and the many who have subsequently taken his part he was a murderer, a tyrant and inept as a ruler". They go on to add, "Most contemporaries seem in fact to have held him in high esteem, and he certainly inspired loyalty in a way his brother could not". Frequently Asked Questions How long until my order is shipped?: Depending on the volume of sales, it may take up to 5 business days for shipment of your order after the receipt of payment. How will I know when the order was shipped?: After your order has shipped, you will be left positive feedback, and that date should be used as a basis of estimating an arrival date. 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Price: 82.5 USD

Location: Rego Park, New York

End Time: 2024-12-22T18:38:05.000Z

Shipping Cost: 4.5 USD