Symbols of a Changing Empire
Political and religious imagery on the coins of Constantine

( )

The reign of Constantine I, 306-337 CE, was a time in the history of the Roman Empire that was marked by both political instability and the consequent uniting of the vast empire through the increasing power and supremacy of the emperor, often referred to as Constantine the Great. The coins depicted in this exhibit record the changing attitudes of the emperor towards the gods and towards religion more generally, as they also chronicle his perception of his own power and of his role as leader.

Constantine first came into power in 306 when he became a co-Augustus with Licinius. These men were not able to rule together well and vied for complete power over the empire. The situation finally came to a head at the Battle of Chrysopolis in 324 CE, when Constantine defeated Licinius and thus attained sole rulership over the empire (Bruun, 69). This struggle for power seems to have affected Constantine as he focused more and more on images of his own power and on emphasizing the glory of his reign.

This emperor also seemingly had tumultuous relationships with the gods. He is said to have become a devotee of the cult of Sol Invictus in 310 CE. The ancient sources also tell varying stories of his conversion to Christianity, and he is perceived by many to have been the first Christian emperor. The sources maintain that he was converted to become a follower of Christ, following a vision that led him to victory at the battle of the Milvian Bridge in October of 312 CE. These ancient sources, Eusebius and Lactantius, were both writing as recently converted zealous Christians, and so their word is not very objective. The coins of Constantine break form with traditional Roman coinage in the manner in which the gods are portrayed, and the pagan gods seem to disappear from the coinage altogether by 324 CE.

This series of coins contains all minor bronze coins, minted during the reign of Constantine, although some of the coins portray the sons of> Constantine on them. These coins illustrate how Constantine seems to have been motivated completely out of a desire to gain more power and to ensure his sole rulership over the empire. He marked this by diminishing the status of the gods on the coins and eventually removing their images from the face of the coins altogether (coins 1 - 3) and replacing them with military imagery that conjured up the idea of his supremacy (coins 4 - 6) as well as with symbols of his imperial power (coins 7 and 8). The coins from the tail end of Constantine's reign suggest that the emperor saw in himself a divine figure who was responsible for maintaining the strength of the empire and unifying the very different peoples through a joint reverence for their emperor.