Constantine the Great died on May 22nd in 337 AD, leaving behind three
sons--Constantine II, Constantius II, and Constans--to face the
challenge of how to rule the Roman Empire. _Division of Empire_
follows the lives of these brothers, beginning with the death of their
father, and traces how they first shared the empire as a triarchy,
until one by one the heirs of Constantine fell to the sword.
Constantine II was killed by his brother Constans in the civil war of
340, and Constans was murdered by a usurper in 350. Constantius was
the last man standing of Constantine's sons, and he reunified the
empire under the rule of a sole Augustus, like his father. However,
the cracks were already starting to show, and his efforts at
reunification would soon prove to be a failure.It is well known that
the Roman Empire came to be divided into eastern and western halves in
395, but what is less known is that this was the culmination of a
series of smaller fractures, divisions, and then attempts at
reunifications that stretched across the fourth century. Division was
a process, rather than a singular event, and it is a process that has,
until now, received little scholarly attention. William Lewis uses
this story of family massacres, civil wars, assassinations,
usurpations, and desperate armed struggles for power as a case study
for division and an original reappraisal of politics in the mid-fourth
century.
Les mer
The Reign of the Sons of Constantine
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780197745168
Publisert
2024
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
Oxford University Press Academic US
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter