Roman Empire, Constantine the Great (307-337) AE Follis

Roman Empire, Constantine the Great (307-337) AE Follis

Obv. Bust with bust and armour

Rev. The Capitoline Wolf suckling Romulus and Remus

Historical facts about Constantine the Great

Flavius Valerius Constantinus was born between the years 270 - 288 in Naissus and died in 337 in Anchyrona (Nicomedia).

Constantine the Great was one of the most important Roman emperors of Late Antiquity from 306 to 337. His rise to power took place in the context of the dissolution of the Roman tetrarchy, the so-called "rule of four", which Emperor Diocletian established in order to stabilise the huge Roman Empire that had arisen by then, both politically and militarily at the borders.

In 306 Constantine succeeded his father Constantius I after his father's soldiers proclaimed him emperor. By 312 Constantine had asserted himself in the west, and in 324 also in the entire empire. His reign was particularly momentous because of the Constantinian turn he initiated, which began the rise of Christianity as the most important religion in the Imperium Romanum.
Since 313, the Milan Agreement guaranteed religious freedom throughout the empire, thus also permitting Christianity, which had still been persecuted a few years earlier.

Subsequently, Constantine privileged Christianity. In 325, he convened the First Council of Nicaea to settle internal Christian disputes. Domestically, Constantine pushed ahead with several reforms that shaped the empire during the rest of late antiquity. In foreign policy, he succeeded in securing and stabilising the borders.
After 324, Constantine moved his residence to the east of the empire, to the city named after him, Constantinople ("Constantine's City").

Capitoline she-wolf:
One of the many myths about the beginnings of the city of Rome is the founding story of Romulus and Remus. The Capitoline She-Wolf (Latin: Lupa Capitolina) is a life-size bronze figure of a she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus, the mythical founders of the city of Rome. The sculpture is 75 cm high and 114 cm wide and is in the Capitoline Museums in Rome. The Lupa Romana is an extremely popular motif on medals, coins, gems, reliefs, mosaics, etc., especially in the Roman imperial period. The Lupa Romana serves as a symbol for the divine origin of the city's founder Romulus, the son of Mars, the god of war, as well as the claim to eternity, the aeternitas, of the city and the empire. Signifying eternity and immortality, the she-wolf occasionally appears on funerary monuments as a sign of imperial claim, especially on objects in the subjugated provinces.

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