Constantine the Great

choi

Adrian Goldsworthy, A Ruler Touched by the Divine; Constantine never made Christianity the empire's official religion, nor did he suppress major pagan cults. Wall Street Journal, Jan 5, 2013

(book review on David Potter, Constantine the Emperor. Oxford University Press, 2012)

Note:
(a) The English surname is "variant spelling of Galsworthy * * * [the latter] from a place in Devon named Galsworthy, possibly from Old English gagel ‘gale’, ‘bog myrtle’ + ora ‘hill slope.'"

* Myrica gale
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrica_gale
(Common names include Bog Myrtle and Sweet Gale)

(b) Constantine the Great
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_the_Great
(c 272-337; born as Flavius Valerius Constantinus in present-day Serbia, whose father was Flavius Constantinus; also known as Constantine I; Roman Emperor from 306 to 337)

Quote:

"Well known for being the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, Constantine and co-Emperor Licinius issued the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed tolerance of all religions throughout the empire.

"Constantine built a new imperial residence at Byzantium, naming it New Rome. However, in Constantine's honor, people called it Constantinople, which would later be the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire for over one thousand years. Because of this, he is thought of as the founder of the Eastern Roman Empire.

* Byzantium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantium
(founded by Greek in 657 BC and named after their king Byzas (genitive  Býzantos)
* Byzantine Empire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Roman_Empire
(Eastern Roman Empire; 330–1453; In 330, Constantine moved the seat of the Empire [from Rome] to Constantinople, which he founded as a second Rome on the site of Byzantium, a city well-positioned astride the trade routes between East and West; Constantinople fell to the Ottomans after a two-month siege in 1453)
* Licinius
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licinius
(c 263 – 325; Roman Emperor 308-324; married a half-sister of Constantine I, at Mediolanum (now Milan): Their marriage was the occasion for the jointly-issued "Edict of Milan"/  defeated at the Battle of Adrianople, before being executed on the orders of Constantine I)

Quote: "Given that Constantine had already crushed his rival Maxentius in 312, the two men decided to divide the Roman world between them. As a result of this settlement, Licinius became sole Augustus in the East, while his brother-in-law, Constantine, was supreme in the West."
* tetrarchy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrarchy
(section 3 Regions and capitals: modern Izmit [about 100 km (62 mi) east of Istanbul] in Turkey was the capital of the eastern Augustus; modern Milan was the capital of the western Augustus)
* Adrianople is now called Edirne--part of Turkey, close to the borders with Greece and Bulgaria.


(c) Constantine (name)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_(name)
(derived from the Latin name Constantinus, a hypocoristic of the first names Constans and Constantius, both meaning "constant, steadfast" in Latin)

* Connie CHUNG
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connie_Chung
(full name: Constance Yu-Hwa Chung Povich; 1946- ; The youngest of ten children (of whom she and four others, all girls, survived) of a high-ranking Taiwan (ROC) diplomat, she was born and raised in Washington, DC)

(d) Ponte Milvio
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponte_Milvio
(Italian for Milvian Bridge in English; Latin: Pons Milvius; over the Tiber in northern Rome; site of the famous Battle of Milvian Bridge [on Oct 18, 312]; In 115 BC a new bridge made of stone [which still stands] replaced the earlier one built in 206 BC)

(e) Christ
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ
(ancient Greek: Χριστός, Christós, meaning 'anointed;'  a title for Jesus in the New Testament)  
(f) Arch of Constantine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arch_of_Constantine
(erected by the Roman Senate to commemorate Constantine I's victory over Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge; Dedicated in 315, it is the latest of the existing triumphal arches in Rome)

(g) tetrarchy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrarchy
(the system instituted by Roman Emperor Diocletian in 293; This Tetrarchy lasted until c 313, when internecine conflict eliminated most of the claimants to power, leaving Constantine in the West and Licinius in the East)
(h) Nicene Creed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicene_Creed
(Latin: Symbolum Nicaenum; is the creed or profession of faith; called Nicene because, in its original form, it was adopted in the city of Nicaea (İznik in what is now Turkey) by the first ecumenical council, which met there in the year 325)
(i) rescript (n; Latin rescriptum, from neuter of rescriptus, past participle of rescribere  to write in reply, from re- + scribere to write)
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rescript