By the time Constantine (KAHN-stun-teen) was born, at Naissus (nay-IE-sus) in what is now Serbia, many Romans already perceived that the empire was on a downward spiral: thirty-five years before Constantine's birth, a commentator had written, “You must know that the world has grown old. . . . The rainfall and the sun's warmth are both diminishing; the metals are nearly exhausted; the husbandman [farmer] is failing in the fields.”
It had always been difficult for one man to rule the vast Roman Empire, but by the late a. d. 200s it had become all but impossible. Therefore the emperor Diocletian (die-oh-KLEE-shuhn; ruled a. d. 284-305) introduced a number of reforms, among them a complex system whereby various men shared the titles of Caesar and Augustus, which had once been held by a single ruler.
Later, as emperor, Constantine would establish a number of reforms himself, but he would differ in one significant way from Diocletian, who was particularly severe in his persecution of Christians. Constantine's later conversion probably resulted from the influence of his mother, Helena (HEL-uh-nuh), who became St. Helena (c. a. d. 248-c. a. d. 328). His father, Constantius (kahn-STAN-chee-us; ruled a. d. 305-306), did not share his wife's beliefs and divorced her when Diocletian's co-ruler Maximian (mak-SIM-ee-un) declared him Caesar.
Part of Diocletian's delicate system of power-sharing required that the designated Caesar bring someone to Rome as a hostage, thus ensuring he would not revolt against his two fellow rulers. Eight-year-old Constantine was that hostage. Over the coming years, he would find himself caught between a number of others who each claimed authority over Rome.
World History
