In the last dozen years of his reign, Constantine placed his stamp all over Western civilization. Adapting the basilica (buh-SIL-ih-kuh), a type of public building common in Rome, he made its open floor plan a model for churches up to the present day. Today worshipers in many churches repeat a version of the Nicene Creed (NYE-seen). A council of Christian bishops adopted the creed in a conference sponsored by Constantine in a. d. 325.
At that time, the Christian world was divided over the issue of Christ's relationship to God. Arius (AHR-ee-uhs; c. A. D. 250-337), a Greek Christian heavily influenced by the ideas of Plato (see entry), had advanced the idea that God was separate from all of his creation and that Christ was one of those creations. This, of course, meant that Christ was not really God. Arianism threatened to shake the foundations of Christianity. Wanting to end the controversy, Constantine in 325 called the Council of Nicaea (nye-SEE-uh), a city in Asia Minor. There 220 bishops adopted the Nicene Creed, a statement of faith that in
Effect declared Arianism as heresy (HAIR-uh-see)—a doctrine at odds with the Christian faith.
Vatican City, Vatican. The interior of St. Peter's.
AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.
During his latter years, Constantine dealt with threats both at home and abroad. He campaigned against Shapur in Persia from a. d. 335 to 337, but he had worse problems back in Rome. There he tried to pass leadership on to his three living sons along with two of his nephews. He hoped he would ensure a bloodless succession that way, but after his death there would be more struggles for power.
Constantine died on the Feast of Pentecost, May 22, a. d. 337, in the city of Nicomedia (nik-uh-MEED-ee-uh) in Asia Minor. He was baptized just before his death, and laid to rest in the Church of the Holy Apostles, which he had built in Constantinople.
Among the monuments he left in Rome was the Arch of Constantine,
Which celebrated his victory at the Milvian Bridge. It was decorated partly with statues and relief sculpture taken from monuments to Marcus Aurelius (see entry) and other emperors from Rome's golden age. Artists of Constantine's time, however, also contributed their work. Their representation of the human figure differed sharply from that of earlier sculptors. The men they depicted in the battle scenes were crudely outlined. The design of the scenes suggested that artists were losing their sense of spatial relationships. It was a frightening sign that Roman civilization was declining—that the world, in the words of an earlier writer, was growing old.
World History
