III.

Sole Ruler

A struggle for power soon began between Licinius and Constantine, from which Constantine emerged in 324 as a victorious Christian champion. Now emperor of both East and West, he began to implement important administrative reforms. The army was reorganized, and the separation of civil and military authority, begun by his father’s predecessor, Diocletian, was completed. The central government was run by Constantine and his council, known as the sacrum consistorium. The Senate was given back the powers that it had lost in the 3rd century, and new gold coins (solidi) were issued, which remained the standard of exchange until the end of the Byzantine Empire.

Constantine intervened in ecclesiastical affairs to achieve unity; he presided over the first ecumenical council of the church at Nicaea in 325 (see Councils of Nicaea). In 326 he began the building of a new capital, later named Constantinople (“city of Constantine”), on the site of ancient Greek Byzantium. Completed in 330 (later expanded), the new capital was given Roman institutions and beautified by ancient Greek works of art. In addition, Constantine built churches in the Holy Land, where his mother (also a Christian) supposedly found the True Cross on which Jesus was crucified. The emperor fell ill in April 337 and died on May 22. He was baptized shortly before his death by the Arian bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia (now İzmit, Turkey).