Mavi Boncuk |
In the late third century AD, the Roman emperor Aurelian established an official religion, based on a popular sun cult, to help bond the empire together. Priests of Sol were elevated to membership of the senatorial elite – rather like bishops gaining automatic seats in the House of Lords today. In the fourth century, the emperor Constantine was still stamping the solar deity on his coins, as well as declaring dies Solis, Sunday, an official day of rest. But the sun–god just didn’t seem to have the power to prevent the Roman empire from falling apart.
Meanwhile, a fairly obscure Jewish apocalyptic cult from Roman Palestine had grown, over three centuries, to become part of the fabric of Roman towns and cities. Constantine seems to have had a change of heart, or at least of policy. Perhaps this relatively new–fangled religion could help give the empire the common focus and identity it needed. In AD313, Constantine decriminalized various cults, including Christianity. Twelve years later, he convened the Council of Nicaea – a gathering of Christian bishops from across the empire – in what is now Turkey. He processed through the assembly, resplendent in purple robes decorated with gold and precious gems. Christianity had gained an imperial seal of approval. Just before Constantine died, he was baptized. After his death in AD337, coins were minted, not with Jupiter or the sun–god, but with the hand of a Christian god reaching down towards the deceased emperor.[1]
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(pictured Divus Constantine I The Great Antioch Mint After 337 AD
Obverse: DV CONSTANTINVS PT AVGG Veiled head of Constantine right
Reverse: Constantine, veiled, driving quadriga right; manus Dei (Hand of God) above; SMAN(gamma) in exergue
Nowhere in the gospels is the date of Jesus’s birth specified. The first time it’s pinned down to 25 December, or at least to the “Eighth day before the Kalends of January” is the year AD354, in the Roman calendar of Philocalus. The date seems to have been chosen to replace the prior festival, decreed by Aurelian, of the unconquered sun – Sol Invictus[2]
As a midwinter festival of the sun, the date makes celestial sense. It falls just after the solstice, when the days are perceptibly lengthening. Pagan Romans started their midwinter celebrations with the feast of Saturnalia on 17 December, ending them with a new year festival, the Kalendae Januariae, at the start of January – both were celebrated with parties and the exchange of gifts.
(SOURCE: GUARDIAN)
[1] This posthumous coin issue by Constantine’s sons shows a bust of their late father wearing a
customary burial shroud. The coin’s obverse shows how paganism was still popular at this time.
The often partially visible Latin inscription around the obverse perimeter reads: DV
CONSTANTINVS PT AVGG (Divus Constantinus Pater Augustorum: Divine Constantine Father
of the Augusti). Having been deified by the Senate upon his death in 337 AD, Constantine would be the last emperor to bear the pagan title divus. Eusebius records, "A coin … (had) on one side a
figure of our blessed prince, with head closely veiled; the reverse showed him sitting as a charioteer drawn by four horses, with a hand stretched downward from above to receive him up to heaven".
Constantine's metamorphosis from pagan to Christian is represented on the reverse. Previous
emperors rode up to heaven in a chariot. However, Constantine was the first to be received by
Manus Dei, the "hand of God". This coin variety is the first coin to ever depict the Christian God.
OBVERSE: CONSTANTINE I, VEILED
REVERSE: CONSTANTINE SITTING AS A CHARIOTEER DRAWN BY FOUR HORSES, WITH A HAND STRETCHED DOWNWARD FROM ABOVE TO RECEIVE HIM UP TO HEAVEN
Roman emperor Constantine I, the Great, 307 - 337 AD, is best known for being the first Christian Roman emperor. According to the Christian historian Eusebius, the turning point for Christianity’s
rise in Rome is attributed to the Battle of the Milvian Bridge on Oct 28, 312 AD. Before the battle, Constantine beheld a flaming cross in the sky and the words, In Hoc Signo Vinces! (In This Sign Ye Shall Conquer). Seeing this as a divine signal, it is said that Constantine had his soldiers paint the symbol of the Christogram on their shields. The battle ended with the defeat of the much larger army of his rival, Maxentius. The following year Constantine issued the historic Edict of Milan (313 AD) that proclaimed religious toleration throughout the empire; it legalized Christianity, ended persecution, returned confiscated Church property, and establishes Sunday as a day of worship. Constantine constructed the new eastern capital of the Roman Empire at Constantinople in 330 AD. Later, that city would emerge as the seat of power for the 1,000 year reign of the succeeding Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine liturgical calendar, observed by the modern Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Churches of Byzantine rite, lists both Constantine and his mother Helena as saints.
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[2] (Pictured Roman Imperial repoussé silver disc of Sol Invictus (3rd century), found at Pessinus /British Museum)
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Emperors portrayed Sol Invictus on their official coinage, with a wide range of legends, only a few of which incorporated the epithet invictus, such as the legend SOLI INVICTO COMITI, claiming the Unconquered Sun as a companion to the Emperor, used with particular frequency by Constantine. Statuettes of Sol Invictus, carried by the standard-bearers, appear in three places in reliefs on the Arch of Constantine. Constantine's official coinage continues to bear images of Sol until 325/6. A solidus of Constantine as well as a gold medallion from his reign depict the Emperor's bust in profile twinned (jugate) with Sol Invictus, with the legend INVICTUS CONSTANTINUS
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(pictured: Coin of Emperor Constantine I depicting Solis Invictus with the legend SOLIS INVICTO COMITI, c. 315)
Constantine decreed (March 7, 321) dies Solis—day of the Sun, "Sunday"—as the Roman day of rest (Codex Justinianus 3.12.2):
On the venerable day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country however persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits because it often happens that another day is not suitable for grain-sowing or vine planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost.
Constantine's triumphal arch was carefully positioned to align with the colossal statue of Sol by the Colosseum, so that Sol formed the dominant backdrop when seen from the direction of the main approach towards the arch.
In the late third century AD, the Roman emperor Aurelian established an official religion, based on a popular sun cult, to help bond the empire together. Priests of Sol were elevated to membership of the senatorial elite – rather like bishops gaining automatic seats in the House of Lords today. In the fourth century, the emperor Constantine was still stamping the solar deity on his coins, as well as declaring dies Solis, Sunday, an official day of rest. But the sun–god just didn’t seem to have the power to prevent the Roman empire from falling apart.
Meanwhile, a fairly obscure Jewish apocalyptic cult from Roman Palestine had grown, over three centuries, to become part of the fabric of Roman towns and cities. Constantine seems to have had a change of heart, or at least of policy. Perhaps this relatively new–fangled religion could help give the empire the common focus and identity it needed. In AD313, Constantine decriminalized various cults, including Christianity. Twelve years later, he convened the Council of Nicaea – a gathering of Christian bishops from across the empire – in what is now Turkey. He processed through the assembly, resplendent in purple robes decorated with gold and precious gems. Christianity had gained an imperial seal of approval. Just before Constantine died, he was baptized. After his death in AD337, coins were minted, not with Jupiter or the sun–god, but with the hand of a Christian god reaching down towards the deceased emperor.[1]
(pictured Divus Constantine I The Great Antioch Mint After 337 AD
Obverse: DV CONSTANTINVS PT AVGG Veiled head of Constantine right
Reverse: Constantine, veiled, driving quadriga right; manus Dei (Hand of God) above; SMAN(gamma) in exergue
Nowhere in the gospels is the date of Jesus’s birth specified. The first time it’s pinned down to 25 December, or at least to the “Eighth day before the Kalends of January” is the year AD354, in the Roman calendar of Philocalus. The date seems to have been chosen to replace the prior festival, decreed by Aurelian, of the unconquered sun – Sol Invictus[2]
As a midwinter festival of the sun, the date makes celestial sense. It falls just after the solstice, when the days are perceptibly lengthening. Pagan Romans started their midwinter celebrations with the feast of Saturnalia on 17 December, ending them with a new year festival, the Kalendae Januariae, at the start of January – both were celebrated with parties and the exchange of gifts.
(SOURCE: GUARDIAN)
[1] This posthumous coin issue by Constantine’s sons shows a bust of their late father wearing a
customary burial shroud. The coin’s obverse shows how paganism was still popular at this time.
The often partially visible Latin inscription around the obverse perimeter reads: DV
CONSTANTINVS PT AVGG (Divus Constantinus Pater Augustorum: Divine Constantine Father
of the Augusti). Having been deified by the Senate upon his death in 337 AD, Constantine would be the last emperor to bear the pagan title divus. Eusebius records, "A coin … (had) on one side a
figure of our blessed prince, with head closely veiled; the reverse showed him sitting as a charioteer drawn by four horses, with a hand stretched downward from above to receive him up to heaven".
Constantine's metamorphosis from pagan to Christian is represented on the reverse. Previous
emperors rode up to heaven in a chariot. However, Constantine was the first to be received by
Manus Dei, the "hand of God". This coin variety is the first coin to ever depict the Christian God.
OBVERSE: CONSTANTINE I, VEILED
REVERSE: CONSTANTINE SITTING AS A CHARIOTEER DRAWN BY FOUR HORSES, WITH A HAND STRETCHED DOWNWARD FROM ABOVE TO RECEIVE HIM UP TO HEAVEN
Roman emperor Constantine I, the Great, 307 - 337 AD, is best known for being the first Christian Roman emperor. According to the Christian historian Eusebius, the turning point for Christianity’s
rise in Rome is attributed to the Battle of the Milvian Bridge on Oct 28, 312 AD. Before the battle, Constantine beheld a flaming cross in the sky and the words, In Hoc Signo Vinces! (In This Sign Ye Shall Conquer). Seeing this as a divine signal, it is said that Constantine had his soldiers paint the symbol of the Christogram on their shields. The battle ended with the defeat of the much larger army of his rival, Maxentius. The following year Constantine issued the historic Edict of Milan (313 AD) that proclaimed religious toleration throughout the empire; it legalized Christianity, ended persecution, returned confiscated Church property, and establishes Sunday as a day of worship. Constantine constructed the new eastern capital of the Roman Empire at Constantinople in 330 AD. Later, that city would emerge as the seat of power for the 1,000 year reign of the succeeding Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine liturgical calendar, observed by the modern Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Churches of Byzantine rite, lists both Constantine and his mother Helena as saints.
[2] (Pictured Roman Imperial repoussé silver disc of Sol Invictus (3rd century), found at Pessinus /British Museum)
Emperors portrayed Sol Invictus on their official coinage, with a wide range of legends, only a few of which incorporated the epithet invictus, such as the legend SOLI INVICTO COMITI, claiming the Unconquered Sun as a companion to the Emperor, used with particular frequency by Constantine. Statuettes of Sol Invictus, carried by the standard-bearers, appear in three places in reliefs on the Arch of Constantine. Constantine's official coinage continues to bear images of Sol until 325/6. A solidus of Constantine as well as a gold medallion from his reign depict the Emperor's bust in profile twinned (jugate) with Sol Invictus, with the legend INVICTUS CONSTANTINUS
(pictured: Coin of Emperor Constantine I depicting Solis Invictus with the legend SOLIS INVICTO COMITI, c. 315)Constantine decreed (March 7, 321) dies Solis—day of the Sun, "Sunday"—as the Roman day of rest (Codex Justinianus 3.12.2):
On the venerable day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country however persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits because it often happens that another day is not suitable for grain-sowing or vine planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost.
Constantine's triumphal arch was carefully positioned to align with the colossal statue of Sol by the Colosseum, so that Sol formed the dominant backdrop when seen from the direction of the main approach towards the arch.