Title: What if Constantine had stayed in Rome?
Headings: What if Constantine had stayed in Rome?
What if Constantine had stayed in Rome?
What would have happened if Constantine never moved to Constantinople?
Civil unrest in Rome throughout the fourth century
The Western Roman Empire would have remained intact into the sixth or seventh century
The eastern Mediterranean would have been overrun by Muslims by the seventh century
The religious makeup of the Mediterranean would have been vastly different
The Franks would have been a weaker version of what they became in the eighth and ninth centuries
The Vikings might have been wiped off the map by the early ninth century
A decision that changed history
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Content: June 13, 2016 - By Phidippides
In the 320s, the Roman emperor Constantine made the critical decision to create his new capital in the East. The new capital, Constantinople, came to occupy the site of an old Greek town and would forever be changed by the emperor’s choice. According to Richard Krautheimer, the reason he made the move was (at least in part) in order to create a new, Christian capital – one which was free from the attachments of old, entrenched pagan families who occupied the city of Rome. During the early years of his reign, Constantine respected pagan sensibilities by building the Christian churches of St. John Lateran and Old St. Peter’s in the far reaches of the city, away from the more visible spaces that were closer to the Palatine, Viminal, Esquiline, and Caelian Hills. This was not enough, though, as Krautheimer suspects the tension between the old and new religion helped lead Constantine to search for his new capital in the East. What would have happened if Constantine never moved to Constantinople? We know the aftermath of Constantine’s crucial decision: a permanent shift in power to the Eastern Roman Empire, a sustained Christian presence in the eastern Mediterranean which would provide a bulwark for Europe for over a millennium, and the development of a rich Byzantine cultural tradition. There is little doubt that this move served Rome well (the empire moreso than the city), but it still leaves a tempting question: what would have happened to Rome had Constantine (and his successors) never left?