Friday, October 28, 2016

October 28, AD 312 ~ Constantine defeats Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge

Detail from Romano's Battle of the Milvian Bridge, showing Constantine,
on horseback, victorious over Maxentius who is shown drowning in the
Tiber River, lower right. (Click to enlarge)
Click for more info.
October 28 marks the anniversary of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge (AD 312) at which Constantine the Great defeated the usurper Maxentius who had set himself up as emperor in Rome. Son of the emperor Maximian Herculius, Maxentius claimed the same right to the throne that Constantine had claimed from his own father, the emperor Constantius I Chlorus. The difference was that Constantius conferred the imperial power upon his son Constantine on his deathbed, whereas Maxentius took his father's authority by force and drove the old man from Rome.

After two failed attempts by Severus and Galerius to end the usurpation of Maxentius by military force, it was left to Constantine to settle the affair from his base in Gaul. 

I wrote a more detailed and updated account of the battle and Lactantius's account of it here:


Other articles pertaining to this period may be found at the following links:

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