Licinius

• 1. Licinius, Emperor of Rome

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  In September of 324, at a place called Chrysopolis near Chalcedon, Licinius surrendered to Constantine I. It was the end of a sixteen-year reign as Roman emperor. He had spent those years as both colleague and rival to Constantine. Together they co-authored one of the most significant legal texts in Roman history. He fought wars on multiple fronts, survived two rounds of civil conflict, and outlasted nearly every other claimant to imperial power. Yet within months of that surrender, he was dead. His story begins not in Rome but in the province of Moesia Superior, where he was born around 265 into a Dacian peasant family. What brought such a man to the peak of Roman power? And why could the empire find no way to let him live? Those are the questions this documentary pursues.

• 2. Galerius and the Ascent

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  Galerius, who would eventually reign as Roman emperor himself, was Licinius's closest childhood friend. That bond proved to be the foundation of everything that followed.

  In 298, Licinius accompanied Galerius on a military campaign against Persia. It placed him in proximity to the highest levels of Roman power long before he held any rank of his own.

  In 307, Galerius sent Licinius to Italy on a delicate diplomatic mission. Licinius was to negotiate some form of agreement with Maxentius, who had seized control in Rome and was being treated as a usurper. No agreement came of those talks.

  Galerius then marched west to deal with Maxentius himself, leaving the eastern provinces in Licinius's care. When Galerius returned east, he elevated Licinius to the rank of Augustus of the West on the 11th of November 308. The provinces of Illyricum, Thrace, and Pannonia came under his immediate command.

  In 310, Licinius commanded a war against the Sarmatians and inflicted a severe defeat on them. Military success of that kind was essential currency in the empire's internal politics.

  When Galerius died in May 311, Licinius moved quickly to secure his position. He reached an agreement with Maximinus Daza to divide the eastern provinces between them. The Hellespont and the Bosporus became the boundary, with Licinius taking the European side and Maximinus the Asian territories.

  An alliance between Maximinus and the western usurper Maxentius soon made that arrangement look fragile. Events were already moving toward a direct confrontation.

• 3. The Edict of Milan

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  In March of 313, Licinius married Flavia Julia Constantia, the half-sister of Constantine I, at Mediolanum, the city now called Milan.

  That marriage was a political alliance made personal. It joined the two most powerful men in the Roman world at a moment when unity between them was strategically vital.

  Both emperors jointly issued the proclamation known as the Edict of Milan. It declared that any person within the empire could profess any religion of their choosing. That alone marked a departure from earlier Roman practice.

  Christian communities were a specific focus. The edict ordered the return of properties that had been seized from Christians during earlier persecutions. It also freed Christian clergy from the civic financial obligations that other citizens bore.

  Lactantius, a scholar who preserved the text, recorded that it expressed a wish to propitiate 'any Divinity whatsoever in the seat of the heavens'. No single deity was named. The document is framed in language broad enough to cover any tradition.

  Licinius and Constantia had a son together in 315, named Licinius the Younger. How sincere Licinius's own religious commitments were would become one of the most contested questions surrounding his reign.

• 4. Victory Over Maximinus

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  Maximinus Daza marched out of Syria with 70,000 men in April 313. His aim was to attack Licinius before the new alliance between Licinius and Constantine could be turned against him.

  Harsh weather during the march weakened his army badly. By the time he reached Byzantium, a city held by Licinius's troops, his force was already diminished. He took the city after an eleven-day siege.

  From Byzantium, Maximinus moved against Heraclea and captured it after a shorter siege, then pushed his forces on to the next posting station.

  Licinius had assembled a force of possibly around 30,000 men and was positioned at Adrianople. Before the decisive engagement, he reportedly had a vision in which an angel delivered a prayer suited to any religious tradition. He recited it to his soldiers.

  On the 30th of April 313, the two armies met at the Battle of Tzirallum. Maximinus's forces were crushed. Daza escaped disguised as a slave and fled first to Nicomedia.

  Licinius publicly displayed the text of the Edict of Milan in Nicomedia on the 14th of June 313. Daza then fell back to Tarsus, with Licinius pressing him on both land and sea. In August 313, Maximinus Daza died, bringing the conflict to a close.

  With the eastern territories secured, Licinius moved against the surviving relatives of the old Tetrarchy. He had Maximinus Daza's wife and two children killed, along with Severus's son Flavius Severianus. Galerius's son Candidianus was also killed, as were Diocletian's wife Prisca and his daughter Galeria Valeria, who had been married to Galerius.

  The Tetrarchy was effectively finished. In its place, Licinius became Augustus of the East and Constantine Augustus of the West. After that settlement, Licinius rushed immediately east to confront a further threat: an invasion by the Persian Sassanid Empire.

• 5. A Partnership Unravels

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  Constantine used a man named Senecio as the pretext for launching war against Licinius in 316. He accused Licinius of sheltering Senecio, whom he claimed was plotting to overthrow him.

  Constantine struck first and won at the Battle of Cibalae in Pannonia on the 8th of October 316. Licinius rebuilt his forces and elevated a general named Valerius Valens to the rank of co-emperor. The plan was for Valens to eventually replace Constantine.

  The two sides met again in late 316 or early 317 on the plains of Thrace. The engagement is called the Battle of Mardia, or the Battle of Campus Ardiensis. Licinius was defeated again.

  Both emperors then negotiated a reconciliation. Licinius had Valens killed, removing the co-emperor he had just elevated against his rival.

  Seven years of uneasy coexistence followed. Licinius campaigned against the Sarmatians in 318. In 321, Constantine crossed the Danube in pursuit of Sarmatian raiders into territory that technically belonged to Licinius.

  A Gothic chieftain named Rausimod then led raiders through Thrace, and Constantine pursued them across the border again. Licinius formally complained that his colleague had violated their treaty.

  Later sources say that Constantine was tempted by what he saw as the 'advanced age and unpopular vices' of his colleague. The final confrontation between the two men was approaching.

• 6. The Last Battles

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  In 323, Constantine's fleet defeated Licinius's fleet of 350 ships.

  By the summer of 324, Constantine had declared war again. At the Battle of Adrianople on the 3rd of July 324, Constantine routed Licinius's army of 165,000 men. Licinius retreated into the walls of Byzantium.

  Constantine's eldest son, Crispus, who held the rank of Caesar, commanded the naval engagement that followed. In the Battle of the Hellespont, Crispus defeated Licinius's superior fleet, cutting off any retreat by sea.

  Licinius withdrew to Bithynia. At the Battle of Chrysopolis, near Chalcedon, on the 18th of September 324, he made his final stand, supported by a Gothic prince named Alica. It was not enough. He surrendered.

  His wife, Flavia Julia Constantia, pleaded with her brother Constantine to spare Licinius's life. Constantine agreed, initially. Licinius was imprisoned in Thessalonica while his co-emperor Martinian was held in Cappadocia.

  Licinius then reportedly attempted to regain power by building support among the Goths. When those plans were exposed, he was sentenced to death. He was caught at Thessalonica while trying to flee toward the Goths, and Constantine had him hanged. The stated charge was conspiracy to raise troops among the barbarians.

  Martinian was subsequently executed as well.

• 7. Faith and Erasure

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  Eusebius of Caesarea wrote under Constantine's patronage. He accused Licinius of expelling Christians from the imperial palace and ordering his soldiers to sacrifice to the traditional gods.

  Those charges are not easy to evaluate in isolation. Licinius had adopted Christian symbols for his armies. He had worked to regulate the internal organization of the Church, in ways that foreshadowed what Constantine and his successors would later do. His wife was a devout Christian.

  One reading of the evidence holds that Licinius began as a genuine supporter of Christians and turned away from them late in his reign. On this account, Eusebius's accusations would be accurate for his final years but misleading about his career as a whole.

  It is also recorded that Licinius may have converted to Christianity, though this remains uncertain.

  After his death, Constantine moved to eliminate Licinius from the public record. His statues were thrown down. By imperial edict, all of his laws and judicial rulings from his entire reign were abolished.

  This kind of official erasure had a name in Roman practice: damnatio memoriae, the condemnation of memory. It was a legal and political instrument used to remove a disgraced figure from public life as completely as possible.

  Licinius had helped write the edict of 313 that ended the Great Persecution. By the decree of the man who had been his brother-in-law, his own name was struck from the record.