The Battle of the Milvian Bridge

[Gordopolis]

On this day, 28th Oct 312 AD Constantine the Great and Maxentius clash at the Milvian Bridge, vying for control of the Western Roman Empire. Did Constantine really order his troops to paint Christian symbols on their shields?

What do you think?

 

Artwork by the excellent Peter Connolly.

[guy]

On 10/28/2022 at 3:01 AM, Gordopolis said:

Did Constantine really order his troops to paint Christian symbols on their shields?

Because Constantine was both practical and an opportunist, I doubt he would have done anything to antagonize the majority of his army who were Pagan. He could, however, have opted for the Chi-Ro symbol since it predated Christianity and would have been accepted positively by his Pagan troops.

Here is a coin from Ptolemy III (246-222 BCE). Note the Chi-Ro between the legs of the eagle.

 

Quote

The coin above offers a further example of Christian symbolism on Late Roman coins. It is a very rare AE3 of Rome’s first Christian emperor, Constantine I, showing a serpent pierced by a military standard topped with a Christogram. This composition generally is thought to represent the triumph of Christianity (as embodied by Constantine, his family, and the Roman state) over Satan.

 

Pagan Greek scribes used the Chi Ro symbol to mark portions of papyri texts they deemed important.

Maybe not too surprisingly, however, the vast majority of coins from Constantine did not have Christian imagery.

Interestingly, the Arch of Constantine, which commemorates Constantine’s triumph at the Milvian Bridge, does not depict the Chi Ro symbol.

 

https://coinweek.com/ancient-coins/ngc-ancients-late-roman-coin-reverse-types-part-2/

http://www.constantinethegreatcoins.com/symbols/

 

Edited October 30, 2022 by guy

[caldrail]

According to Lactantius, Constantine chose a Tau-Rho (a tall letter P with a crossbar) and Eusebius, from whom the Chi-Rho story is derived, is not consistent about it either.

[Gordopolis]

Thanks for the thoughts, Caldrail and Guy. My two penneth is that it was some common symbol that would unite rather than divide his forces. Guy, you argue quite convincingly that the Chi-Rho might not have been a partisan Xtian symbol at that time (that coin is brilliant!). I wonder if it might have been a more widely-known and respected symbol, such as the sun - the emblem of Mars Neton, Apollo, Sol Invictus, Mithras... and Christ. Handily, a Mithraic sun/star can quite easilt be tweaked to be a Chi-Rho too!