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The Celestial Sign on Constantine's Shields at the Battle of the Mulvian Bridge

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The Celestial Sign on Constantine's Shields at the Battle of the Mulvian Bridge Quidditas Volume 2 Article 3 1981 The Celestial Sign on Constantine's Shields at the Battle of the Mulvian Bridge Charles Odahl Boise State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/rmmra Part of the Comparative Literature Commons, History Commons, Philosophy Commons, and the Renaissance Studies Commons Recommended Citation Odahl, Charles (1981) "The Celestial Sign on Constantine's Shields at the Battle of the Mulvian Bridge," Quidditas: Vol. 2 , Article 3. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/rmmra/vol2/iss1/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Quidditas by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. The Celestial Sign on Constantine's Shields at the Battle of the Mulvian Bridge by Charle Odahl Boi~c late nivcrsity Most cholar now accept the reality a nd sincerity of Con tantine's convcr ion to Chri tianity during his military campaign against Maxe ntius for control of Rome in A.D. 312-provided that "conver ion' ' is under tood in terms of the upcr titious religious e nvironme nt of the times. 1 The ancient pagan and ~hri tian ource that described the campaig n all agreed that the war wa waged in a n atmosphere of inte n e re lig ious fervor, even uper titiosa maleficia as o ne source described it. and that each commande r appealed to divine power for aid against hi e nemy. 2 Christian accounts of the campaig n reported that Constantine turned to the Christian God at this time. and ad pt d the use f a Chri tia n tali ma nic symbol for his oldiers· weapon that s uccessfull y invoked the aid a nd powe1' of this new divine patron fo r his troop and drove off the hostile demon and pagan deities upporting his e nemy' for e . The e mpe ror's victory behind a Christian sign at the climacti c Battle of the Mulvian Bridge convinced him that he had found the one and only true Goel. governor of the co mos a nd repo itory of true powe r. Thereafter. he wor hipped only the Christian Divinity. ch lars can agree on thi gene ral outline of the conve rsion narrative . Yet a particul ar i s ue still contested i the precise form of the talismanic emble m that Con tantine e mployed at the battle. In orde r to a certain the form of thi ig n. schola r u ually turn to Lactantiu · pamphlet 011 the Death of the Persecutors [De M ortibus Persec111orn 111 ). which contains the earli e t account of the conversion by a contemporary. Thi La tin hri tian rhctor and a pologi t wrote his account arou nd J I S at Treve . where he was servin g as tutor at the imperial c-0 urt for onsta ntine ·s ldest son. ri pus. 3 He presumably had access to eycwitnc s te timony a bout the event s urrounding the emperor's conversion. But the con e rsion story is only a small part of a larger work, the main theme of which is God' 11/tio11 . revenge. against the evil persecutors of His Church. The conve r ion narrative is thus rathe r concise, a nd even somewh at cryptic. It read as follow in Latin: 4 IS Charles Odahl Commonitus e t in quicte Con tantinu . us cae/este signum Dei notaret in scutis atque ita proelium committeret. Faci t ut iussus est et tran ver a X littera. s11mmo capite circumflex o. Christum in scutis notat. Quo signo armatus exercitu capit ferrum. Tran lated into English, it says: Con tantine was warned in a dream. that he should mark the cele tia/ sign of God on hi shi eld and thu commit himself to the battle. He did as he was ordered and with the /e11 er X traversed, with it s highest tip bent round. he marked Christ on the shi eld s. Armed with this sign the army took the battlefi eld . Th trouble om phra e i rransversa X le11 era. summo capite circumflexo. It obviou ly refer to omc kind of Chri tian monogram, but eholar have divided into two chools of thought concerning it graphic form. Emphasizing the adj ecti va l force in transversa. rendering it "cro sed through," Burckhard!. Alfo1di. and J ones traditionally held that the phrase describe a Christ monogram or Chri togram- the Greek letter chi (X) with a Greek letter rho (P) slashed vertically through it, thus*or* . 6 Emphasizing the ve rbal element in transversa, translating it " turned round," Vogt , Dorries, and MacMullen have recently suggested that the phra e de cribes a cross monogram or crossogram-the Greek letter chi turned on end to form a Greek cross wi th its top bent into a Greek letter rho thu ,+or+ . 7 The fact that Ci.cero u ed transversa in the oblique ense of "aero s, crossed. or th warted,.. may favor the former rendering, sin ce Lactantius was uch a devotee and imitator of Ciceronian language that he wa ni cknamed " the Christian Ci cero" by the ancients. Mo t of the e cholar have relied primarily upon differing translation of the Latin phra eology of Lactantius for their interpretation . The e very differences reveal that a olution to this probl em cannot come from a literary analysis of Lactantian terminology alone. Other pieces of contemporary evidence mu t be co nsulted. Unfortunately, no shields u ed in the Battle of the Mulvian Bridge are known to be extant. Another literary account by a contemporary, alb eit two decade later in time of composition, does exist. as do ome pi eces of contemporary Christian and imperial art, especially co in age. which are relevant to th e issue under investigation. The literary account is that of the Greek Church Father Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea. important participant at th e Council of icaea, and ub equently a fri end and advisor of Constantine during the later part of the emperor' reign in the east. Aft er on tantine' death, he wrote a eulogistic biography in four books on the emperor's religious life and benefaction to the Church, the Life of Constantine (Vita Co11 sra,ui11i), ca. 337-38. 9 Book 1 is devoted to Constantine's earl y life and co nversion experience. Like Lactantius, Eusebius placed the latter in the campaign again t Maxentius for control of Rome. 16 The Cele ti al Sign Since thi was the all-important initial event in the emperor's Christian life, he dealt wi th it at greater length than his predeces or. Relying on what he affirmed was personal and sworn testimony from Con tamine himself, Eu cbiu offered the fo lio, ing account. to He told how the emperor renected that he needed more powerful aid than hi military force could afford him , and so decided to eek divine assistance. Con tantine recalled that the persecuting emperors who had tru ted in many god . sacrifice . oracle . and the whole paraphernalia of paganism, had been deceived and met unhappy end . Only his father Constantius. a philosophical monothei t who worshipped a" upre me Deity" all his life, had found a true protector and giver of good thing . Thu . Constantine decided that the God of his father mu t b the holder of real power. He invoked thi Deus Summus in prayer. entreating him to reveal hi identity and to provide his help in the coming trial. Con tantine' answer. Euscbius asserted, came in the form of a marvelou vi ion and an explanatory dream. While he and his army were pushing toward Rome. they encountered a miraculous sign in the sky: a great cro of li ght above the sun bearing the in cription " In this, conquer" (T0UTW v ~ xa .or Hoc ·ig 11 0 victor eris). 11 The impo11 of thi apparition was explained to Constantine in a ub equent dream. Chri t appeared to the emperor with the image of a celestial sign, and ordered that a copy of it be made for u e as an apotropaic device against his cncmie . Con tantine followed instructions and had workmen fashion a new imperial vexillum. This Christian war standard, called the Labarum, was com po ed of a long pear, overlaid with a cro bar carrying a banner with the imperial portrait. and topped with an enwrcathed monogram, "the symbol of the Savior' name. two letters indicating the name of Christ through the in cribing of the initial characters. the P crossed through the middle'' ( Tris owtnpCou t nnyoo~as To cruµBoAov , 6uo crTo ~xe La To Xp~crTou n,pa6nAoUvTa 6voµa . ,x~ ,oµc vou Tou pw xaTa TO µ ecra ­ ~Tatov ). Eu ebius reported that the emperor wa accustomed to wearing this hri togram on his helmet. and in a later section. mentioned that he made his soldiers inscribe it on their shields as well. 12 Confident of invoking divine power through the talismanic emble m on his war implements, Constantine marched to victory over Maxentiu . The purpo e here is not to co nfirm or deny the miraculous clements in the u ebian account of Constantine's conver ion. though in the uperstitious religi u environment of the era the c clements were wholly acceptable to Con tantine's contemporaries. Rather. the concern of this study is with the graphic manife tation of Con lantine' turn to a new patron deity.
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