Constantinople’s “birthday” occurred on May 11, 330. Most of the festivities took place in the newly built forum, at the center of which “stood a porphyry column bearing a gilt statue of the emperor. It held on its right hand the orb of world power. Inside the orb was a piece of the True Cross.”
MacMullen comments on the speed of Constantine’s rebuilding, a speed made possible by the fact that Constantine reused materials from other cities: “In the forum, the porphyry column came from Rome, the statue atop from Ilion (it was a figure of Apollo, the head recut).”
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
Moral Certitude and the Iran War
The current military engagement with Iran calls renewed attention to just war theory in the Catholic tradition.…
The Slow Death of England: New and Notable Books
The fate of England is much in the news as popular resistance to mass immigration grows, limits…
Ethics of Rhetoric in Times of War
What we say matters. And the way we say it matters. This is especially true in times…
