Editing Licinius (section)

==Character and legacy==
[[File:Nis Plate BM.JPG|thumb|left|One of a hoard of five or six identical silver plates celebrating Licinius's 10th anniversary as Emperor, discovered in [[Niš]], Serbia and now in the [[British Museum]] in London<ref>[https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1969-0904-1  British Museum Collection]</ref>]]
As part of Constantine's attempts to decrease Licinius's popularity, he actively portrayed his brother-in-law as a pagan supporter. This may not have been the case; contemporary evidence tends to suggest that he was at least a committed supporter of Christians at one point.{{citation needed|date=August 2018}} He co-authored the Edict of Milan which ended the [[Great Persecution]], and re-affirmed the rights of Christians in his half of the empire. He also added the Christian symbol to his armies, and attempted to regulate the affairs of the Church hierarchy just as Constantine and his successors were to do. His wife was a devout Christian.<ref>[[Peter J. Leithart]], ''[[Defending Constantine|Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom]]''. Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL: 2010, {{ISBN|978-0-8308-2722-0}}, p. 101</ref> 

It is possible that he converted.<ref name="abbott">{{cite book |first1=John Stevens Cabot |last1=Abbott |author-link= John Stevens Cabot Abbott |title=The History of Christianity}}</ref> However, [[Eusebius of Caesarea]], writing under the rule of Constantine, charges him with expelling Christians from the Palace and ordering military sacrifices to pagan gods, as well as interfering with the Church's internal procedures and organization.<ref>James Richard Gearey, "The Persecution of Licinius". MA thesis, University of Calgary, 1999, Chapter 4. Available at [http://dspace.ucalgary.ca/bitstream/1880/25021/1/47942Gearey.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141220045723/http://dspace.ucalgary.ca/bitstream/1880/25021/1/47942Gearey.pdf|date=20 December 2014}}. Accessed 31 July 2012.</ref> It has been theorized that he originally supported Christians along with Constantine, but later in his life turned against them and to paganism.<ref name="abbott"/>

Finally, on Licinius's death, his memory was branded with infamy; his statues were thrown down; and by edict, all his laws and judicial proceedings during his reign were abolished.<ref name=Gibbon />  Such official erasure from the public record has come to be called ''[[damnatio memoriae]]''.