Editing Constantine the Great (section)

=== Maximian's rebellion ===
[[File:Constantin 1er multiple d'or 39,79 g.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|A gold [[solidus (coin)|solidus]] of "Unconquered Constantine" with the god [[Sol Invictus]] behind him, struck in AD&nbsp;313. The use of Sol's image stressed Constantine's status as his father's successor, appealed to the educated citizens of Gaul, and was considered less offensive than the traditional pagan pantheon to the Christians.<ref>Barnes, ''Constantine and Eusebius'', 36–37.</ref>]]

In 310 a dispossessed Maximian rebelled against Constantine while Constantine was away campaigning against the Franks. Maximian had been sent south to Arles with a contingent of Constantine's army, in preparation for any attacks by Maxentius in southern Gaul. He announced that Constantine was dead and took up the imperial purple. In spite of a large donative pledge to any who would support him as emperor, most of Constantine's army remained loyal to their emperor, and Maximian was soon compelled to leave. When Constantine heard of the rebellion, he abandoned his campaign against the Franks and marched his army up the Rhine.<ref name="yuhknp">Barnes, ''Constantine and Eusebius'', 34–35; Elliott, ''Christianity of Constantine'', 43; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 65–66; Odahl, 93; Pohlsander, ''Emperor Constantine'', 17; Potter, 352.</ref> At Cabillunum ([[Chalon-sur-Saône]]), he moved his troops onto waiting boats to row down the slow waters of the [[Saône]] to the quicker waters of the [[Rhône|Rhone]]. He disembarked at [[Lugdunum]] ([[Lyon]]).<ref>Barnes, ''Constantine and Eusebius'', 34.</ref> Maximian fled to Massilia ([[Marseille]]), a town better able to withstand a long siege than Arles. It made little difference, however, as loyal citizens opened the rear gates to Constantine. Maximian was captured and reproved for his crimes. Constantine granted some clemency but strongly encouraged his suicide. In July 310, Maximian [[Suicide by hanging|hanged himself]].<ref name="yuhknp" />

In spite of the earlier rupture in their relations, Maxentius was eager to present himself as his father's devoted son after his death.<ref>Elliott, ''Christianity of Constantine'', 43; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 68; Pohlsander, ''Emperor Constantine'', 20.</ref> He began minting coins with his father's deified image, proclaiming his desire to avenge Maximian's death.<ref>Elliott, ''Christianity of Constantine'', 45; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 68.</ref> Constantine initially presented the suicide as an unfortunate family tragedy. By 311, however, he was spreading another version. According to this, after Constantine had pardoned him, Maximian planned to murder Constantine in his sleep. Fausta learned of the plot and warned Constantine, who put a [[eunuch]] in his own place in bed. Maximian was apprehended when he killed the eunuch and was offered suicide, which he accepted.<ref>Lactantius, ''De Mortibus Persecutorum'' 30.1; Barnes, ''Constantine and Eusebius'', 40–41, 305.</ref> Along with using propaganda, Constantine instituted a ''[[damnatio memoriae]]'' on Maximian, destroying all inscriptions referring to him and eliminating any public work bearing his image.<ref>Barnes, ''Constantine and Eusebius'', 41; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 68.</ref>

The death of Maximian required a shift in Constantine's public image. He could no longer rely on his connection to the elder Emperor Maximian and needed a new source of legitimacy.<ref>Potter, 352.</ref> In a speech delivered in Gaul on 25 July 310, the anonymous orator reveals a previously unknown dynastic connection to [[Claudius Gothicus|Claudius II]], a 3rd-century emperor famed for defeating the [[Goths]] and restoring order to the empire. Breaking away from tetrarchic models, the speech emphasises Constantine's ancestral [[prerogative]] to rule, rather than principles of imperial equality. The new ideology expressed in the speech made Galerius and Maximian irrelevant to Constantine's right to rule.<ref>''Panegyrici Latini'' 6(7); Barnes, ''Constantine and Eusebius'', 35–37, 301; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 66; Odahl, 94–95, 314–15; Potter, 352–53.</ref> Indeed, the orator emphasises ancestry to the exclusion of all other factors: "No chance agreement of men, nor some unexpected consequence of favour, made you emperor," the orator declares to Constantine.<ref>''Panegyrici Latini'' 6(7)1. Qtd. in Potter, 353.</ref>

The oration also moves away from the religious ideology of the Tetrarchy, with its focus on twin dynasties of [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]] and [[Hercules]]. Instead, the orator proclaims that Constantine experienced a divine vision of [[Apollo]] and [[Victoria (mythology)|Victory]] granting him [[laurel wreath]]s of health and a long reign. In the likeness of Apollo, Constantine recognised himself as the saving figure to whom would be granted "rule of the whole world",<ref>''Panegyrici Latini'' 6(7).21.5.</ref> as the poet [[Virgil]] had once foretold.<ref>Virgil, ''[[Bucolics|Ecologues]]'' 4.10.</ref> The oration's religious shift is paralleled by a similar shift in Constantine's coinage. In his early reign, the coinage of Constantine advertised [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]] as his patron. From 310 on, Mars was replaced by [[Sol Invictus]], a god conventionally identified with Apollo.<ref>Barnes, ''Constantine and Eusebius'', 36–37; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 67; Odahl, 95.</ref> There is little reason to believe that either the dynastic connection or the divine vision are anything other than fiction, but their proclamation strengthened Constantine's claims to legitimacy and increased his popularity among the citizens of Gaul.<ref>Barnes, ''Constantine and Eusebius'', 36–37; Elliott, ''Christianity of Constantine'', 50–53; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 66–67; Odahl, 94–95.</ref>