Publisher's Synopsis
"Constantine the Great: York's Roman Emperor" celebrates the 1700th anniversary of the proclamation of Constantine as Emperor in York on 25th July, 306. In a series of multi-disciplinary essays, and a fully illustrated, scholarly catalogue of objects, the book is a major contribution to the study of the material and visual evidence for Constantine's reign. The geographic range of the book is the Roman Empire, with the focus mainly on the Western Empire. Key themes include the transition from the Classical to the Medieval world, and from paganism to Christianity. The book brings together for the first time a fascinating range of objects to support its arguments, most notably: the monumental marble head of Constantine from York; the mosaic roundel with Christ's head from Hinton St Mary, Dorset; the earliest Christian silver hoard in the Roman Empire from Water Newton, Cambridgeshire; the Late Roman silver hoard from Traprain Law, Scotland; the building inscription of Constantius from Hadrian's Wall, Northumberland; medallions, coins and jewellery from Arras, France; early Christian tombstones from Trier, Germany; a papyrus fragment with text of the Constantine letter to the people of Palestine of 324, from The British Library; and the silver-gilt personification of Constantinople from the Esquiline Treasure.
