ABLABIUS, FLAVIUS: praetorian prefect of the east 329–337; executed in 337 by Constantius II. A Christian who rose to prominence from a humble family; consul with Iunius Bassus in 331.
AEMILIANUS: praetorian prefect, known from a single text of 328, served in the west.
ALEMANNI: Germanic federation centered on the upper Rhine valley, first attested in the early third century, often fought by Constantius and Constantine. The name means “All Men,” presumably reflecting the composition of the group as a confederation of existing tribes.
ALEXANDER: bishop of Alexandria 311–328; attacked by Arius.
ALLECTUS: usurper, murdered Carausius in 293 to become emperor in Britain; committed suicide in the face of Constantius I’s invasion of 296.
ANASTASIA: half-sister of Constantine, daughter of Constantius and Theodora, briefly married to Bassianus.
ANULLINUS, ANNIUS (probably): praetorian prefect of Severus in 306.
ANULLINUS, C. ANNIUS: consul 295; proconsul of Africa 303–304; prefect of Rome 306–307; 312 probably father of the next Anullinus and brother of the preceding Anullinus.
ANULLINUS, ANNIUS (probably): governor of Africa in 313.
ARIUS: Christian priest; eponymous founder of the Arian movement that was condemned at the Council of Nicaea.
ATHANASIUS: bishop of Alexandria 328–373.
AUGUSTUS: first emperor of Rome 31 BC–AD 14; his name subsequently became the title of the senior ruler of the empire.
AURELIAN, MARCUS AURELIUS: emperor 270–275, reunified the empire; murdered by a cabal of officers in 275.
AURELIUS, MARCUS: the emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, ruled 161–180; generally regarded in antiquity and now as one of Rome’s best emperors.
BASSIANUS: Caesar 316, married Anastasia, Constantine’s half-sister; executed for treason in 316.
BASSUS, JUNIUS: praetorian prefect in the west 318–331; consul with Ablabius in 331.
BASSUS, SEPTIMIUS: prefect of Rome 317–319.
CAECILIAN: bishop of Carthage, enemy of the Donatists.
CARAUSIUS: separatist emperor in northern Gaul and Britain 287 (?)–293; murdered by his former supporters.
CARUS, MARCUS AURELIUS: emperor 282–283.
CARINUS, MARCUS AURELIUS: emperor 283–285, son of Carus.
CHARISIUS, ARCADIUS: magister libellorum (master of petitions) for Maximian in 286–287, then under Diocletian in 290–291; author of a number of legal works.
CLAUDIUS, MARCUS AURELIUS: emperor 268–270, falsely identified as an ancestor of Constantine.
CONSTANTIA: half-sister of Constantine, daughter of Constantius I and Theodora, married to Licinius 313–324.
CONSTANTIUS I: Caesar 293–305, Augustus 305–306, father of Constantine.
CONSTANTIUS II: born 317; Caesar 324–337; Augustus 337–361, son of Constantine and Fausta.
CONSTANTIUS, FLAVIUS: praetorian prefect in the east 324–326, then in Italy in 327, consul in 327 with Valerius Maximus. Possibly related to Constantine.
CONSTANTIUS, JULIUS: half-brother to Constantine, son of Constantius I and Theodora, father of Gallus and Julian, consul in 335; murdered after Constantine’s death in 337.
CRISPUS, FLAVIUS JULIUS: Caesar 317–326, son of Constantine and Minervina, probably born ca. 303; executed in 326.
DALMATIUS FLAVIUS JULIUS: Caesar 335–337; son of Flavius Dalmatius, grandson of Constantius I.
DALMATIUS, FLAVIUS: Consul 333; son of Constantius II and Theodora.
DECIUS, GAIUS QUINTUS MESSIUS TRAIANUS: emperor 249–251, issued edict ordering all Romans to sacrifice; killed by the Goths.
DIOCLETIAN: Augustus 284–305. His full name was Gaius Valerius Aurelius Diocletianus, though before his accession it may have been Gaius Valerius Diocles.
DONATUS: leader of a Christian movement in North Africa that rejected the authority of Bishop Caecilian after 313; the movement took its name from him even though he was not its original founder.
ELAGABALUS: the tutelary divinity of Emesa. Although originally a mountain god (in Aramaic the name is God Mountain), he was understood as a Sun God in the late third century and is identified under Aurelian as Sol Invictus.
EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA: bishop and author of numerous works on Christian doctrine and history. His Life of Constantine is one of the most influential sources for Constantine (though not in this book).
EUSEBIUS OF NICOMEDIA: arguably the most influential bishop in the Eastern Empire; although exiled after the Council of Nicaea, he soon returned to his see. He baptized Constantine on his deathbed.
EVAGRIUS: praetorian prefect 326; 329–331; 336–337, usually in the east. He was probably a pagan.
FAUSTA, FLAVIA MAXIMA, wife of Constantine 307–328 (?), daughter of Maximian Herculius and Eutropia, she was probably born in 299. She disappears from public life in 326; her children include Constantine II (b. 316), Constantius II (b. 317), Constans (b. 323), Constantina, and Helena; there is no direct evidence for the birthdates of her daughters.
FELIX: praetorian prefect, serving largely in Africa, 333–336.
FRANKS: Germanic federation located along the lower Rhine, first attested in the late third century, ancestors of the Merovingian and Carolingian rulers of medieval France. The name means “Free Men.”
GALERIUS: Caesar 293–305; Augustus 305–311. His full name was Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus.
GALLIENUS, PUBLIUS EGNATIUS: emperor 253–268, son of Valerian.
GREGORIUS: magister libellorum (master of petitions) under Carinus and Diocletian; compiled the Codex Gregorianus.
GOTHS: confederation of east German peoples, originally from Scandinavia that moved into the area of the middle Danube. In the later fourth and fifth centuries, Gothic groups played a major role in the breakup of the western Roman Empire. The Gothic language, first given written form in Constantine’s time, was used into the eighth century when it was spoken in parts of Spain and Portugal.
HADRIAN, AELIUS: emperor 117–138.
HANNIBALIANUS (1): son of Constantius I and Theodora.
HANNIBALIANUS (2): son of Flavius Dalmatius, grandson of Constantius I.
HELENA, FLAVIA JULIA: mother of Constantine, first wife of Constantius I. The year of her birth is uncertain; she died in 328.
HERMOGENIANUS: magister libellorum (master of petitions) for Diocletian in 295–298, afterward praetorian prefect until 302; compiled the Codex Hermogenianus.
LACTANTIUS, L. CAECILIUS FIRMIANUS: Christian teacher and theologian who lived from the 260s into the 320s; held chair in Latin at Nicomedia before the great persecution; later served as tutor to Constantine’s son Crispus; author of On the Deaths of the Persecutors (among other works).
LICINIUS, VALERIUS LICINIANUS: Augustus 308–324; married Constantia in 313; executed in 325.
MAJORIAN: schismatic bishop of Carthage, hostile to Caecilian, succeeded by Donatus.
MAXENTIUS, MARCUS AURELIUS VALERIUS: separatist emperor in Italy and Africa 306–312, son of Maximian Herculius and Eutropia, brother of Fausta; died at the battle of the Milvian Bridge.
MAXIMIAN HERCULIUS, MARCUS AURELIUS VALERIUS: Caesar 285–286, Augustus, 286–305; stepfather of Theodora, wife of Constantius I, father of Maxentius and Fausta; committed suicide in 310.
MAXIMINUS DAIA, GALERIUS VALERIUS: Caesar 306–309; Augustus 309–311, nephew of Galerius; committed suicide in 313.
MAXIMUS, VALERIUS: prefect of Rome 319–323.
MAXIMUS, VALERIUS: vicarius of the east in 325; attested as praetorian prefect in 327–328, 332–323, and 337. He was consul in 327 with Flavius Constantius and probably related to the preceding Maximus.
MELETIUS: leader of rigorist Christian movement in Egypt (of which he was the eponymous founder) after the great persecution.
MENSURIUS: bishop of Carthage, died (probably) in 307. He was succeeded by Caecilian.
MILTIADES: bishop of Rome 310–314.
MINERVINA: first wife of Constantine, mother of Crispus, presumably deceased by 305.
NUMERIAN, MARCUS AURELIUS: Augustus 283–284, son of Carus, murdered in 284.
OPTATIANUS PORPHYRIANUS, PUBLILIUS: prefect of Rome 329; 33 (on both occasions very briefly); wrote poetry in Latin.
OSSIUS OF CORDOBA: bishop before the Council of Elvira (ca. 305) at which he participated; he was in Constantine’s entourage before 313, played a role in the Donatist controversy, and presided at the Council of Nicaea.
PALLADAS: Greek epigrammatist, originally from Alexandria, later resident at Constantinople; some of his poetry comments on events of the reign of Constantine.
PAPIUS PACATIANUS: praetorian prefect 332–337, consul 332, served in the west.
PETER: bishop of Alexandria 300–311; opponent of Meletius, executed on the order of Maximinus Daia.
SAPOR I: king of Persia 240–270.
SAPOR II: king of Persia: 309/10–379.
SECUNDUS OF TIGISIS: bishop of Numidia at the time of Diocletian’s persecution; adopted rigorist line and quarreled with Mensurius, one of the founders of the movement that would become Donatism.
SEVERUS, LUCIUS SEPTIMIUS: emperor 193–211.
SEVERUS, FLAVIUS VALERIUS: Caesar 305–306, then Augustus; surrendered to Maximian in the spring of 307 at Ravenna; was executed in the late summer by Maxentius.
THEODORA: daughter of Maximian Herculius, wife of Constantius I, mother of Flavius Dalmatius, Julius Constantius, Hannibalianus, Anastasia, Constantia, and Eutropia. She died ca. 327.
VALERIAN, P. LICINIUS CORNELIUS EGNATIUS: emperor 253–260; died in Persian captivity.
VALENS, AURELIUS VALERIUS: Augustus as colleague of Licinius in 316; executed in 316.
VOLUSIANUS, GAIUS CEIONIUS RUFIUS: praetorian prefect (of Maxentius) in 309–310; consul 311 and 314; prefect of Rome 313–315; exiled 315.