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When Constantine I died on 22nd May 337 A.D. he left the Empire under the control of his three surviving sons, Constantine II, Constantius II and Constans, who took the title of Augusti on 9th September. Constantine's nephews, Delmatius and Hannibalianus, who had been appointed Caesar of Thrace, Macedonia, and Greece and 'King' of Armenia, respectively, were soon eliminated. The three sons divided the empire between them, the eldest, Constantine, taking Britain, Gaul and Spain, the middle brother Constans the rest of the European provinces, while Constantius ruled the east.
The sons were soon at each other's throats and in the spring of 340 Constantine II attempted to exert his authority over Constans and invaded Italy. He was defeated and killed at Aquileia, leaving Constans in control of the whole the western empire. In January 350 Constans's throne was usurped by his army chief Magnentius. Constantius II refused to accept the new western ruler and defeated Magnentius at Mursa in the Balkans in September 351 and at Lugdunum two years later. This left the empire once again in the hands of a single emperor. Constantius soon decided to chose a colleague to share his power. This was Flavius Julianus (Julian II), Constantius's half-cousin. Julian was a successful commander on the Rhine frontier and was popular with his troops. Because of this popularity, Constantius felt threatened and in 360 decided to reduce Julian's power. The result was that the army proclaimed Julian Augustus in the west. Constantius decided to move against Julian but died in November 361. Although Julian was a fairly enlighten ruler, he received a bad press due to his suppression of Christianity in favour of the traditional religion of Rome. For this reason he has been dubbed Julian the Apostate. Julian was wounded and died in Mesopotamia, where he had launched an invasion in March 363. |
List of Emperors
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The Republic
The Julio-Claudian Emperors
The Flavian, Adoptive and Antonine Emperors
The Severan Emperors
The Barrack Room Emperors
The Tetrarchy, Constantine and Licinius
The heirs of Constantine
The Valentinian Emperors to the Fall
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