Les programmes religieux de Constantin et de ses concurrents vus à travers les monnaies

Abstract

The Edict of Milan on June 13 313 as reported by Lactantius and Eusebius of Caesarea is seen as Constantine’s first great act as a Christian Emperor. In consequence it seems commonly accepted that Constantine also had emancipated his coin types from the pagan image program of the Tetrarchs and propagated initially his solar and later his Christian monotheism. However a comparison with the coinage of the Tetrarchs and their successors shows that although Constantine set selectively special accents, he did not pursue a monotheistic program. Rather, Constantine chose pragmatically among the coin types of his predecessors and co-emperors those ones that reaffirmed his role as a victorious general and his own position as emperor against his rivals, as did as well Maximinus Daia, Maxentius and Licinius in their parts of the empire. Only the ancient and modern Christian observers put forward ex eventu selected and even very rare coins as clear evidence of Constantine’s pro-Christian attitude while (obviously) ignoring the traditional and much more frequent types. The coins minted as mass media by Constantine during the period of the settlement of Milan clearly emphasize that Constantine sought to assure inner peace and unity of the empire through the wisdom (sapientia) of the emperors, not a pro-Christian religious policy.