Panegyricus Latinus 12(9): Constantine’s Religious Ideology

Abstract

Taking as its starting point the oration delivered in honor of Constantine in Trier by an anonymous orator in 313, this article examines the characterization of the divine and the way in which Constantine’s theology and his perception of the supreme deity is envisioned in the oration in relation to his Italian campaign and his defeat of Maxentius in 312. Constantine’s Christianity and his “conversion” are associated by the Christian sources (and in their wake by many modern scholars) with the intervention by the Christian god before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. The panegyric of 313, however, does not refer to divine intervention before Constantine’s decisive battle against Maxentius. Christianity is in fact entirely absent from the oration. Examining textual, material, and numismatic sources, I argue that the most likely candidate for the supreme deity referred to in the oration is Sol Invictus and also that the speech expresses in hidden terms Constantine’s religious tolerance.