Problemi di cronologia costantiniana. L’imperatore, Vettius Rufinus e il senato

Abstract

The analysis of the subscriptio of CTh VIII, 18, 1, a letter of Constantine to the Senate and the magistrates of Rome, and the examination of the historical and chronological context in which the letter was composed shows that Vettius Rufinus, who read out the letter in the Senate, was not holding office as urban prefect, but was an ex prefect and an ex consul. The letter should therefore be dated not to July –September 315, as has long been thought, but to summer 318. The study of the chronology of the letter which is preserved in CTh VIII, 18, 1 requires the reconstruction of the series of constitutions issued by Constantine in summer 318, when he was away in Aquileia. The selection of the man to read the imperial letter to the Senate (a former urban prefect and former consul) leads to reconsideration of the criteria for presidency and for the reading of documents at meetings of the Senate of Rome in the high imperial and the late antique periods. By the early fourth century the Senate was no longer con...