Constantine the Emperor (original 2012; edition 2013)

This book is the Emperor Constantine for the twenty-first century. If you think about our modern era, we are technocratic giants: scientists can tell us exactly how much of each chemical constituent it takes to make a human being. Unfortunately, we seem to be getting further away from understanding that spark which transforms a few Euros worth of chemicals into a living, sentient person.

Writing the biography of a long dead person does, of course,have many challenges - there is no film footage of Constantine in battle; his relatives, friends and work colleagues have all been placed in the earth many moons ago; the only sources left are literary. Constantine's most notable biographer was Eusebius, but he would go on about the Emperor seeing crosses in the clouds; and that is not good enough in our rational era. Professor Potter uses more obscure references to Constantine to build a believable picture of life in the fourth century Roman Empire. This book has many, many facts that I did not know about both Constantine and life in those times, and is an interesting read: it is just a pity that the author manages to calculate the constituents of Constantine to within millionths of a gramme, but never captures the spark. ( )

I love reading historical biographies. If you do too, this could be the book for you. However, WORD OF WARNING: This is a very difficult read. It was very wordy and tough to get through. You may also want a general knowledge of the Byzantine Empire before you begin. If you are a history buff and have the commitment, go right ahead. If you want something light, look elsewhere.

I had high hopes for this biography but was mildly disappointed. It concentrates on Constantine as an administrator, depicting him as a man who was most concerned with the stability and functioning of the Empire. Potter emphasizes primary sources - rescripts, proclamations, art - a good thing given how many writers have used Constantine to grind their own axes. It does not do a good job positioning/placing Constantine in the debates (Christology for example) raging around him or of explaining any power/materialist reasons behind the controversies. The execution of Crispus and later disappearance of Fausta are treated very briefly with what is in essence a "who knows? *shrug*". All in all, a biography that matches its emphasis: slow & focused; one for the accountants. ( )

David Potter has written a fascinating account of how Emperor Constantine incorporated the early Christian Church into the Roman Empire. Although a bit dry in parts, this fairly short book is definitely worth reading because the subject is so interesting. ( )

I did not know much about Constantine before I read this book. The fist 70 pages or so lay out a background so that helped. Overall, it was a good, if difficult, read. It talks a lot about how Constantine ran his empire and not so much about the mythology surrounding his conversion to Christianity. I would recommend it for anyone seriously interested in that era, though not for an introduction or for a casual reader.