Anti-Paganism Policy of Constantius II
By Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany - CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30158520
Flavius Julius Constantius, also known as Kōnstántios Κωνστάντιος, was born 7 August 317 CE Sirmium, Pannonia, which is near modern day Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia, and was the Roman Emperor from 9 September 337-3 November 361. During his reign, he dealt with multiple on-going wars, both border and civil, court intrigues, and usurpations, and instigated religious policies that further inflamed the domestic situation even after his death.
Constantius II was the son of Constantine the Great and his second wife Fausta and was Caesar under him beginning 8 November 324, when he was only 7 years old. Religious unrest caused tenseness between Armenia, led by king Shapur II and Constantine in 336, leading to war between Rome and the Sassanid Persian Empire. While Constantine prepared for the war, he fell ill and sent his son instead. Narses, the Persian general, was able to overrun Mesopotamia and capture Amid, modern day Diyarbakir, Turkey, before Constantius was able to arrive at the battles. He promptly entered battle and was able to defeat and kill Narses, recapturing Amida and beginning rebuilding and fortifying the city.
In 337, he received word that Constantine was near death, so Constantius hurried to Constantinople, modern day Istanbul. After Constantine died, Contantius buried him in the Church of the Holy Apostles. Soon after, every other descendant of his paternal grandfather was massacred by the army, this followed the pattern of Constantine of killing relatives. Exactly why Constantius killed his relatives is not well documented, but only five male descendants of his paternal grandfather remaining alive, and the 'official version' being the army was mutinous and took action on their own, but the evidence points to Constantius being responsible and it was a planned attack, including 'the lack of high-profile punishments as a response; the sparing of all the women; the attempted damnatio memoriae [condemnation of memory, the excluding of the deceases from official records] on the deceased; and the exile of the survivors Gallus and Julian'.
When Constantine died, he was the sole Augustus over the Roman Empire, which had been divided into Eastern and Western before him. To deal with this, Constantius met with his two surviving brothers, Constantine II and Constans, to divide the empire with Constantine II taking control over Britania, Gaul, Hispania, and Mauretania. Constans, under Constantine II's supervision, was placed over Italy, Africa, Illyricum, Pannonia, Macedonia, and Achaea. Constantius took the eastern provinces of Constantinople, Asia Minor, Egypt, Syria, Thrace, and Cyrenaica. Once this was established, Constantius returned to the war with Persia by going to Antioch. He had to repeatedly defend the eastern border against the Sassanid Empire, the conflicts mostly resulting in a relative stalemate.
By Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=380138
In the Western Roman Empire, Constantine II wanted control over Constans' part of the empire and this led to open conflict and Constantine II's death in 340, leaving Constans in control of the Western 2/3 of the empire. In January 350, he was assassinated by followers of Magnus Magnentius, who had been a general of Germanic descent and was proclaimed Augustus on 18 January 350. Constantius wanted to march on him immediately but he had to secure the eastern provinces, so he made his cousin Constantius Gallus caesar and married the elder of his two sisters, Constantina, to ensure his loyalty. He also had to deal with Vetranio, who'd been acclaimed emperor by his soldiers, though he sent letters to Constantius pledging his loyalty. Because of this pledge of loyalty, Constantius made Vetranio augustus, though he then offered Vetranio retirement.
The war with Magnentius began on 28 September 351 with 'one of the largest and bloodiest battles ever between two Roman armies', and though Constantius won, Magnentius survived. In 352, Constantius focused on securing the Danubian border, after which he advanced to northern Italy, where Magnentius had retreated to. Cities switched their allegiances and forced Magnentius and his armies out of them, pushing Magnentius to southern Gaul. The armies met in August 350 and Constantius was victorious, resulting in Magnentius' suicide on 10 August 353.
Constantius continued defense of the Danubian border for the rest of 353 and the beginning of 354 when he began receiving concerning reports about his cousin. He traveled to Mediolanum (Milan) and summoned Ursicinus, who was his Gallus' magister equitum, or master of the cavalry, then summoned Gallus and Constantina. Constantina died in Bithynia, causing Gallus to hesitate, though he was convinced to continue by an agent of Constantius, traveling through Constantinople and Thrace to arrive in Poetovio, modern day Ptuj, Slovenia. There, Gallus was arrested by Constantius' soldiers and moved to Pola for interrogation. Gallus blamed Constantina for the problems of the eastern provinces, for which he was ordered to be executed. While Constantius changed his mind, that order was delayed and Gallus was executed.
During the 350s, Constantius passed many laws that prescribed death penalties for those that were involved in pagan practices, such as attending or performing pagan sacrifices or worshiped idols. Pagan temples were closed and the Altar of Victory that Octavian established in 29 BCE to commemorate the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra at Actium was removed from the Senate meeting house in 357, though it was restored shortly afterwards, either soon after Constantius left Rome or by Emperor Julian.
Many of these policies were 'passively resisted by many governors and magistrates', though it also produced an environment that resulted in 'frequent episodes of ordinary Christians destroying, pillaging, and desecrating many ancient pagan temples, tombs, and monuments'. The vacuum caused by the 'collapse of official government sanctioned pagan rites' gave rise to private cults trying to fill the void. In 353, pagan sacrifices were punishable by death and he forbade access to some temples, ending the public tax subsidies to sustain them. He also 'carried out an active campaign against magicians, astrologers and other diviners. This may also be due to his becoming fearful that others might use these means to make someone else emperor'.
At the time, paganism was still widely practiced and popular among the population of the Roman Empire, regardless of the dictates of the emperor. Because of this, Constantius never tried to disband groups like the Vestal Virgins or the various Roman priestly colleges. He also remained pontifex maximus, the chief high priest, the most important position in pagan Roman religion, until his death and was deified after his death.
Some of the other edicts he made included: exempting clergy and their sons from compulsory public service; tax exemptions for clergy, their servants, family; tax exemptions for property of the church but not the clergy's land; bishops exempted from being tried in secular courts; and 'Christian prostitutes only able to be bought by members of the clergy or other state approved Christians'. He also forced severe restrictions on Jews during his reign, some of which included: Jews could not marry or attempt to convert Christian women; if a person converted from Christianity to Judaism, they'd lose their property to the state; if a Jew had a non-Jewish slave, they'd be confiscated by the state; if a Jew were to attempt to circumcise a non-Jewish slave, they could be put to death and the slave would be free.
