Licinius: Difference between revisions

{{about|the Roman emperor}}

{{EngvarB|date=July 2022}}

{{Infobox Roman emperor

| name = Licinius

An alliance between Maximinus and Maxentius forced the two remaining emperors to enter into a formal agreement with each other.<ref name=Gibbon /> So, in March of 313, Licinius married [[Flavia Julia Constantia]], half-sister of [[Constantine I]],{{citation needed|date=August 2018}} at [[Mediolanum]] (now Milan); they had a son, [[Licinius II|Licinius the Younger]], in 315. Their marriage was the occasion for the jointly-issued "[[Edict of Milan]]" that reissued Galerius' previous edict allowing [[Christianity]] (and any religion one might choose) to be professed in the Empire,<ref name=DiMaio/> with additional dispositions that restored confiscated properties to Christian congregations and exempted Christian clergy from municipal civic duties.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Carrié |first1=Jean-Michel |last2=Rousselle |first2=Aline |title=L'Empire Romain en mutation: des Sévères à Constantin, 192–337 |year=1999 |publisher=Éditions du Seuil |location=Paris |isbn=2-02-025819-6 |page=228}}</ref> The redaction of the edict as reproduced by [[Lactantius]] – who follows the text affixed by Licinius in [[Nicomedia]] on 14 June 313, after Maximinus' defeat – uses neutral language, expressing a will to propitiate "any Divinity whatsoever in the seat of the heavens".<ref>Lactantius, ''De Mort. Pers''., ch. 48, cf. Internet History Sourcebooks Project, Fordham University, [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/edict-milan.asp]. Accessed 31 July 2012</ref>

 

Daza in the meantime decided to attack Licinius. Leaving Syria with 70,000 men, he reached [[Bithynia]], although the harsh weather he encountered along the way had gravely weakened his army. In April 313, he crossed the [[Bosporus]] and went to [[Byzantium]], which was held by Licinius' troops. Undeterred, he took the town after an eleven-day siege. He moved to Heraclea, which he captured after a short siege, before moving his forces to the first posting station. With a much smaller body of men, possibly around 30,000,<ref>Kohn, George Childs, ''Dictionary Of Wars, Revised Edition'', p. 398.</ref> Licinius arrived at [[Adrianople]] while Daza was still besieging [[Heraclea Sintica|Heraclea]]. Before the decisive engagement, Licinius allegedly had a vision in which an angel recited him a generic prayer that could be adopted by all cults which Licinius then repeated to his soldiers.<ref>Carrié & Rousselle, ''L'Empire Romain en Mutation'', p. 229</ref> On 30 April 313, the two armies clashed at the [[Battle of Tzirallum]], and in the ensuing battle Daza's forces were crushed. Ridding himself of the imperial purple and dressing like a slave, Daza fled to [[Nicomedia]].<ref name=Gibbon /> Believing he still had a chance to come out victorious, Daza attempted to stop the advance of Licinius at the [[Cilician Gates]] by establishing fortifications there. Unfortunately for Daza, Licinius' army succeeded in breaking through, forcing Daza to retreat to [[Tarsus in Cilicia|Tarsus]], where Licinius continued to press him on land and sea. The war between them ended only with Daza's death in August 313.<ref name=DiMaio />

 

==Character and legacy==

[[File:Nis Plate BM.JPG|thumb|left|One of a hoard of five or six identical silver plates celebrating Licinius's 10th anniversary as Emperor, discovered in [[Niš]], Serbia and now in the [[British Museum]] in London<ref>[https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1969-0904-1 British Museum Collection]</ref>]]

 

 

Finally, on Licinius's death, his memory was branded with infamy; his statues were thrown down; and by edict, all his laws and judicial proceedings during his reign were abolished.<ref name=Gibbon /> Such official erasure from the public record has come to be called ''[[damnatio memoriae]]''.