The Conversion of Constantine

Constantine the Great (285-337) was the Roman Emperor from 307 to 337. In these thirty years as Emperor of the Roman Empire he made two important decisions whose repercussions are still felt today. One was his conversion to Christianity, becoming the first Roman Emperor to do so, and making Catholicism the official religion of the Roman Empire. The second great decision was the move of the capital from Rome to Constantinople.

This thesis analyzes the first of Constantine’s two great decisions: his conversion to Christianity. It finds that Constantine’s conversion took place gradually, and was a matter of conscience, not calculation. The religious experience that Constantine had at the onset of the battle at Milvian Bridge in 312 is likely to have started a process that led to his conversion to Christianity during his lifetime, and culminated with the Christian baptism on his deathbed.