Constantine I, also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor who ruled from 306 to 337 AD. During his reign, he reformed many aspects including the structure of the government in which he separated the civil and military powers. Constantine improved inflation with the creation of a new gold coin named Solidus and was successful with the Roman frontiers. He was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity allowing the religion, along with other cults, to be legalised in Rome. His mother, Helena, is credited with his conversion and was later canonised as a Saint.
Constantine I founded the city of Constantinople in 324 AD, building on the Greek city of Byzantium, to serve the new capital of the Roman empire, or the ‘Nova Roma,’ the ‘New Rome,’ as it was initially called. Byzantium, a former Greek colony, was an ideal new capital, having been developed by by Septimius Severus and Caracalla in the century before. Dedicated in 330 AD, it gained its new name of Constantinopolis, ‘Constantine’s City,’ with the emperor issuing special commemorative coins, such as the folles in this selection, to celebrate this event. Constantinople remained the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, or the Byzantine Empire, even after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It was celebrated as the cradle of Orthodox Christianity, and as a centre of learning, culture, and prosperity for the whole of the Latin-speaking and Christian Eastern Roman Empire. The old gods were either replaced or assimilated into a Christian framework, with a new Church of the Holy Apostles built on the former Temple of Aphrodite. From the mid-5th century to the early 13th century, Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe, famed for its architectural wonders such as the Hagia Sophia, the Imperial Palace, the Hippodrome, and many more.