Il battesimo di Costantino il Grande
Book Description
This scholarly exploration delves into one of Christianity's most enduring historical mysteries: the baptism of Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor who ruled from 306 to 337 CE. While Western historical tradition maintains that Constantine was baptized by Sylvester, Bishop of Rome, this account has been revealed as a documented fabrication.
Marilena Amerise guides readers through the complex web of motivations behind why Constantine's baptism became such a challenging legacy to manage throughout history. The book examines how this pivotal moment in Christian history proved so problematic in its transmission across centuries and cultures.
Through careful analysis of various versions of the emperor's baptism story, beginning with the account by Eusebius of Caesarea, Amerise reveals how historiography has idealized, corrected, silenced, ignored, and replaced the true circumstances surrounding this momentous event. The investigation traces how Eastern and Western traditions, which had developed different mythologies around Constantine, eventually united around the apocryphal story of Sylvester's baptism.
This work offers readers a fascinating journey into understanding how historical events become transformed according to the doctrinal needs of different eras. It demonstrates the remarkable process by which historical falsehoods can gradually evolve into accepted history, providing valuable insights into the intersection of faith, politics, and historical narrative construction.
Who Is This For?
📖 Reading Level: Short (< 200 pages) (~5 hours)
📄 Length: 177 pages
What You'll Discover
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- ✓ Explore Church history, primitive and early church, ca. 30-600
- ✓ Explore Greek Epic poetry
- ✓ Explore War in literature
- ✓ Explore Conversion in literature
- ✓ Explore Rome, history, empire, 30 b.c.-476 a.d.
- ✓ Explore Trojan War