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blueinkedfrostThe most fascinating material in this book, I thought, was Stephenson's pages on the undeniably dramatic side story of Constantine's wife Fausta and her stepson Crispus - who may have fallen in love with each other, or intrigued together to overthrow Constantine, or intrigued against each other, or something else entirely - and were killed for it. That particular historical episode is extremely difficult to make uninteresting, and the overview of theories behind the causes of death seemed fairly and lucidly explained. There's also a convincing impression of the scuttlebutt and rumour trails and coverups of that time - human phenomena not limited to Constantine's era.
Fausta was married to Constantine as a child bride for political reasons. Crispus was her stepson of approximately the same age. Three years after her marriage, Fausta had a possibly dramatic episode of saving Constantine's life; Stephenson quotes a primary source excerpt that makes a good tale of it. Fausta learnt of her father Maximian's plot to murder Constantine at night in her bedroom, and warned her husband. She pretended to obey her father by removing her guards, but in fact the person inside her room was a disposable eunuch. After Maximian killed the eunuch and ran out boasting of killing Constantine, Constantine revealed himself with a lot of armed men. Soon afterward, Maximian died of suicide or extremely assisted suicide.
Fausta and Crispus spent a good deal of time together. Crispus was executed by his father, even though previously he and Constantine had a close relationship. Fausta was murdered shortly afterward by suffocation in a hot bath; Stephenson finds it convincing that this can be linked to abortion methods of the time. Their memory was damned, their history erased from official documents and monuments, and the details escaped the ages.
But to me the murder and damnatio memorae within the family was the most interesting part, and much of the interest is created by the quoted sources chosen by the author. I don't think Stephenson is one of those historical writers with a knack for selecting the intriguing, telling details that grab attention. He has an irritating habit of never giving quite *enough* information for an ordinary reader to become interested in a particular subject, whether that's Eusebius' hagiographical contemporary writings or the Arian controversy or the many military campaigns of the era. (I now want to read more about Eusebius the writer and all of his unashamed biases!) Besides the narrative and clear explanation of different theories related to the deaths of Fausta and Crispus, another aspect I found worth praising in this book was the application of modern sociology on the spread of cults and sects to the religious development that formed a key aspect of Constantine's history.
Generally, the book is a well-sourced overview that would be useful to students looking for this kind of resource.
The reason why I picked up this book was Dorothy Sayers' play, which uses the myths of Constantine's mother Helena as the daughter of Old King Cole of Colchester and gives splendid complexity and weight to the theological disputes of the time. As a work of art, that play is marvellous. The play doesn't create a particularly interesting take on Fausta and Crispus - Helena is the real centre of the story - but certainly a dramatic one.
Fausta was married to Constantine as a child bride for political reasons. Crispus was her stepson of approximately the same age. Three years after her marriage, Fausta had a possibly dramatic episode of saving Constantine's life; Stephenson quotes a primary source excerpt that makes a good tale of it. Fausta learnt of her father Maximian's plot to murder Constantine at night in her bedroom, and warned her husband. She pretended to obey her father by removing her guards, but in fact the person inside her room was a disposable eunuch. After Maximian killed the eunuch and ran out boasting of killing Constantine, Constantine revealed himself with a lot of armed men. Soon afterward, Maximian died of suicide or extremely assisted suicide.
Fausta and Crispus spent a good deal of time together. Crispus was executed by his father, even though previously he and Constantine had a close relationship. Fausta was murdered shortly afterward by suffocation in a hot bath; Stephenson finds it convincing that this can be linked to abortion methods of the time. Their memory was damned, their history erased from official documents and monuments, and the details escaped the ages.
But to me the murder and damnatio memorae within the family was the most interesting part, and much of the interest is created by the quoted sources chosen by the author. I don't think Stephenson is one of those historical writers with a knack for selecting the intriguing, telling details that grab attention. He has an irritating habit of never giving quite *enough* information for an ordinary reader to become interested in a particular subject, whether that's Eusebius' hagiographical contemporary writings or the Arian controversy or the many military campaigns of the era. (I now want to read more about Eusebius the writer and all of his unashamed biases!) Besides the narrative and clear explanation of different theories related to the deaths of Fausta and Crispus, another aspect I found worth praising in this book was the application of modern sociology on the spread of cults and sects to the religious development that formed a key aspect of Constantine's history.
Generally, the book is a well-sourced overview that would be useful to students looking for this kind of resource.
The reason why I picked up this book was Dorothy Sayers' play, which uses the myths of Constantine's mother Helena as the daughter of Old King Cole of Colchester and gives splendid complexity and weight to the theological disputes of the time. As a work of art, that play is marvellous. The play doesn't create a particularly interesting take on Fausta and Crispus - Helena is the real centre of the story - but certainly a dramatic one.
