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Battle of Chrysopolis
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The Battle of Chrysopolis was fought on 18 September 324 in Chrysopolis (Üsküdar), near Chalcedon (Kadiköy), between the two Roman emperors Constantine I and Licinius. The battle was the final encounter between the two emperors. After his navy's defeat in the Battle of the Hellespont, Licinius withdrew his army from the city of Byzantium across the Bosporus to Chrysopolis in Bithynia. Constantine followed him, and won the subsequent battle, which left Constantine the sole emperor, ending the period of the Tetrarchy.
he Battle of the Hellespont Licinius' navy had suffered a catastrophic defeat.
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The Battle of Chrysopolis was fought on 18 September 324 in Chrysopolis (Üsküdar), near Chalcedon (Kadiköy), between the two Roman emperors Constantine I and Licinius. The battle was the final encounter between the two emperors. After his navy's defeat in the Battle of the Hellespont, Licinius withdrew his army from the city of Byzantium across the Bosporus to Chrysopolis in Bithynia. Constantine followed him, and won the subsequent battle, which left Constantine the sole emperor, ending the period of the Tetrarchy.
Background
In the Battle of the Hellespont Licinius' navy had suffered a catastrophic defeat. His admiral, Abantus, had been outfought by Constantine's son the caesar Crispus, despite the latter's distinctly smaller fleet. Following this naval victory, Constantine crossed over to Asia Minor. He used a flotilla of light transports in order to avoid the enemy army, which, under the command of Licinius' newly appointed co-emperor Martinian, was guarding the coast at Lampsacus. Following the destruction of his naval forces Licinius evacuated his garrison from Byzantium which joined his main army in Chalcedon on the Asiatic shore of the Bosporus. From there he also summoned Martinian's forces and a band of Visigothic auxiliaries, under their leader Aliquaca (or Alica), to reinforce his main army which had been depleted by its earlier defeat at the Battle of Adrianople.
Battle
Constantine's army landed on the Asiatic shore of the Bosphoros at a place called the Sacred Promontory and marched southward towards Chalcedon. Licinius moved his army a few miles north towards Chysopolis. Constantine's army reached the environs of Chrysopolis before the forces of Licinius. Following a retreat to his tent to seek divine guidance, Constantine decided to take the initiative. The religious aspect of the conflict was reflected in Licinius drawing up his battle lines with images of the pagan gods of Rome prominently displayed, whilst Constantine's army fought under his talismanic Christian standard, the labarum. Licinius had developed a superstitious dread of the labarum and forbade his troops from attacking it, or even looking directly at it. Constantine seemingly eschewed any subtlety of manoeuvre, he launched a single massive frontal assault on Licinius' troops and routed them. He won a decisive victory in what was a very large-scale battle. According to the historian Zosimus, there was great slaughter at Chrysopolis. Licinius was reported to have lost 25,000 to 30,000 dead, with thousands more breaking and running in flight. Licinius managed to escape and gathered around 30,000 of his surviving troops at the city of Nicomedia.
Aftermath
Licinius, recognising that his surviving forces in Nicomedia could not stand against Contantine's victorious army, was persuaded to throw himself on the mercy of his enemy. Constantia, Constantine's half-sister and Licinius' wife, acted as intermediary. Initially, yielding to the pleas of his sister, Constantine spared the life of his brother-in-law, but some months later he ordered his execution, thereby breaking his solemn oath. A year later, Constantine's nephew the younger Licinius also fell victim to the emperor's anger or suspicions. In defeating his last foe, Licinius, Constantine became the sole emperor of the Roman empire; the first since the elevation of Maximian to the status of augustus by Diocletian in April 286. Subsequent to his conquest of the eastern portion of the Roman Empire Constantine made the momentous decision to give the east its own capital, and the empire as a whole its second. He chose the city of Byzantium renamed Constantinopolis as the site of this new foundation.
Footnotes
See also
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