THREE CITIES OF CONSTANTINE

Abstract

Nis (Naissus), Nicomedia (Nicomedeia) and Byzantium (Byzantium) or the later Constantinople (Constantinoupolis) are connected not so much by centuries of Roman rule over them, by the fact that they were independent important urban centers in the Empire, but, as we can assume, on the basis of narrative and documentary sources, at the same time, had a special place in the life of one of the most important figures and rulers of the Roman Empire, the emperor who put the new religion, Christianity, on the same level with other religions in the Empire, Emperor Constantine (306-337). At important moments in his life, the emperor always returned to these cities. With this work, we tried to contribute to the study of the cities of the Roman provinces during the reign of Emperor Constantine. In his time, the Roman Empire was faced with various trials, however, Emperor Constantine remained attached to Nis, Nicomedia and Constantinople, thereby confirming that both emperors and ordinary people are attached to certain places as the cornerstones of their existencе.