(calendrically coincidental) 25 July
2003.07.24 15:22
...compiling more specific late antiquity events that coincide on 25 July. Here's an outline:
25 July 306: Constantius I dies at Eburacum (York), with his son Constantine at his side. Constantine is subsequently hailed Caesar by the troops.
25 July 315: Constantine's Decenalia (tenth anniversary as emperor--note Romans counted 25 July 306 as Constantine's year one; they didn't count with a zero) at Rome. The Arch of Constantine is dedicated. Constantine is at Rome 21 July to 27 September [close to dates of reenactment season].
25 July 325: Constantine's Vicennalia at Nicomedia, coinciding with the end of the 1st Nicean Council; the Nicene Creed is published. I really like how Eusebius describes this occasion within "How Constantine entertained the Bishops on the occasion of his Vicennalia," chapter XV of Vita Constantini Book III--I sense a pleasing hint of punch drunkenness, as in "talk about (finally!) being at an a-list party."
25 July 326: The closing ceremonies of Constantine's 20th jubilee at Rome. Not a very happy occasion because Constantine had (to have) his first born son Crispus Caesar killed a few months earlier. Helena('s boat) was late getting (her) to Italy; she was bringing a piece of the Cross with her. Helena died (at Naples?) or was buried (at Rome) 28 July--if Helena was buried 28 July, then perhaps she died 25 July, coinciding not only Constantine's anniversary, but also dying on the same day as her husband, Constantius. Perhaps it is just a bit too coincidental for both of Constantine's parents to have died on 25 July. Making matters worse, the death (via probable suicide) of Fausta, Constantine's second wife (but not the mother of Crispus), may well also have occurred at Rome 25 July. Constantine was at Rome 18 July to 3 August; Constantine never again returned to Rome.
Sometime before 3 August 326: A law of silence regarding Helena and her finding of the True Cross is instituted and strictly enforced.
After this, the two surviving senior imperials (at least in this author's estimation) were Constantine and Eutropia (Constantine's mother-in-law). Eutropia may well henceforth be responsible for organizing and supervising the conversion of Helena's private chapel at the Sessorian Palace into what is today Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. From there, Eutropia may well have traveled to Trier to oversee the destruction of the Imperial Palace (last of Crispus Caesar) there making way for the subsequent construction of Trier's enormous double basilica. And, thereafter, Eutropia returned to the Holy Land, where she, reenacting Helena, initiated the construction of the first Christian basilica at Hebron.
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