The reign of the emperor Constantine (306–337) was as revolutionaryfor the transformation of Rome’s Mediterranean empire as thatof Augustus, the first emperor three centuries earlier. The abandonmentof Rome signaled the increasing importance of frontier zones innorthern and central Europe and the Middle East. The foundation ofConstantinople as a new imperial residence and the rise of Greek asthe language of administration previewed the establishment of a separateeastern Roman empire. Constantine’s patronage of Christianityrequired both a new theology of the Christian Trinity and a new politicalimage of a Christian emperor. Raymond Van Dam explores andinterprets each of these events. His book complements accounts of therole of Christianity by highlighting ideological and cultural aspects ofthe transition to a post-Roman world.