103

the same public bath. He also built the Hippodrome and many other things; and when he had completed everything, he held hippodrome games, being seen there for the first time and wearing then for the first time on his own head a diadem of pearls and precious stones, wishing to fulfill the prophetic voice which says, “You have set on his head a crown of precious stone.” For none of the emperors before him had ever worn such a thing. And he celebrated a great festival on the 11th of the month of Maios, also called Artemision, in the 378th year according to the era of Antioch the Great, ordering by his sacred decree that on the same day the festival of his city's birthday be celebrated, and that on the same 11th of the month of Maios the public bath of Zeuxippos, which is near the Hippodrome and the Regia and the palace, be opened, having made for himself another gilded statue, holding in its right hand the Tyche of the same city, which was also gilded, which he called Anthousa, ordering that on the same day of the birthday hippodrome games the same statue should enter, escorted by soldiers in cloaks and military boots, all holding candles, and that the procession should go around the upper turning-post and come to the starting-line opposite the imperial box, and that the reigning emperor should rise and do obeisance, as he beholds the same statue of Constantine and of the Tyche of the city. And this custom has been preserved until the present day. And the most divine Constantine, at the conclusion of his consulship, threw as a gift to the Byzantines in Constantinople tallies for daily loaves of bread in perpetuity, which loaves he called palatine because the same loaves were distributed as rations in the palace, having assigned for each loaf wine, meat, and clo 323 thing, having set aside revenue for them from his own resources and calling them civic. The same Constantine continued to reign in Constantinople, having detached it from the province of Europe, from Heracleia its metropolis, giving it by the will of God the right of an imperial city, appointing in it a praetorian prefect and a city prefect and the other great magistrates, having made them all Christians. And from that time it has remained a prosperous reigning city. The same emperor Constantine also made Phrygia Salutaris a province. And during his reign the synod of the 318 bishops took place against Arius concerning the faith of the Christians. And at this synod was also present the most holy bishop Eusebius Pamphili, the chronographer. And during the reign of the same Constantine, Maximianopolis of Osrhoene suffered from a divine wrath, its second disaster after being taken by the Persians. And the same emperor Constantine rebuilt it and its walls; for they had fallen; and he granted many things to the survivors; and he renamed it after his own name, Constantina. He also founded in Bithynia the formerly existing village called Sougan, giving it the right of a city and calling it after the name of his own mother, Helenopolis. And after the name of his mother he also named a province, Helenopontus. 324 And at that same time the same emperor Constantine ordered the three temples in Constantinople on the formerly called acropolis, of Helios and of Artemis Selene and of Aphrodite, to remain henceforth unused for business. After a short time the same emperor Constantine died in Nicomedia of Bithynia, as is in the processional records, in a certain suburb called Achyron a short distance from the city, having been ill for six days, before the completion of the building in Antioch the Great in Syria of the great church, which is the greatest and one of the

103

τὸ αὐτὸ δημόσιον. ἔκτισε δὲ καὶ τὸ Ἱππικὸν καὶ ἄλλα πολλά· καὶ ὅτε πάντα ἐπλήρωσεν, ἐπετέλεσεν ἱππικόν, ἐν πρώτοις θεωρήσας ἐκεῖ καὶ φορέσας τότε ἐν πρώτοις ἐν τῇ ἰδίᾳ αὐτοῦ κορυφῇ διάδημα διὰ μαργαριτῶν καὶ λίθων τιμίων, βουλόμενος πληρῶσαι τὴν προφητικὴν φωνὴν τὴν λέγουσαν» ἔθηκας ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ στέφανον ἐκ λίθου τιμίου.» οὐδεὶς γὰρ τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ βασιλευσάντων τοιοῦτόν τί ποτε ἐφόρεσε. καὶ ἐπετέλεσεν ἑορτὴν μεγάλην μηνὶ μαΐῳ τῷ καὶ 322 ἀρτεμισίῳ ιαʹ, ἔτους κατὰ Ἀντιόχειαν τὴν μεγάλην χρηματίζοντος τοηʹ, κελεύσας διὰ θείου αὐτοῦ τύπου τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐπιτελεῖσθαι τὴν ἑορτὴν τοῦ γενεθλίου τῆς πόλεως αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀνοίγειν τῇ αὐτῇ ιαʹ τοῦ μαΐου μηνὸς τὸ δημόσιον λουτρὸν τὸ Ζεύξιππον, πλησίον ὂν τοῦ Ἱππικοῦ καὶ τῆς Ῥηγίας καὶ τοῦ παλατίου, ποιήσας ἑαυτῷ ἄλλην στήλην ξοάνου κεχρυσωμένην, βαστάζουσαν τῇ δεξιᾷ αὐτοῦ χειρὶ τὴν τύχην τῆς αὐτῆς πόλεως καὶ αὐτὴν κεχρυσωμένην, ἣν ἐκάλεσεν Ἄνθουσαν, κελεύσας κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ἡμέραν τοῦ γενεθλιακοῦ ἱππικοῦ εἰσιέναι τὴν αὐτὴν τοῦ ξοάνου στήλην διριγευομένην ὑπὸ τῶν στρατιωτῶν μετὰ χλαμύδων καὶ καμπαγίων, πάντων κατεχόντων κηρούς, καὶ περιέρχεσθαι τὸ σχῆμα τὸν ἄνω καμπτὸν καὶ ἔρχεσθαι εἰς τὸ σκάμμα κατέναντι τοῦ βασιλικοῦ καθίσματος, καὶ ἐγείρεσθαι τὸν κατὰ καιρὸν βασιλέα καὶ προσκυνεῖν, ὡς θεωρεῖ τὴν αὐτὴν στήλην Κωνσταντίνου καὶ τῆς τύχης τῆς πόλεως. καὶ πεφύλακται τοῦτο τὸ ἔθος ἕως τοῦ νῦν. Ὁ δὲ θειότατος Κωνσταντῖνος ἐν τῇ συμπληρώσει τῆς αὐτοῦ ὑπατείας ἔῤῥιψεν ἐν Κωνσταντινουπόλει χάρισμα τοῖς Βυζαντίοις καλάμων συντόμια ἄρτων ἡμερησίων διαιωνιζόντων, οὕστινας ἄρτους ἐκάλεσε παλατίνους διὰ τὸ ἐν τῷ παλατίῳ ῥογεύεσθαι τοὺς αὐτοὺς ἄρτους, ἑκάστου ἄρτου ἀφορίσας οἶνον, κρέα καὶ βέ 323 στια, ἀφορίσας πρόσοδον ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων καὶ καλέσας αὐτοὺς πολιτικούς. Ὁ δὲ αὐτὸς Κωνσταντῖνος ἔμεινε βασιλεύων ἐν Κωνσταντινουπόλει, ἀφελόμενος αὐτὴν ἀπὸ τῆς Εὐρώπης ἐπαρχίας ἀπὸ Ἡρακλείας τῆς μητροπόλεως αὐτῆς, δοὺς αὐτῇ ἀπὸ θεοῦ δίκαιον βασιλείας, προβαλόμενος ἐν αὐτῇ ἔπαρχον πραιτωρίων καὶ ἔπαρχον πόλεως καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς μεγάλους ἄρχοντας, χριστιανοὺς πάντας ποιήσας. καὶ ἔμεινεν ἐξ ἐκείνου εὐτυχῶς βασιλεύουσα. Ὁ δὲ αὐτὸς Κωνσταντῖνος βασιλεὺς καὶ τὴν Φρυγίαν Σαλουταρίαν ἐποίησεν ἐπαρχίαν. ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς αὐτοῦ βασιλείας ἡ σύνοδος ἐγένετο τῶν τιηʹ ἐπισκόπων κατὰ Ἀρείου περὶ τῆς πίστεως τῶν χριστιανῶν. ἐν αὐτῇ δὲ τῇ συνόδῳ ὑπῆρχε καὶ ὁ ὁσιώτατος ἐπίσκοπος Εὐσέβιος ὁ Παμφίλου ὁ χρονογράφος. Ἔπαθε δὲ ἐπὶ τῆς βασιλείας τοῦ αὐτοῦ Κωνσταντίνου ὑπὸ θεομηνίας Μαξιμιανούπολις τῆς Ὀσδροηνῆς τὸ δεύτερον αὐτῆς πάθος τὸ μετὰ τὸ ληφθῆναι ὑπὸ τῶν Περσῶν. καὶ ἀνήγειρεν αὐτὴν ὁ αὐτὸς βασιλεὺς Κωνσταντῖνος καὶ τὰ τείχη αὐτῆς· ἦσαν γὰρ πεσόντα· καὶ τοῖς περισωθεῖσι πολλὰ ἐχαρίσατο· καὶ μετεκάλεσεν αὐτὴν εἰς τὸ ἴδιον ὄνομα Κωνσταντῖναν. ἔκτισε δὲ καὶ εἰς τὴν Βιθυνίαν τὴν πρῴην οὖσαν κώμην λεγομένην Σουγάν, δοὺς αὐτῇ καὶ δίκαιον πόλεως καὶ καλέσας αὐτὴν εἰς ὄνομα τῆς ἰδίας αὐτοῦ μητρὸς Ἑλενούπολιν. καὶ εἰς ὄνομα δὲ τῆς αὐτοῦ μητρὸς ἐκάλεσε καὶ ἐπαρχίαν Ἑλενούποντον. 324 Καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ χρόνῳ ὁ αὐτὸς βασιλεὺς Κωνσταντῖνος τοὺς ὄντας ἐν Κωνσταντινουπόλει τρεῖς ναοὺς ἐν τῇ πρῴην λεγομένῃ ἀκροπόλει τοῦ Ἡλίου καὶ τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος σελήνης καὶ τῆς Ἀφροδίτης ἐκέλευσεν ἀχρηματίστους τοῦ λοιποῦ διαμεῖναι. Μετὰ δὲ ὀλίγον καιρὸν ἐτελεύτησεν ὁ αὐτὸς βασιλεὺς Κωνσταντῖνος ἐν Νικομηδείᾳ τῆς Βιθυνίας, ὡς ἔστιν ἐν προκέσσῳ, ἐν προαστείῳ τινὶ λεγομένῳ Ἀχυρῶνι πρὸ ὀλίγου διαστήματος τῆς πόλεως, ἀῤῥωστήσας ἡμέρας ἕξ, πρὸ τοῦ πληρωθῆναι τὸ κτίσμα ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ τῇ μεγάλῃ τῆς Συρίας τὸ τῆς μεγάλης ἐκκλησίας τὸ μέγιστον καὶ ἓν ὂν τῶν