In viaggio verso Nicea: Costantino tra pagani, donatisti e ariani

The contribution considers the main politic-religious events that marked Constantine’s path from his acclamation as Augustus to the Council of Nicaea. Attention is also paid to the way in which the emperor attempted to resolve the Donatist schism with two synods, which anticipated that of Nicaea. The picture confirms his great ability to win the adhesion of both Christians and pagans through special fiscal privileges – from which Donatists and Arians were excluded – and an extensive programme of sacred buildings (churches but also temples for the imperial cult). Some thought is also given to the imperial attempts to settle the Christological controversy, which had flared up in Alexandria and already spread throughout the East, by means of epistolary interven- tions, invoking the need to maintain religious unity because the peace and prosperity of the empire depended on it. For this phase prior to the organisation of the council, however, the Eusebian account seems somewhat suspect.