[dramatic music]
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- [Narrator] The
world forever changed,
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his legacy an empire
reaching across centuries,
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His name, Constantine,
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Shadow Empire.
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[dramatic music continues]
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[dramatic music continues]
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- The life of Constantine is
something of a miracle story.
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He was born to a
peasant girl out of wedlock,
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and for the first
nine years of his life,
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nobody knew that his real father
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was the governor of Dalmatia.
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That was a position
usually assigned to people
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of great influence.
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Not only did
Constantine eventually
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come to know his real father
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because of an
altercation with some guests
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at the stables at
his grandfather's inn,
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he actually ended
up living in the palace
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of the Roman Emperor himself.
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For 11 years,
Constantine worked directly
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for the Emperor Diocletian,
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and he witnessed all
kinds of big events firsthand.
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For example, he
watched the emperor
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successfully squash a
rebellion in North Africa,
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and he was there when
the official persecution
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against Christians
began in the year 303.
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It was a time when there
were actually four rulers
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in the Roman Empire.
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Diocletian was eager to
keep his massive empire stable,
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and he achieved that
by creating what is called
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a Tetrarchy, or
rule by four people.
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There were two
rulers in the East
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and two rulers in the West.
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On each side of the
empire you had a senior emperor,
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they called him the Augustus,
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and a junior emperor under
him who was known as the Caesar.
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In the East, you had
Diocletian as the Augustus
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and Galerius as his Caesar.
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And if you
remember, Galerius was the guy
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who really hated Christians.
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In the West, you had
Maximian as the Augustus
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and Flavius
Constantius as the Caesar,
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and of course, Constantius
was Constantine's father.
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Shortly after the Great
10 Year Persecution began,
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Diocletian did something no
other emperor had ever done,
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he decided he
was too old to rule.
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So for the good of the
empire, he would retire.
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He contacted
Maximian in the West
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and suggested that both
of them should step aside
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and promote their second in
command to the top position.
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Of course, this
meant that Diocletian
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could abdicate the throne
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while he was still
at the top of his game,
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something you see a lot
of today in the 21st century,
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but back in the fourth century
in Rome, that never happened.
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So in September of 303,
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everybody went
to the city of Rome.
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Now remember, Rome
hasn't really been the capital
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of the empire in a long time,
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but 303 is the 20th anniversary
of Diocletian's reign.
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It had been 20 years since
he took the empire by force,
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and the Eternal City
seemed like the ideal place
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to hand the reins of
power to the two Caesars.
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So in October, everybody
arrived right here in the city.
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Thousands of people
poured into the streets
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to see the four
rulers of the empire,
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something nobody had ever seen.
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And it was here in
Rome that Constantine
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met his father again for
the first time in 10 years.
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And the reunion
happens just in time,
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because 33 months
later, Constantius was dying,
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and on his deathbed,
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he asked his legions to
promote his son Constantine
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to become one of
the four Tetrarchs.
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[cheerful music]
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The festivities in Rome
began to spiral out of control.
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What started as the
20 year anniversary party
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for Diocletian,
and a retirement party,
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quickly became a long string
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of drunken
parties and wild orgies.
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And it got so out
of hand that Diocletian
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became disgusted
with what he saw,
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and he picked up and left town.
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He went north
of here to Ravenna,
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a city that
would eventually become
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the capital of the
Western Roman Empire,
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about a hundred years later.
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And up there in Ravenna during
a cold and miserable winter,
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Diocletian got really sick.
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Galerius went and visited him,
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the man who
started all the trouble
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against the Christian Church.
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"Sir," he says to Diocletian,
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"the Christians are busy
making trouble for us again."
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Now, we don't
know that that's true,
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but don't forget, Galerius
really hated the Christians
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because they
wouldn't participate
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in his mother's pagan rituals.
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[upbeat music]
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Galerius makes a suggestion.
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The restrictions
they put on Christianity,
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he said, weren't enough.
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The religion should be outlawed,
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the same way the
Manicheans in Egypt
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had been outlawed
a few years earlier.
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So in April of 304,
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Diocletian agrees and the
persecution gets even worse.
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Now it's a capital
offense just to be a Christian,
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and the bloodshed ramps
up to a much higher level.
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Now honestly, if
Diocletian had been
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a good student of history,
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he should have
known what would happen.
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In the 12th chapter of
the book of Revelation,
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the Bible speaks about
Christians who resist the dragon
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and do not love
their lives unto the death.
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The century
since Jesus had proven
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that biblical Christianity
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actually thrives
under persecution.
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People whose God had sacrificed
his own life on a cross
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didn't consider
death to be punishment.
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They weren't afraid.
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They considered dying
for Christ a privilege.
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[dramatic music]
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Now, here's what's
really interesting.
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The persecution was much worse
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in the eastern
part of the empire
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where Galerius was
rising to the position
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of Senior Emperor.
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In the West, it
wasn't quite so bad.
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In fact, some
historians estimate
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that the very best
place to be a Christian
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during those years
was Northern Europe,
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where my own
ancestors come from.
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Now, why was the persecution
lighter in northern Europe?
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Well, here's
something to consider.
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Constantius, now remember,
that's Constantine's father,
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he had a
daughter named Anastasia,
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which is a pretty
remarkable name for a pagan.
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Why, well, it's a Greek word.
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It comes from Anastasi, which
literally means resurrection.
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And it's a Christian name,
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a name that honors the
resurrection of Christ.
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Is it possible
there were Christians
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living right in the
house of Constantine?
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Well, the answer to that is yes.
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Remember, when Constantine's
father divorced Helena,
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Constantine
reacted with bitterness,
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but historians believe
that Helena found consolation
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in the Christian message,
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which has always
spoken powerfully
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to people whose lives
are full of disappointment.
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Helena probably became
a Christian very early on,
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and somebody convinced the
Caesar to name their daughter
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after the
resurrection of Christ.
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Now, that's all we really know.
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But what happens next
has me utterly convinced
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that Constantine was exposed
to Christianity very early on,
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and not just
because he was there
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for the Diocletian persecutions.
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He was exposed
through his own family,
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and I'm convinced he
started to become sympathetic
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very early on.
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[cheerful music]
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[cheerful music continues]
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But at this
point, things get messy.
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Diocletian and Maximian retired,
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they step aside, and Galerius
decides he's going to decide
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who the new
junior emperors will be.
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So he picks
Severus, a legion commander
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with a drinking problem,
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and his own
nephew, Daia Maximus,
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a kid who is
actually half barbarian,
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and Daia was bad
news for the Christians.
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Now, Diocletian
actually doesn't like
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either of these
two new appointees,
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but he figures, hey,
I've already retired,
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nobody's going to blame
me if the empire falls apart,
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so he does nothing about it.
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And by doing nothing,
he unwittingly creates
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a big problem in the West.
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You see Maximius, the now
retired Augustus of the West,
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the one that Diocletian
convinced to retire with him,
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he has a son, Maxentius,
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and Maxentius has just
been completely passed over
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for the position of Caesar.
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Of course, Constantine
has also been passed over,
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and Galerius must have realized
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the potential for hard feelings,
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because at this point he
actually forbids Constantine
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from leaving his palace.
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"You can't go home," he says,
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because he knows if
Constantine goes home
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and joins his father,
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and his father wants
Constantine to be Caesar,
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there's gonna be trouble.
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And of course sure
enough, Flavius Constantius
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asks for his son.
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Now what in the world
is Galerius going to do?
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He can't deny the
request of another Augustus.
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So he tells Constantine,
"Look, you can leave,
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"but not until tomorrow."
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What he planned to
do was figure out a way
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to have the boy arrested,
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but Constantine smelled a rat.
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That night after supper,
he snuck out of the palace
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and made a run for it,
and on his way westward,
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he cleverly killed
every horse at every post,
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making it
impossible to follow him.
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[soft clomping]
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[relaxing music]
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The next day at
noon, Galerius wakes up
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and he discovers Constantine's
gone, and then he discovers
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every horse along
Constantine's route is dead,
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and he's never
going to catch up.
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It reduces him to tears.
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Now, Constantine made his way
all the way to Western Europe
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where he joined his
father in a region called Gaul,
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or modern day
France, and together,
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father and son went to
war and defeated the Picts,
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a fierce pagan tribe
from the British Isles.
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Constantine was so
magnificent in battle
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that his men
wanted him as a king,
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and they honored the
request of his dying father.
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Constantine becomes
ruler by popular acclimation,
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"In the glory of our gods,
I accept this responsibility."
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- And they didn't
just make him Caesar,
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or second in command,
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they took his
father's purple cape,
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put it on Constantine's
shoulders, and called him
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Augustus. They
gave him the top job.
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He became his
father's replacement.
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[crowd cheering]
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Now you have
Galerius with Daia in the East
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and Constantine
with Severus in the West.
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[cheerful music]
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Of course, when Galerius
found out what happened,
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he was very unhappy.
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But what exactly
is he supposed to do?
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History tells us Constantine
actually sent him a gift,
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a bust of himself,
and in a fit of rage,
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Galerius smashed
it against the wall.
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He wants Constantine gone.
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But then Diocletian,
the old retired emperor
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comes up with a suggestion.
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"I don't think you
can fight this," he said,
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"so for the good of the empire,
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"just recognize
Constantine as a junior emperor.
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"Recognize him as Caesar."
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Now, that kind of made sense,
00:12:16.63\00:12:18.47
so that's exactly
what Galerius did.
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He sent an imperial
mantle to Constantine
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along with a friendly
letter congratulating him,
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not as Augustus,
but Caesar of the West.
00:12:25.97\00:12:30.01
And because
Constantine was a patient man
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willing to bide his time,
and because he was a smart man,
00:12:32.48\00:12:36.35
he accepted the
demotion graciously.
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Now the Tetrarchy is restored.
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You've got Galerius
and Daia in the East,
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Severus with
Constantine in the West.
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There's just one problem.
00:12:47.36\00:12:49.40
Do you remember Maxentius,
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the other son of a
retired Western emperor,
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the other guy
who got passed over?
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He's not happy.
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[upbeat music]
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But Maxentius was
kind of powerless.
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I mean, what
exactly was he going to do?
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Then, an opportunity
miraculously presents itself.
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For years, the city
of Rome had been exempt
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from paying taxes
because she was the Mother City,
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but Galerius
decides to tax the Romans,
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and of course, that
made everybody angry.
00:13:22.36\00:13:25.43
This was an opportunity
that Maxentius could not resist.
00:13:26.87\00:13:30.07
He knew that over the centuries,
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the Senate had been
stripped of its power.
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In the distant past,
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the Senate had
actually chosen emperors,
00:13:35.91\00:13:38.88
but now it was
usually the army who did that.
00:13:38.88\00:13:41.95
I mean, Diocletian came to power
00:13:41.95\00:13:43.55
by acclimation of his troops,
00:13:43.55\00:13:45.22
and the same thing
happened with Constantine.
00:13:45.22\00:13:48.16
Maxentius traveled here to
Rome and he told the Senate
00:13:49.56\00:13:52.89
here in this building
that they could have a revival,
00:13:52.89\00:13:56.70
he could make them powerful.
00:13:56.70\00:13:58.70
"Make me the emperor," he said,
00:13:58.70\00:14:00.50
"and I'll restore
Rome's former glory."
00:14:00.50\00:14:03.94
Of course, that was an offer
the Senate couldn't resist.
00:14:03.94\00:14:07.61
The only problem was that
Maxentius was really young
00:14:07.61\00:14:11.51
and inexperienced.
00:14:11.51\00:14:13.11
"Well, no problem,"
he said to the Senate.
00:14:13.11\00:14:14.62
"I'll just be an
assistant emperor then.
00:14:14.62\00:14:16.79
"You see, what you
don't know is that my dad
00:14:16.79\00:14:19.22
"is willing to
come out of retirement
00:14:19.22\00:14:21.62
"and he could be the
senior ruler in Rome.
00:14:21.62\00:14:24.29
"You make him the emperor
and I'll just be his assistant."
00:14:24.29\00:14:29.30
[relaxing music]
00:14:29.83\00:14:33.17
Well, the Senate jumped on it,
00:14:33.17\00:14:35.14
and after a series
of political maneuvers,
00:14:35.14\00:14:37.31
Maxentius became
the emperor in Rome.
00:14:37.31\00:14:40.98
Now, we don't have
time for the whole story,
00:14:40.98\00:14:42.64
there's a lot that happens
over the next few months,
00:14:42.64\00:14:45.55
but when the dust settled,
00:14:45.55\00:14:47.38
there were actually four
Augusti, four senior emperors.
00:14:47.38\00:14:52.22
And here in the city of Rome,
00:14:52.22\00:14:54.02
there was a
problem with Maxentius.
00:14:54.02\00:14:56.46
He was quickly
losing people's respect
00:14:56.46\00:14:58.29
because the
power went to his head,
00:14:58.29\00:15:01.23
and he began to fancy himself
the ruler of the whole world.
00:15:01.23\00:15:05.03
He began to
party and sleep around,
00:15:05.03\00:15:07.37
and he began selling favors
to some of his favorite men.
00:15:07.37\00:15:10.94
So Maxentius ended up
with lots of purchased friends,
00:15:10.94\00:15:15.11
but very few real ones.
00:15:15.11\00:15:17.28
Now, all this was
happening at a time
00:15:18.38\00:15:20.35
when there was suddenly
lots of Christian influence
00:15:20.35\00:15:22.72
in Constantine's house.
00:15:22.72\00:15:24.75
When Maximian, the
old Augustus finally died,
00:15:24.75\00:15:28.62
Constantine
buried him in a coffin,
00:15:28.62\00:15:31.03
which was a Christian custom,
00:15:31.03\00:15:33.56
and of course his mother
Helena was also a Christian,
00:15:33.56\00:15:37.10
and his stepmother had
also quietly become a Christian,
00:15:37.10\00:15:41.37
and she was keeping
a Christian minister
00:15:41.37\00:15:43.20
right on the premises.
00:15:43.20\00:15:45.17
And of course, there was also
00:15:45.17\00:15:46.84
Constantine's
stepsister Anastasia,
00:15:46.84\00:15:49.68
named in honor
of the resurrection.
00:15:49.68\00:15:52.51
There was lots of Christian
influence in Constantine's life,
00:15:52.51\00:15:56.35
but he's still a
pagan, a sun worshiper
00:15:56.35\00:15:59.02
who goes to give
sacrifices to Apollo
00:15:59.02\00:16:01.99
just before every
significant battle.
00:16:01.99\00:16:04.46
[dramatic music]
00:16:05.33\00:16:08.13
Now, I'm really
condensing the story
00:16:11.93\00:16:14.94
because I wanna
focus on what's important.
00:16:14.94\00:16:18.07
Maxentius has declared
himself Emperor of Rome,
00:16:18.07\00:16:21.61
and Constantine is determined
to do something about that.
00:16:21.61\00:16:25.51
He begins fighting his
way toward the Mother City,
00:16:25.51\00:16:29.28
and inside the city,
00:16:29.28\00:16:30.75
people are understandably
getting very nervous,
00:16:30.75\00:16:33.59
because Constantine is
not just a great leader,
00:16:33.59\00:16:36.42
he's also a great fighter.
00:16:36.42\00:16:38.99
He wasn't one to
sit on the sidelines
00:16:38.99\00:16:40.76
and watch his men fight,
00:16:40.76\00:16:42.06
he actually joined
them down on the field,
00:16:42.06\00:16:44.83
and that really
inspired his troops.
00:16:44.83\00:16:48.07
Constantine's men
were almost undefeatable.
00:16:48.07\00:16:51.81
[dramatic music]
00:16:51.81\00:16:54.64
Inside the city walls, people
were starting to get nervous.
00:16:56.85\00:17:01.08
They knew
Constantine was coming,
00:17:01.08\00:17:03.08
so to put their minds at
ease, Maxentius threw a party.
00:17:03.08\00:17:07.36
Now, that's the same
thing Nebuchadnezzar's son did
00:17:07.36\00:17:09.86
in Daniel chapter five.
00:17:09.86\00:17:11.86
When the
Babylonian king Belshazzar
00:17:11.86\00:17:13.70
knew the Persians were
coming to take Babylon,
00:17:13.70\00:17:16.70
he threw a massive feast
to put people's minds at ease,
00:17:16.70\00:17:20.30
because there
can't be real trouble
00:17:20.30\00:17:22.47
if the king feels
like having a party.
00:17:22.47\00:17:25.14
Maxentius probably should
have learned from that example.
00:17:25.14\00:17:28.58
On the 26th of October 312,
00:17:28.58\00:17:31.31
the festivities in
Rome were really gearing up.
00:17:31.31\00:17:34.98
Maxentius was celebrating
five years on his throne,
00:17:34.98\00:17:38.65
and he was determined to
make everybody understand
00:17:38.65\00:17:42.52
that he would never fall.
00:17:42.52\00:17:44.83
The citizens of Rome actually
began to feel a little better,
00:17:44.83\00:17:48.33
because if Maxentius
was willing to party,
00:17:48.33\00:17:51.87
he must be confident.
00:17:51.87\00:17:53.70
Maybe the city walls would
be enough to stop Constantine.
00:17:53.70\00:17:58.17
Now, that was something
Maxentius was actually counting
00:17:58.17\00:18:00.88
on, because he knew
that Constantine's men
00:18:00.88\00:18:04.05
would feel
hesitant to attack Rome.
00:18:04.05\00:18:05.98
It's the Mother City.
00:18:05.98\00:18:07.98
Roman armies had
attacked the city in the past,
00:18:07.98\00:18:10.72
and they'd lost their courage
00:18:10.72\00:18:12.15
because it felt like you
were attacking your own mother.
00:18:12.15\00:18:15.96
But if Maxentius had
to go outside the city
00:18:15.96\00:18:18.79
and face Constantine,
he would probably lose.
00:18:18.79\00:18:22.86
If he could stay inside,
he stood a much better chance.
00:18:22.86\00:18:26.90
[dramatic music]
00:18:29.30\00:18:32.11
That October, the
people inside the city
00:18:35.21\00:18:37.48
celebrated Maxentius' reign,
00:18:37.48\00:18:39.38
and they went to
the chariot races
00:18:39.38\00:18:41.05
in a place just like
this, the old Circus Maximus,
00:18:41.05\00:18:45.32
and right after
the first race ended,
00:18:46.42\00:18:48.79
a voice suddenly
shouts from the stands,
00:18:48.79\00:18:51.06
"Maxentius, are you
afraid to fight Constantine
00:18:51.06\00:18:54.23
"out in the open?"
00:18:54.23\00:18:55.40
We don't know who did that,
but he was probably a plant,
00:18:56.80\00:19:00.44
probably one of
Constantine's men
00:19:00.44\00:19:02.87
who had snuck into the games.
00:19:02.87\00:19:04.87
And if that's true, the
ploy was very effective.
00:19:04.87\00:19:08.68
A murmur quickly
spread all through the crowd,
00:19:08.68\00:19:11.78
and more and more
people started yelling,
00:19:11.78\00:19:14.62
"Maxentius, are you a coward?"
00:19:14.62\00:19:18.29
Eventually this
whole place was shouting.
00:19:18.29\00:19:21.89
You know, if Constantine
planned that, orchestrated it,
00:19:21.89\00:19:25.73
it was brilliant, because
he didn't really wanna fight
00:19:25.73\00:19:28.70
inside the city either.
00:19:28.70\00:19:31.03
[dramatic music]
00:19:31.03\00:19:33.87
Maxentius, of
course, was furious,
00:19:34.94\00:19:36.94
and he stormed out of the arena
00:19:36.94\00:19:38.54
and went over
here to see the Senate.
00:19:38.54\00:19:40.94
He asked them to
consult an ancient set of books
00:19:40.94\00:19:43.38
known as the Sibylline Books.
00:19:43.38\00:19:45.05
Now, that's not to be confused
with the Sibylline Oracles,
00:19:45.05\00:19:48.22
it's the Sibylline Books.
00:19:48.22\00:19:50.12
And he asked the Senate,
00:19:50.12\00:19:51.35
"Is there a prophecy in there?
00:19:51.35\00:19:52.95
"Is there something that will
indicate who's going to win?"
00:19:52.95\00:19:57.03
The next morning, the
Senate came back with an answer.
00:19:57.03\00:20:00.13
"Tomorrow, the enemy
of Rome will perish."
00:20:00.13\00:20:04.20
Maxentius, of
course, was delighted,
00:20:04.20\00:20:05.97
because he assumed the
enemy of Rome was Constantine.
00:20:05.97\00:20:09.94
But you'll notice,
if the enemy of Rome
00:20:09.94\00:20:12.21
is supposed to die tomorrow,
00:20:12.21\00:20:14.11
then there has to
be a battle tomorrow
00:20:14.11\00:20:16.11
[gently crashing waves]
00:20:17.11\00:20:20.68
[dramatic music]
00:20:20.68\00:20:22.38
Outside the city, on
this side of the Tiber,
00:20:22.38\00:20:25.29
someone gave
Constantine the bad news.
00:20:25.29\00:20:28.36
Maxentius had a prophecy, a
prophecy that said he would win.
00:20:28.36\00:20:33.29
Now, that made Constantine's
men really nervous.
00:20:33.29\00:20:36.26
I mean, here they were
about to attack the Mother City,
00:20:36.26\00:20:39.80
and the king on the
inside had a good omen.
00:20:39.80\00:20:42.67
He had a prophetic message.
00:20:42.67\00:20:45.44
Constantine saw his men's
spirits beginning to fall,
00:20:45.44\00:20:48.11
and he knew that
he needed an omen too,
00:20:48.11\00:20:50.78
and that's when one of
the most famous episodes
00:20:50.78\00:20:53.62
in world history
suddenly takes place.
00:20:53.62\00:20:56.72
[relaxing music]
00:20:59.69\00:21:02.39
Constantine said, "I had a
dream and I saw this symbol.
00:21:04.43\00:21:08.16
"All of you are going to
paint it on your shields,
00:21:09.53\00:21:11.77
"and that's how
we're going to win."
00:21:11.77\00:21:13.94
Even though it was a
well-known pagan symbol,
00:21:17.27\00:21:20.44
apparently
Constantine was already tying it
00:21:20.44\00:21:23.04
to the Christian
God of his mother.
00:21:23.04\00:21:25.08
It was just too good to pass up.
00:21:25.08\00:21:27.02
The first letters in
the word for good luck
00:21:27.02\00:21:29.85
also happened to
be the first letters
00:21:29.85\00:21:31.72
in the word for Christ.
00:21:31.72\00:21:33.36
All that
exposure to Christianity
00:21:33.36\00:21:35.76
was now coming to
bear on Constantine's army.
00:21:35.76\00:21:39.36
There's an old story that
the night before the battle,
00:21:43.33\00:21:45.77
Constantine had a vision.
00:21:45.77\00:21:47.37
He looked up and saw the
Cairo superimposed on the sun.
00:21:47.37\00:21:50.91
Some versions say he
actually saw the Christian cross
00:21:50.91\00:21:53.44
superimposed on the
sun, and he heard a voice,
00:21:53.44\00:21:56.24
a heavenly voice saying,
[speaking in foreign language],
00:21:56.24\00:21:58.35
"Go conquer in this sign."
00:21:59.85\00:22:01.92
In other words,
Jesus was telling him,
00:22:01.92\00:22:03.49
"Go take the city of Rome
under the sign of the cross."
00:22:03.49\00:22:07.02
It's a great story
and Christians love it,
00:22:07.02\00:22:08.66
there's just
one problem with it.
00:22:08.66\00:22:10.93
This arch was built to
commemorate his victory
00:22:10.93\00:22:13.19
shortly after it happened,
and it tells the whole story.
00:22:13.19\00:22:17.27
The problem is you can
search this from top to bottom
00:22:17.27\00:22:19.67
and there's no
mention of a Cairo,
00:22:19.67\00:22:21.14
there's no picture of
Jesus, there's no cross,
00:22:21.14\00:22:23.81
there's no
indication on here at all
00:22:23.81\00:22:26.07
that that ever happened.
00:22:26.07\00:22:27.34
The only possible reference
you can find to Christianity
00:22:32.65\00:22:35.75
anywhere on the arch
is this vague inscription
00:22:35.75\00:22:38.92
that gives credit to
the inspiration of divinity,
00:22:38.92\00:22:42.42
but that's it.
00:22:42.42\00:22:43.43
There is no cross.
00:22:43.43\00:22:45.19
If the story is true,
00:22:45.19\00:22:46.63
if Constantine really
had a vision from God,
00:22:46.63\00:22:50.17
well, you'd expect it to show up
00:22:50.17\00:22:51.40
in an official
telling of the story,
00:22:51.40\00:22:52.90
which is really
why the arch was built.
00:22:52.90\00:22:55.00
But it's not up here,
00:22:55.97\00:22:57.57
and that's because Constantine
00:22:57.57\00:22:58.94
probably made the
story up about 10 years later
00:22:58.94\00:23:01.91
when he was telling
it to a church historian
00:23:01.91\00:23:04.15
by the name of Eusebius.
00:23:04.15\00:23:06.38
You see, when Constantine
attacked the city of Rome,
00:23:06.38\00:23:08.08
it wasn't really
a Christian cross,
00:23:08.08\00:23:10.59
a Latin cross,
on his army shields.
00:23:10.59\00:23:13.52
It was just a
Cairo, a good luck charm
00:23:13.52\00:23:16.59
he said he saw in a dream.
00:23:16.59\00:23:18.56
[gently crashing waves]
00:23:19.73\00:23:21.83
Now, what happened
next is absolutely stunning.
00:23:21.83\00:23:25.50
On October 28th,
Constantine is camped
00:23:25.50\00:23:28.54
on the north side of the river,
00:23:28.54\00:23:30.31
and in the wee
hours of the morning,
00:23:30.31\00:23:31.71
one of Maxentius' generals
00:23:31.71\00:23:33.31
suddenly comes out and crosses
this bridge, Milvian Bridge,
00:23:33.31\00:23:38.01
and he launches a surprise
attack on Constantine's men.
00:23:38.01\00:23:41.82
The plan was he
would hit quickly
00:23:41.82\00:23:43.99
and then suddenly
retreat back to safety
00:23:43.99\00:23:46.52
on his side of the bridge.
00:23:46.52\00:23:48.19
So why the sudden retreat?
00:23:50.49\00:23:52.59
Well, it's because
Maxentius had rigged the bridge.
00:23:52.59\00:23:56.06
As soon as Constantine
followed him back over,
00:23:56.06\00:23:58.57
he would break it in
half, trapping Constantine's men
00:23:58.57\00:24:02.27
on the north bank of the river.
00:24:02.27\00:24:04.24
It would make
them sitting ducks.
00:24:04.24\00:24:06.21
They'd be out in the open,
00:24:06.21\00:24:07.81
and Roman archers would
shower them with arrows,
00:24:07.81\00:24:10.78
wiping them out.
00:24:10.78\00:24:12.71
It seemed like a
pretty good plan.
00:24:12.71\00:24:14.95
The only problem
was it backfired.
00:24:14.95\00:24:18.79
Constantine responded
to the surprise attack
00:24:18.79\00:24:20.92
much faster than
anybody could have anticipated,
00:24:20.92\00:24:24.23
so there was no time to retreat.
00:24:24.23\00:24:26.66
Instead, Constantine
caught up with Maxentius' men
00:24:26.66\00:24:30.10
right on the north shore
00:24:30.10\00:24:31.80
and started hitting
them with arrows instead.
00:24:31.80\00:24:34.80
- [Soldier] Move them back.
00:24:38.37\00:24:39.54
- Move the men forward.
00:24:39.54\00:24:41.88
[swords clanking]
00:24:41.88\00:24:45.41
- That's when the
panic really starts.
00:24:45.41\00:24:47.72
Maxentius realizes
he's now losing the battle,
00:24:47.72\00:24:50.72
and he orders his man back over
00:24:50.72\00:24:52.22
to the other side of the river.
00:24:52.22\00:24:53.59
They have to retreat.
00:24:53.59\00:24:55.26
The problem was,
00:24:55.26\00:24:56.56
this was a very
narrow bridge in those days,
00:24:56.56\00:24:58.09
and it's the
only route of escape,
00:24:58.09\00:24:59.83
so hundreds of men
pour onto the bridge
00:24:59.83\00:25:02.10
and chaos begins to build.
00:25:02.10\00:25:04.27
When Maxentius sees the chaos,
00:25:04.27\00:25:06.30
he rides his horse
into the middle of his men,
00:25:06.30\00:25:08.60
trying to take control,
00:25:08.60\00:25:10.11
and somehow, in all
that pushing and shoving,
00:25:10.11\00:25:12.77
he gets knocked off his horse
00:25:12.77\00:25:14.51
and thrown into Tiber River.
00:25:14.51\00:25:16.28
His armor drags
him to the bottom
00:25:16.28\00:25:18.21
and they find his body
in the reeds the next day.
00:25:18.21\00:25:21.28
The word quickly goes
through Rome Maxentius is dead.
00:25:21.28\00:25:26.19
[dramatic music]
00:25:26.19\00:25:28.99
The next
morning, October the 29th,
00:25:31.66\00:25:33.63
Constantine rode
victorious into the city,
00:25:33.63\00:25:36.83
but this was unlike
any victory procession
00:25:36.83\00:25:39.00
the citizens of
Rome had ever seen.
00:25:39.00\00:25:40.94
Usually, the victor
brought in the spoils of war
00:25:40.94\00:25:43.81
and led a parade of captives,
00:25:43.81\00:25:45.14
but Constantine
came in empty handed.
00:25:45.14\00:25:48.18
[cheerful music]
00:25:48.18\00:25:51.01
There was one
other key difference.
00:25:52.28\00:25:54.12
The parade made its way to
the base of the Capitoline Hill
00:25:54.12\00:25:57.89
where conquering heroes
almost always offered sacrifices
00:25:57.89\00:26:02.22
at the temple of Jupiter.
00:26:02.22\00:26:04.29
But this time, no sacrifice,
00:26:04.29\00:26:07.03
because Constantine wasn't
giving Jupiter the credit.
00:26:07.03\00:26:10.37
This time, the honor all
went to the Christian God.
00:26:10.37\00:26:14.50
That's what
changed the whole world.
00:26:15.94\00:26:18.51
Even though Jesus said his
kingdom is not of this world,
00:26:18.51\00:26:22.44
Constantine believed his victory
00:26:22.44\00:26:24.01
came from the god of his
mother, from the Christian God.
00:26:24.01\00:26:27.62
He started to think of his
mother's god as a god of war,
00:26:27.62\00:26:31.52
as the key to
unifying his new empire.
00:26:31.52\00:26:34.59
When he rode into the city,
00:26:34.59\00:26:36.59
when he refused to
offer sacrifice to Jupiter,
00:26:36.59\00:26:40.03
that was the precise
moment when the paths of Jesus
00:26:40.03\00:26:44.20
and Constantine finally met.
00:26:44.20\00:26:47.24
And what happened
next is so explosive
00:26:47.24\00:26:49.50
that it changed
the face of the empire
00:26:49.50\00:26:51.77
and it changed the
path of world politics,
00:26:51.77\00:26:54.88
and it changed the
nature of Christianity forever.
00:26:54.88\00:26:59.45
The religion of
Jesus took on a new flavor,
00:27:03.65\00:27:05.99
because the Prince of peace
00:27:05.99\00:27:07.52
has just become
a Roman god of war.
00:27:07.52\00:27:10.69
In a single moment,
00:27:10.69\00:27:11.93
he moved from being
the God of the underdog,
00:27:11.93\00:27:13.96
the outcast, and the
downtrodden, to the God of the
00:27:13.96\00:27:18.17
emperor. Jesus
is now made to say,
00:27:18.17\00:27:20.24
"Blessed is the man who
sacks the city of Rome."
00:27:20.24\00:27:23.91
Just a few weeks
after Constantine's big win,
00:27:23.91\00:27:26.24
the Cairo started
showing up all over the city.
00:27:26.24\00:27:29.91
It became Constantine's symbol,
00:27:29.91\00:27:32.28
and it was clearly
identified with Christianity.
00:27:32.28\00:27:35.62
There's just no
way to underestimate
00:27:35.62\00:27:37.82
how important this moment was,
00:27:37.82\00:27:40.66
and to some extent,
that moment has changed
00:27:40.66\00:27:43.43
the way that you and I think.
00:27:43.43\00:27:45.43
It just might be
that to some measure,
00:27:45.43\00:27:48.06
you and I are
living in a Shadow Empire.
00:27:48.06\00:27:51.27
[relaxing music]
00:27:51.27\00:27:54.10
[relaxing music continues]
00:28:00.21\00:28:03.81
- [Narrator] This
has been a broadcast
00:28:09.35\00:28:10.89
of The Voice of Prophecy.
00:28:10.89\00:28:12.82
To learn more about
how you can get a DVD copy
00:28:12.82\00:28:15.66
of "Shadow Empire" for yourself,
00:28:15.66\00:28:17.93
please visit
shadowempiredvd.com,
00:28:17.93\00:28:21.66
or call toll free, 844-822-2943.
00:28:21.66\00:28:24.50
[relaxing music]
00:28:27.47\00:28:30.34