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Constantine the Great at the Milvian Bridge after Giulio Romano (1640) Walters Museum of Art (Public Domain)

In Hoc Signo Vinces: In This Sign You Will Win

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On the night of October 27, 312 AD at Saxa Rubra, Rome, Emperor Flavius Valerius Constantinus, (Constantine) son of Constantius I Chloros and Helena, was set to engage with the armies of Maxentius, a contender challenging the emperor for his coveted position. Night settled upon both armies about to face each other in battle the following day.  During that night, according to historian Eusebius of Caesarea, Emperor Constantine dreamt of Christ, who told him to have the first Greek letters of his name engraved on all the soldiers' shields: Χριστός that is, Chi and Rho. The following day, a  short distance from Ponte Milvio - the scene of the clash between the two armies - at noon, Constantine saw two intertwined Greek letters in the sky ( transverse X littera I) and he heard a voice telling him: " In hoc signo vinces". In reality the expression was presumably pronounced in Greek - ἐν τούτῳ νίκα - however the meaning remains the same: " In this sign you will win!”

Constantine's Vision and the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in a ninth century Byzantine manuscript. Bibliothèque nationale de France. (Public Domain)

Constantine's Vision and the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in a ninth century Byzantine manuscript. Bibliothèque nationale de France. (Public Domain)

The Battle of Ponte Milvio

This extraordinary revelation was also witnessed by Lactantius the son of Constantine, who, in his De mortibus persecutorum published only two years after the event, wrote that: " Constantine was warned in a dream to have the celestial sign impressed on his shields before engaging in battle. He obeyed and had the shields marked with the name of Christ: an X crossed by the letter I curved towards the top. Armed with this emblem, the army took up the sword" and won, fulfilling the prophecy. Maxentius' 22,000 soldiers crossed the Tiber River on a shaky wooden bridge and faced Constantine's 17,000 men, trained veterans from various victorious military campaigns along the banks of the Rhine. Maxentius’ troops were soon dispersed and only the Praetorians managed to resist, heroically defending the Ponte Milvio bridge, their only possible escape route. However, the old wooden bridge collapsed under the immense weight of the troops, drowning most of the Praetorians. The sources narrate that even Maxentius tried to escape in the river, but the weight of his armor dragged him to the bottom, drowning miserably in an inglorious death.

 "In this sign you will win!" Perhaps it was because of this prophesy, or perhaps it was because of the greatness of his army, but Constantine the Great actually defeated his rival Maxentius.

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Dr Roberto Volterri is the author of 40 books including Gli Stregoni Dell’Achimia.

Top Image: Constantine the Great at the Milvian Bridge after Giulio Romano (1640) Walters Museum of Art (Public Domain)

By Dr Roberto Volterri

 

Dr Roberto

Born in Rome, Dr Roberto Volterri graduated in archaeology with an experimental thesis in archaeometry in the mid-'80s after previous university studies in Biology.  As an academic, he worked in university research (Archaeometallurgy) for more than 40 years, after he... Read More

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