Constantine (consul 457)

Flavius Constantinus (floruit 447-464) was a politician of the Eastern Roman Empire, consul and three times praetorian prefect of the East.

Life

Portion of the Walls of Constantinople, damaged by an earthquake in January 447 and restored by Constantinus in sixty days.

A native of Laodicea of Phrygia, Constantinus was named praetorian prefect of the East for the first time around 447, when he restored the Walls of Constantinople, which had been damaged by an earthquake that January. As the Huns of Attila were moving towards Constantinople, Constantius mobilised the factions of the Hippodrome of Constantinople to gather 16,000 workers: the Blues worked the stretch of walls from the Gate of Blachernae to the Gate of Myriandrion, the Greens from there to the Sea of Marmara; in sixty days, by the end of March, the walls were restored and the moat cleaned. A bilingual inscription was erected to celebrate the works.^[1] While in office, he received a letter by Theodoret of Cyrrhus, asking for a reduction of the taxation on his city,^[2] while another was received after he left office.^[3]

After leaving his office in 451, he participated in some sessions of the Council of Chalcedon. In 456 he was appointed prefect for the second time.^[4]

Constantinus was appointed consul in 457,^[5] with Rufus as his colleague (they were both chosen by the Eastern court), then prefect of the East for the third time in 459.^[6] He received the title of patricius after 457.^[7]

In 464/465 he was sent as an envoy to the Sassanid Persian king Peroz I. He waited at Edessa, then was received at Peroz's court. The Persians had several complaints, and asked for Roman financial contributions for the defence of Caspian Gates, but the Romans refused and Constantinus was dismissed without achieving anything.^[7]

Notes

1. ^ Marcellinus comes, sub anno 447. CIL III, 734. Otto Maenchen-Helfen, The world of the Huns: studies in their history and culture, University of California Press, 1973, ISBN 0520015967, pp. 120-121. Nic Fields, The Hun: Scourge of God AD 375-565, Osprey Publishing, 2006, ISBN 1846030250, p. 17.
2. ^ Theodoret of Cyrus, Letters, 42
3. ^ Theodoret of Cyrus, Letters, 19
4. ^ Codex Justinianus, I.4.13a, I.3.25a, X.22.3a (July 18).
5. ^ AE 1940, 180
6. ^ Codex Justinianus, VIII.53.30a (March 3).
7. ^ ^{a b} Priscus, fragments 31-33.

Sources

• Jones, Arnold Hugh Martin, John Robert Martindale, John Morris, "Fl. Constantinus 22", Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Volume 2, Cambridge University Press, 1992, ISBN ISBN 0521201594, pp. 317-318.

Preceded by Eparchius Avitus Augustus (alone in the West), Iohannes (East), Varanes (East)	Consul of the Roman Empire 457 with Flavius Rufus	Succeeded by Iulius Maiorianus Augustus, Flavius Valerius Leo Augustus
Preceded by -	Praetorian prefect of the East 447 circa	Succeeded by -
Preceded by -	Praetorian prefect of the East 456	Succeeded by -
Preceded by -	Praetorian prefect of the East 459	Succeeded by Flavius Vivianus