Person · 4032–4097 AM · 272 CE — 337 CE
Constantine I
The first Christian emperor: Nicaea and the founding of Constantinople
The consequence for Jewish history is double, and both halves matter. First: in his reign the first imperial laws restricting Jews appear—a ban on receiving proselytes, a ban on hindering departure from the community, a ban on owning Christian slaves. Second: Nicaea cut Easter loose from the Jewish count, ruling that it be computed independently of the Jewish Passover—and this separated the Christian calendar from the Jewish one for good.
His birth year is not exactly known: estimates run from 271 to 280, and 272 or 273 is usually printed.
On the timeline
Sources
Scholarship
- Wikipedia, “Constantine the Great”; World History Encyclopedia — the birth-year range 271–280; the laws about the Jews; Nicaea
Basis: documents and evidence.