Die Ära Konstantins
World History determines the era of Constantine as a break for Christianity after years of persecution final acceptance, Constantinople, the new capital of the Roman Empire, the development of late antiquity and the Middle Ages begins. If there is also a wealth of analysis of the facets of this important process, it was really only sporadically in a synoptic view of events and contexts. The present study provides insights into the complex cultural fabric, revealing the interaction of political, theological and artistic as well as urban planning and architectural components. These factors are in turn historical trends explored by examining in detail. Two aspects are proving to be much more: this is the religious foundation of the state was in the crisis of the Roman Empire in the 3rd Century profoundly changed. The study shows how the idea of a deus summus, one supreme God developed, and shows how Jupiter, Sol Invictus and others, but also the God of the Christians could occur as each summus deus. In this process, images played as a propaganda tool in the great struggles of the "era of Constantine" is crucial. Another focus of the study is therefore on the re-construction of the early Christian pictorial concept. While the pagan environment of Christianity regarded the cult-image as the seat of the deity, the early Christian writers unfolded in the wake of the conflict with the Roman state a concept that the image zusprach a referral role in respect of transcendental spheres. The study reveals the previously acclaimed Hellenistic sources this understanding, which should define the fundamental European art now.
