Was theodosius a good or bad emperor?

Answer 1

To Christians, Constantine was a great emperor, being given the accolade, Constantine the Great. But to the pagan majority, Constantine was a bad emperor because he did not carry out his duties as head of their religion and even began the long persecution of the pagan temples. He was among the most murderous of all roman emperors, even executing his long time friend and adviser, the pagan Sopater, on the pretext that he had magically 'fettered' the winds and thus prevented food from arriving at famine stricken Constantinople.

His personal extravagance and the enormous sums he spent on public buildings and support for the Christian Church left the empire in a dire financial position. Lactantius, a Christian who usually supported Constantine, said that as the fatal time approached for the middle classes to pay the taxes imposed on them, all the towns were seen in tears and grief. The scourge and the rack were used against those whose extreme poverty could not support this unjust tax. Mothers even sold their children, and fathers prostituted their daughters to pay the tax.

Answer 2

AnswerEmperor Constantine fought his way to absolute power by destroying his opponents one by one, while pretending to form alliances with the others. He was one of the most murderous Roman emperor of all time, even killing his own eldest son and his second wife, Fausta, as well as his close friend and long-time adviser, Sopater, who happened to be a pagan. Constantine believed that as an absolute autocrat, he could kill anyone.

Constantine's major innovation was the division of his large army into two parts, which from a longer-term viewpoint undermined its capability, as serious defeats after his death proved.

He almost bankrupted the Roman Empire with: his huge, expensive bureaucracy; the army, especially when engaged in military operations; extravagant building programmes for both the construction of numerous magnificent churches and for Constantinople; his famous, much commented on, excessive personal lavishness. Taxes had already been high in the time of Diocletian, but Constantine added considerably to them. Lactantius, a Christian who usually supported Constantine, said that as the fatal time approached, all the towns were seen in tears and grief. The scourge and the rack were used against those whose extreme poverty could not support this unjust tax. Mothers sold their children, and fathers prostituted their daughters to pay the tax. This general extravagance of Constantine was stressed by a number of writers as an important cause of the empire's subsequent decline.

Constantine introduced sanctions against paganism, passing a series of measures making life more difficult for those who adhered to its practices, in the end sending out delegates to deprive the temples of their treasures. He could not use military force to repress the temples, as the army refused to assist, but the Christians serving in the palace carried out his instructions. The people kept quiet out of fear that they, their wives and children might suffer if they offered opposition. Certainly the persecution that Constantine put in place was mild compared to the fury that was endured by the pagans later in the century, but it was a black mark in the history of the empire, and a black mark against the reputation of Emperor Constantine.

Emperor Constantine could only be considered a good emperor if the promotion of Christianity should be regarded as important, regardless of how this was achieved, and regardless of his many failings.

Answer 3

Constantius 2 was a semi-bad emperor. He was stong militarily but he put a tax on gaul of 25 gold aureus' (a lot of money!). He was contantly fighting ursurpurs, (magnetitius and julian). When he died he gave power to julian declaring that he was his rightful heir. He was semi-tolerant of paganism but did alot for christianity and issued edicts against the jews. So all together many literally sources declare that he was a bad and unfair emperor.

Answer 4

To Christians, Constantine was a great emperor, being given the accolade, Constantine the Great. But to the pagan majority, Constantine was a bad emperor because he did not carry out his duties as head of their religion and even began the long persecution of the pagan temples. He was among the most murderous of all roman emperors, even executing his long time friend and adviser, the pagan Sopater, on the pretext that he had magically 'fettered' the winds and thus prevented food from arriving at famine stricken Constantinople.

His personal extravagance and the enormous sums he spent on public buildings and support for the Christian Church left the empire in a dire financial position. Lactantius, a Christian who usually supported Constantine, said that as the fatal time approached for the middle classes to pay the taxes imposed on them, all the towns were seen in tears and grief. The scourge and the rack were used against those whose extreme poverty could not support this unjust tax. Mothers even sold their children, and fathers prostituted their daughters to pay the tax.

Answer 5

Constantine could be both good and bad. He could be fair and he tried to arbitrate between the bitter disputes between rival Christian Doctrines. he could be ruthless. He fought two civil wars to become the sole emperor (at that time there were four co-emperors). He confiscated the treasures and the statues of pagan temples to fund the construction of his new capital (Constantinople) and to smelt god to issue gold coins. He had his eldest son Crispus seized and put to death by "cold poison" and his wife Fausta killed at the behest of his mother, Helena. Few ancient sources are willing to discuss possible motive. Some unlikely stories were written later. Therefore the real reasons are not really known.

Answer 6

he was bad because i say so