In the Roman Empire of the 4th century, the Ludi Triumphales ("Triumphal Games") were games (ludi) held annually September 18–22 to commemorate the victory of Constantine over Licinius at Chalcedon in 324.[1] No description of these games has survived, but they are significant in the historical transformation of Roman religious and state institutions under the Christian emperors,[2] an era inaugurated by the conversion of Constantine. Forty-eight circus races (ludi circenses) are recorded for September 18, which was also celebrated as the birthday (dies natalis) of the emperor Trajan.[3]
- ^ Michael A. Fraser, "Constantine and the Encaenia," Studia Patristica (Peeters, 1997), vol 29, p. 26. The September date of the defeat is attested by an inscription (CIL I2 p. 272).
- ^ Michael McCormick, Eternal Victory: Triumphal Rulership in Late Antiquity, Byzantium and the Early Medieval West (Cambridge University Press, 1986, 1990), pp. 38–39.
- ^ Michele Renee Salzman, On Roman Time: The Codex Calendar of 354 and the Rhythms of Urban Life in Late Antiquity (University of California Press, 1990), p. 134.