CONSTANTIUS II

born Aug. 7, 317, Sirmium, Savia [now Sremska Mitrovica, Yugos.] died Nov. 3, 361, Mopsucrenae, Honorias [now in Turkey] original name Flavius Julius Constantius Roman emperor from 337 to 361, who at first shared power with his two brothers, Constantine II (d. 340) and Constans I (d. 350), but who was sole ruler from 353 to 361. The third son of Constantine I the Great and Fausta, Constantius served under his father as caesar from 323 to 337. When Constantine died on May 22, 337, the troops massacred many of his relatives, allegedly at Constantius' instigation. Constantius then divided the empire with his brothers, taking the eastern provinces (Thrace, Macedonia, Greece, Asia, and Egypt) for himself. Between 338 and 350 he was engaged in inconclusive but extremely bloody warfare with the Persian king Shapur II. In 350 Constantius returned to Europe to confront two usurpers. Vetranio, commander of the Danube forces, had taken power in Illyricum (now western Yugoslavia); the rest of Europe was seized by the barbarian officer Magnentius, who in 350 executed Constans, the ruler in the West. At Naissus (modern Ni, Yugos.), Constantius persuaded Vetranio to abdicate, and in 351 he crushed Magnentius at Mursa (modern Osijek, Yugos.). During this struggle Constantius appointed his cousin, Gallus Caesar, administrator of the East. But Caesar proved to be a despotic ruler, and in 354 Constantius recalled him and had him executed. After campaigning against the Sarmatian, Suebi, and Quadi tribes on the Danube in 357358, Constantius returned east to fight Shapur, who had renewed his attacks on the eastern frontier (359). In 361 Constantius was recalled to the West by the revolt of Julian, his caesar in Gaul, but became ill on the way and died. As an advocate of Arian Christianity, Constantius passed laws against paganism and exiled many Roman Catholic bishops. He drove the influential anti-Arian bishop of Alexandria, Athanasius, into hiding in 356.