Battle of Chrysopolis

Battle of Chrysopolis
Part of the civil wars of the Tetrarchy

The battle of Constantine and Licinius by Peter Paul Rubens, ca. 17th century.
Date18 September 324[1]
Location
Chrysopolis, near Chalcedon
(modern-day Turkey)
Result

Constantinian victory

  • Constantine consolidates power
  • Final collapse of the Tetrarchy
Belligerents
Constantine the Great Licinius
Strength
Around 105,000 120,000
Casualties and losses
Unknown but not particularly high 25,000–30,000 killed, tens of thousands more captured.
A coin of Constantine (c. 337) showing a depiction of his Labarum standard spearing a serpent.
Licinius and his son, depicted with haloes, on a gold coin

The Battle of Chrysopolis was fought on 18 September 324 at Chrysopolis (modern Üsküdar), near Chalcedon (modern Kadıköy), between the two Roman emperors Constantine I and Licinius. The battle was the final encounter between the two emperors. After his navy's defeat in the Battle of the Hellespont, Licinius withdrew his forces from the city of Byzantium across the Bosphorus to Chalcedon in Bithynia. Constantine followed, and won the subsequent battle. This left Constantine as the sole emperor, ending the period of the Tetrarchy.

  1. ^ Ossius of Cordova: A Contribution to the History of the Constantinian Period – p. 186 by Victor Cyril De Clercq