Los sueños de Constantino en autores paganos y cristianos

Resumo

The purpose of this comparative study of the narrations of the dreams and celestial visions of Constantine as recorded in the Panegyric VII and X and in the writings of Lactantius and Eusebius of Caesarea is the search for the similarities and differences that these present. In Panegyric VII the site where Constantine had his vision is situated in Gallia, probably in the far north, in a temple dedicated to Apollo whose characteristics the author tries to identify in this study. The panegyric X, delivered in the year 321, mentions that, when his army was ready to depart from the Gallia and return to Italy, celestial armies appeared before the Emperor. Around 313, Lactantius mentions the vision by Constantine of a labarum, whose form the author tries to identify, presenting the arguments defended by the historians: this vision is located near the Milvius bridge. Eusebius of Caesarea, in the Vita Constantini, chapters 28 and 29, narrates two apparently différents visions, one of which is similar to the one described by Lactantius. It's generally said that there are no great differences between the Christian and pagan authors but they do differ at the moment they set forth their ideas. The similarities that appear can be explained on the ground of the rhetorical and aulical methods.