Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Exiling Bishops: The Policy Of Constantius Ii, Walter Stevenson

Classical Studies Faculty Publications

Constantius II was forced by circumstances to make innovations in the policy that his father Constantine had followed in exiling bishops. While ancient tradition has made the father into a sagacious saint and the son into a fanatical demon, recent schol­arship has tended to stress continuity between the two regimes.¹ This article will attempt to gather together all instances in which Constantius II exiled bishops and focus on a sympathetic reading of his strategy.² Though the sources for this period are muddled and require extensive sorting, a panoramic view of exile incidents reveals a pattern in which Constantius …