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Secondary sourceArtifact

Woodcut Portrait of Constantine the Great

Josse van Gietleughen

A printed profile portrait of Constantine the Great made long after his death, part of a series imagining the Roman emperors.

A later imagined portrait of Constantine, showing how he was pictured long after his death.

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Woodcut-style medallion portrait in profile of a man in a plumed helmet with a laurel wreath, holding a spear, with the inscription CONSTANTINVS MAX AVG around the rim. Above it a Roman-numeral heading and German text; below, German text and a monogram M 2 on a book page.
Josse van Gietleughen, woodcut portrait of Constantine the Great. Herzog August Library, Germany.

About this source

What it is

This is a woodcut print made by Josse van Gietleughen, showing a profile medallion portrait of a man in a plumed helmet and laurel wreath, with the Latin inscription naming him CONSTANTINVS MAX AVG. It is part of a printed series of Roman emperors and is held today by the Herzog August Library in Germany.

Why it matters

The print was not made from life but created centuries after Constantine's reign, so it shows how later printmakers imagined the look of a famous Roman emperor rather than his true appearance. It reflects how Constantine's image was reused and reimagined long after his lifetime.

Look closer

  • What details make this portrait look 'Roman', even though it was made much later?
  • Why might printmakers have wanted to show a whole series of emperors like this?
  • What does the inscription tell you, and what does it leave out about Constantine's life?

This artifact is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Constantine the Great on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Manuscript page of handwritten Greek text in brown ink on cream parchment, with a decorated red and gold initial letter at the left margin. A dark ink blot is visible in the middle of the text block. The script is a cursive Greek hand, and the page appears to be from a 16th-century codex.Document

Secondary source

Edict of Milan

Constantine the Great · 313 AD

Photo of the south-facing attic inscription on the Arch of Constantine in Rome: a large carved Latin inscription in two rows of capital letters on pale marble, flanked by two statues of captive or attendant figures, with a blue sky above.Artifact

Primary source

Arch of Constantine

Roman Senate · c. 312-315

Medieval illuminated manuscript page with four framed scenes in gold and blue panels. Bottom left shows a bishop with halo baptising a nude figure in a font of flames, while a crowned figure looks on. Other panels show standing saints and a scene of a figure with a torch.Painting

Secondary source

Constantine the Great Baptised by St Sylvester

c. 1200

Title page of a book reading 'Ecclesiastical History: The Life of the Blessed Emperor Constantine, in four books, from 306 to 337 A.D., by Eusebius Pamphilus', London, Samuel Bagster and Sons, 1845. Includes a library stamp and a publisher's ornament.Book

Secondary source

Life of Constantine

Eusebius of Caesarea · 345

Title page of a 1684 printed book: 'L. Caecilii Firmiani Lactantii, De mortibus persecutorum, liber; cum notis Johannis Columbi ad Gisbertum Cuperum', printed at Aboae by Johannes Winter in Finlandia. Below the text is a woodcut of a pelican-like bird with young on a branch, and a faded library stamp reading 'Bibl. Collegii ... Augsburg'.Book

Secondary source

De mortibus persecutorum

Lactantius · after 316

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