Constantine, the Once and Future King

"Elizabeth DePalma Digeser's wonderful book offers our first close-up of those earliest and most formative years in the reign of Constantine. Building on the latest interpretive methods, it shows how much can be gained by reimagining the foundation of Constantine's rule as a series of narratives told by the people who witnessed its beginnings."--Noel Lenski, author of Constantine and the Cities: Imperial Authority and Civic Politics "Marvelously inventive! With careful attention to the material record and deft use of historical theory, Digeser does what no other scholar can, opening a new window onto the life of Constantine by visualizing his early career in Gaul, before the Milvian Bridge, before his famous vision, before his investment in Christianity. Her approach captures what most biographies miss: a sense of presence, and with it a novel understanding of Roman power as it was created and experienced."--Ellen Muehlberger, author of Things Unseen: Essays on Evidence, Knowledge, and the Late Ancient World