← Back to the front page

Lesser Known Byzantine Empire Facts

Khalid Elhassan September 11, 2020 35 min

Byzantine Empire - Constantinople — Procession of Emperor Manuel I Komenos in Constantinople. Imgur

32. The Byzantine Empire’s Founder Killed His Own Son

Constantine the Great had many admirers in his day. Especially Christians, grateful to him for taking Christianity out of the catacombs and into the palace. He also gave the Roman Empire a new lease on life when he relocated the capital from Rome to the newly built Constantinople and laid the foundations for the Byzantine.

However, his admirers seldom mentioned his shortcomings. One such was the mercurial temper that led him to kill his eldest son, Crispus (circa 299 – 326) – a dutiful and capable son who would have made any father proud.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.