What did emperor Constantine believe will happen for his empire ?
The emperor Constantine has rightly been called the most important emperor of Late Antiquity. His powerful personality laid the foundations of post-classical European civilization; his reign was eventful and highly dramatic. His victory at the Milvian Bridge counts among the most decisive moments in world history, while his legalization and support of Christianity and his foundation of a ‘New Rome’ at Byzantium rank among the most momentous decisions ever made by a European ruler. The fact that ten Byzantine emperors after him bore his name may be seen as a measure of his importance and of the esteem in which he was held. Michael DiMaio, Jörn Zeuge, and Natalia Zotov, “Ambiguitas Constantiniana: The Caeleste Signum Dei of Constantine the Great,” Byzantion 58 (1988) 333-60, have argued that it is Lactantius’ account which represents the true course of events, because the emperor saw a conjunction of the planets Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, and Venus in the constellations Capricorn and Sagitta
