1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Licinius

LICINIUS [Flavius Galerius Valerius Licinianus], Roman emperor, A.D. 307–324, of Illyrian peasant origin, was born probably about 250. After the death of Flavius Valerius Severus he was elevated to the rank of Augustus by Galerius, his former friend and companion in arms, on the 11th of November 307, receiving as his immediate command the provinces of Illyricum. On the death of Galerius, in May 311, he shared the entire empire with Maximinus, the Hellespont and the Thracian Bosporus being the dividing line. In March 313 he married Constantia, half-sister of Constantine, at Mediolanum (Milan), in the following month inflicted a decisive defeat on Maximinus at Heraclea Pontica, and established himself master of the East, while his brother-in-law, Constantine, was supreme in the West. In 314 his jealousy led him to encourage a treasonable enterprise on the part of Bassianus against Constantine. When his perfidy became known a civil war ensued, in which he was twice severely defeated—first near Cibalae in Pannonia (October 8th, 314), and next in the plain of Mardia in Thrace; the outward reconciliation, which was effected in the following December, left Licinius in possession of Thrace, Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt, but added numerous provinces to the Western empire. In 323 Constantine, tempted by the “advanced age and unpopular vices” of his colleague, again declared war against him, and, having defeated his army at Adrianople (3rd of July 323), succeeded in shutting him up within the walls of Byzantium. The defeat of the superior fleet of Licinius by Flavius Julius Crispus, Constantine’s eldest son, compelled his withdrawal to Bithynia, where a last stand was made; the battle of Chrysopolis, near Chalcedon (18th of September), finally resulted in his submission. He was interned at Thessalonica and executed in the following year on a charge of treasonable correspondence with the barbarians.

See Zosimus ii. 7-28; Zonaras xiii. 1; Victor, Caes. 40, 41; Eutropius x. 3; Orosius vii. 28.