Augustus Severus surrenders to Maxentius at Ravenna and is forced to commit suicide.
31 March: Constantine marries Fausta, the daughter of Maximian and sister of Maxentius, at Trier. Minervina, Constantine's mistress and mother of his first son Crispus, is put aside.
Maximian falls out with his son Maxentius and sides with Constantine.
27 October: Maxentius claims the rank of Augustus.
Rome: (there was a fire in the Roman Forum in 307)
Bath of Diocletian (298-305/6)
Santa Maria degli Angeli
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Temple of Venus and Rom
When Severus died, Galerius was determined to avenge his death. In the early summer of 307 the Augustus invaded Italy; he advanced to the south and encamped at Interamna near the Tiber. His attempt to besiege the city was abortive because his army was not large enough to encompass the city's fortifications. Negotiations between Maxentius and Galerius broke down when the emperor discovered that the usurper was trying to win over his troops. Galerius' troops were open to Maxentius' promises because they were fighting a civil war between members of the same family; some of the soldiers went over to the enemy. Not trusting his own troops, Galerius withdrew. During its retreat, Galerius' army ravaged the Italian countryside as it was returning to its original base. If it was not enough that Maxentius had to deal with the havoc created by the ineffectual invasions of Severus and Galerius, he also had to deal with his father's attempts to regain the throne between 308 and 310. When Maximianus Herculius was unable to regain power by pushing his son off his throne, he attempted to win over Constantine to his cause. When this plan failed, he tried to win Diocletian over to his side at Carnuntum in October and November 308. Frustrated at every turn, Herculius returned to his son-in-law Constantine's side in Gaul where he died in 310, having been implicated in a plot against his son-in-law. Maxentius' control of the situation was weakened by the revolt of L. Domitius Alexander in 308. Although the revolt only lasted until the end of 309, it drastically cut the size of the grain supply available for Rome. Maxentius' rule collapsed when he died on 27 October 312 in an engagement he had with the Emperor Constantine at the Milvian Bridge after the latter had invaded his realm.
Michael DiMaio, Jr.
Peter Paul Rubens, Marriage of Constantine and Fausta.
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