The Battle of the Milvian Bridge

The Battle of the Milvian Bridge took place between the Roman Emperors Constantine I and Maxentius on 28 October 312. Constantine won the battle and started on the path that led him to end the Tetrarchy and become the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. Maxentius drowned in the Tiber during the battle.

According to chroniclers such as Eusebius of Caesarea and Lactantius, the battle marked the beginning of Constantine's conversion to Christianity. Lactantius recounts that Constantine and his soldiers had a vision that God promised victory if they daubed the sign of the cross on their shields. The Arch of Constantine, erected in celebration of the victory, certainly attributes Constantine's success to divine intervention; however, the monument does not display any overtly Christian symbolism.

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[AirAssault7]

Those aren't auxiliary shields. Those are the actual historical shields of that timeframe. Segmentata Legions with rectangular shields fell out of favor during the mid 200s AD, so they're actually pretty accurate here.

[gazzmilsom]

@MrMrgreco Those costumes are quite good actually. These are Roman soldiers of the early 4th century AD not the early 2nd. Lorica hamata was the most widely used roman armour throughout the history of the western empire, segmentata had been abandoned by the legion at this point though limitani garrisons in spain still had some. The lighter oval shield was favored as was the longer spatha replacing the gladius in use by the comitanses.

[benno1303]

The battle actually was fought some miles away from the river. It makes no sence to fight so close to a river or even on a bridge. On the one hand ancient armies needed space for manoevres and on the other hand it would make it almost impossible to retreat orderly.

[SupernautG]

My pet theory is that at this time in history the Roman empire had lots of secret Christians even in the legions and I wonder if the Christian symbol on Constantine's side made Maxentius' Christian soldiers just stop and flee (it must have been a shock to them to see a Roman army exhibit a Christian symbol since it was a forbidden faith).

[PBVG101]

@ela1191 LOL hahahaha

[1stMaineCavalry]

I'm thinking Tom Baker (Dr Who) just needs the long scarf.

[mandgsurvival]

Constantine looks a little like Eric Idle :) Same skinny face etc.

[jmcfintona999]

@1169Timothy I believe my man JC taught made them float

[1169Timothy]

@Calinn86 I believe you have something there but at the same time I have seen videos of people swimming in 30lbs of mail armour and they don't have too much trouble. Considering your earlier point that these men were under stress I believe that they would actually have swam better in such a scenario (assuming that they could swim) The fight or flight thing and all. This is why my conclusion is that they could not swim, many people even nowadays can't swim, it would not be surprising.

[Calinn86]

@TehLawnmowerMan i never met a man who believed in ufos and aliens but didn't believed in meteorites...

[Calinn86]

@1169Timothy i once fell into water with my jeans, a blouse and a jacket on and i can tell you it took me a lot of energy to keep myself afloat. now i imagine what it would be like to if other hundreds of people would have felled with me and i would have had to swim next in this pack of fully dressed humans. adding this to the panic you get when feeling in danger, in a battle.. no i don't believe not being able to swim is the answer