<論説>コンスタンティヌスと太陽宗教 : Constantin-Helios 問題考

Abstract

三三〇年コンスタンティヌスは太腸神の姿を持つ巨大な自己の像を新首都コンスタンティノポリスに建立した。三三〇年といえば、改宗を体験して以来ほぼ十年の歳月を経過し、かって帰依していた太陽宗教が皇帝の全思考体系から消滅して既に久しい時期であるだけに、この皇帝の意図には解し難いものがあるであろう。 多くの人々がこの像の中にコンスタンティヌスの太腸宗教への回想・帰依という宗教的態度を見出し、彼の宗教的暖昧性と結合させてとらえたのもいわれなき事ではない。勿論かかる見解には多くの批判がなされ、いわゆる Constantin-Helios 論争を生む結果となった。 しからばこれはいかに解すべきであろうか。本論の目的はこの像の中に帝国のキリスト教化を目指す皇帝の積極的意図を見出す事にある。

It has been said that "on the command of God" Constantine founded the new imperial capital holding his own name in 330 A. D.. According to the Church Fathers, this new city was never sullied by pagan rites. It may be no exaggaration to say that he, in this period, breaks almost all the threads which still bind him to the pagan past and openly fights against the old religions. But in this city, besides many Christian monuments there stood the colossal statue of Constantine wearing the radiate crown of the Sun God to whom he had deeply devoted for several years before his conversion to Christianity. Some researchers rightly have found out in this statue his reminiscence and adhesion to the Sun God and further his religious ambiguity. The other group of researchers, however, has made a keen objection against such a view as theirs and led to the so-called "Constantine-Helios Controversy". It is the aim of this article to investigate the active attitude of Constantine desiring the christianization of the whole Roman Empire.