ABSTRACT
In July of 325, Constantine began the twentieth year of his reign with a successful conclusion to the Nicene Council and with a triumphal celebration of his Vicennalia festival. Yet, the year that started in triumph ended in tragedy with the enigmatic deaths of his son Crispus and his wife Fausta. Palace intrigue accomplished what his political enemies had failed to do: stain the record of one of the greatest rulers in Roman history. The dark events which blemished the end of the vicennial year, however, probably inspired Constantine’s mother Helena and his mother-in-law Eutropia to carry out pilgrimages to the Holy Land (ca. 326-28) in order to make atonement for and to distract attention from Constantinian dynastic problems. Their devout exertions and ecclesiastical constructions in Palestine refurbished the sanctity of the dynasty and resulted in the creation of the “New Jerusalem” and the Christian Holy Land of the later Roman Empire.1
