What Constantine likely saw.

[Jehanne]

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180101.html

The so-called "Miracle of the Sun" was likely something similar, also.  A thousand years ago these people would probably be freaking out.

[Fireball]

I SAW GOD!

[vulcanlogician]

All god babble aside, that looks pretty amazing.

[Minimalist]

Of course, it could ( and most likely is ) bullshit from the word "go."

The account of the miraculous "sign" appears in Eusebius' Life of Constantine which was not published until after Constantine's death.  Why is that important?

Because Lactantius', who may well have been with Constantine at the Milvian Bridge while Eusebius was still jerking off in Caesarea, makes no mention of any "sign in the sky seen by the army."

Despite their differences in recounting the events leading up to the battle of the Milvian Bridge – Eusebius tells of a divine encounter, in which Constantine and his entire army see a vision sent by the Christian god in the sky, an episode which is entirely absent from Lactantius’ previously written account –

https://cliojournal.wikispaces.com/On+th...ristianity

Would xtian propagandists make up phony shit?  Damn right they would.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

I'm with Min.  The only thing Constantine actually 'saw' was political opportunity.

Boru

[Jehanne]

Eusebius may have seen something similar and "just ass-u-me-d" as much on the part of Constantine.

[Pat Mustard]

Of course, it could ( and most likely is ) bullshit from the word "go."

The account of the miraculous "sign" appears in Eusebius' Life of Constantine which was not published until after Constantine's death.  Why is that important?

Because Lactantius', who may well have been with Constantine at the Milvian Bridge while Eusebius was still jerking off in Caesarea, makes no mention of any "sign in the sky seen by the army."

Despite their differences in recounting the events leading up to the battle of the Milvian Bridge – Eusebius tells of a divine encounter, in which Constantine and his entire army see a vision sent by the Christian god in the sky, an episode which is entirely absent from Lactantius’ previously written account –

https://cliojournal.wikispaces.com/On+th...ristianity

Would xtian propagandists make up phony shit?  Damn right they would.

Especially if their name was Eusebius. The more I get to hear about him the more I realise that if I lived back then, I'd have to stick my head out the window if he told me it was raining.

[downbeatplumb]

Of course, it could ( and most likely is ) bullshit from the word "go."

The account of the miraculous "sign" appears in Eusebius' Life of Constantine which was not published until after Constantine's death.  Why is that important?

Because Lactantius', who may well have been with Constantine at the Milvian Bridge while Eusebius was still jerking off in Caesarea, makes no mention of any "sign in the sky seen by the army."

Despite their differences in recounting the events leading up to the battle of the Milvian Bridge – Eusebius tells of a divine encounter, in which Constantine and his entire army see a vision sent by the Christian god in the sky, an episode which is entirely absent from Lactantius’ previously written account –

https://cliojournal.wikispaces.com/On+th...ristianity

Would xtian propagandists make up phony shit?  Damn right they would.

If Maxcentius had won the world would be a lot different now.

[Minimalist]

Xtians were not above exaggerating their importance and influence.

Take for example the rather sparse but accurate in what in does say account of Prosper dealing with Pope Leo's supposed turning aside of Attila.

Prosper: Account 1
Prosper, a Christian chronicler, writing about 455, gives the following simple account of Leo's famous interview with the king of the Huns three years before:

Now Attila, having once more collected his forces which had been scattered in Gaul [at the battle of Chalons], took his way through Pannonia into Italy. . . To the emperor and the senate and Roman people none of all the proposed plans to oppose the enemy seemed so practicable as to send legates to the most savage king and beg for peace. Our most blessed Pope Leo -trusting in the help of God, who never fails the righteous in their trials - undertook the task, accompanied by Avienus, a man of consular rank, and the prefect Trygetius. And the outcome was what his faith had foreseen; for when the king had received the embassy, he was so impressed by the presence of the high priest that he ordered his army to give up warfare and, after he had promised peace, he departed beyond the Danube.

Prosper leaves out the fact that Attila had spent a great deal of time in the siege of Aquileia at the head of the Adriatic and other parts of his army were diverted West to Milan before he ever began moving south but, as I said, he gives a simple account of what was of interest to him.

Whereas:

Anonyomus Later Account 1

[somewhat condensed]

In a life of Leo the Great by some later author, whose name is unknown to us, the episode as told by Prosper has been developed into a miraculous tale calculated to meet the taste of the time

Attila, the leader of the Huns, who was called the scourge of God, came into Italy, inflamed with fury, after he had laid waste with most savage frenzy Thrace and Illyricum, Macedonia and Moesia, Achaia and Greece, Pannonia and Germany. He was utterly cruel in inflicting torture, greedy in plundering, insolent in abuse. . . . He destroyed Aquileia from the foundations and razed to the ground those regal cities, Pavia and Milan ; he laid waste many other towns, and was rushing down upon Rome. [This is, of course, an exaggeration. Attila does not seem to have destroyed the buildings, even in Milan and Pavia.]
Then Leo had compassion on the calamity of Italy and Rome, and with one of the consuls and a lar,e part of the Roman senate he went to meet Attila. The old man of harmless simplicity, venerable in his gray hair and his majestic garb, ready of his own will to give himself entirely for the defense of his flock, went forth to meet the tyrant who was destroying all things. He met Attila, it is said, in the neighborhood of the river Mincio, and he spoke to the grim monarch, saying "The senate and the people of Rome, once conquerors of the world, now indeed vanquished, come before thee as suppliants. We pray for mercy and deliverance. O Attila, thou king of kings, thou couldst have no greater glory than to see suppliant at thy feet this people before whom once all peoples and kings lay suppliant. Thou hast subdued, O Attila, the whole circle of the lands which it was granted to the Romans, victors over all peoples, to conquer. Now we pray that thou, who hast conquered others, shouldst conquer thyself The people have felt thy scourge; now as suppliants they would feel thy mercy."
As Leo said these things Attila stood looking upon his venerable garb and aspect, silent, as if thinking deeply. And lo, suddenly there were seen the apostles Peter and Paul, clad like bishops, standing by Leo, the one on the right hand, the other on the left. They held swords stretched out over his head, and threatened Attila with death if he did not obey the pope's command. Wherefore Attila was appeased he who had raged as one mad. He by Leo's intercession, straightway promised a lasting peace and withdrew beyond the Danube.

So the fish gets bigger...especially since by the time this last piece was written only Rome and Constantinople remained of the great xtian centers - the others having been overrun by the muslims and the Roman Church was trying to pump itself up.

You can't believe much of anything xtians claim.

[Godscreated]

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180101.html

The so-called "Miracle of the Sun" was likely something similar, also.  A thousand years ago these people would probably be freaking out.

 Even the common people of the time were more familiar with events in the skies than your average college grad of today.

GC