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Constantine I (272-337), also known as Constantine the Great and Saint Constantine, was the son of Emperor Constantius. His father sent him east to serve under Emperors Diocletian and Galerius, spending some time in the court of the latter. After his father died in 306 CE, Constantine was proclaimed his successor and emperor by his army at Eboracum (York).<br/><br/> He at first remained officially neutral in the efforts of Emperor Galerius to defeat the usurper Maxentius, but after Galerius' death, Constantine was dragged into the conflict. He eventually defeated Maxentius in 312 CE, and then fought against his erstwhile ally, Emperor Licinius, for sole control of both western and eastern portions of the Roman Empire. Licinius was defeated in 324 CE, and Constantine became emperor of a united empire.<br/><br/> Constantine enacted many reforms strengthening the empire, ending the tetrarchy system and restructuring government. He became the first emperor to claim conversion to Christianity, and he called the First Council of Nicaea in 325 CE, overseeing the profession of the Nicene Creed. He renamed Byzantium to Constantinople after himself, which would become the new capital. He died in 337 CE.
From an equestrian family that rose to senatorial rank under the Julio-Claudian dyansty, Vespasianus - as he was then called - earned much renown through his military record. He first served during the Roman invasion of Britain in 43 CE, and was later sent by Emperor Nero to conquer Judea in 66 CE, during the Jewish rebellion.<br/><br/> During his siege of Jerusalem, news came to him of Nero's suicide and the tumultuous civil war that happened afterwards, later known as the Year of the Four Emperors. When Vitellius became the third emperor in April 69, the Roman legions of Egypt and Judea declared Vespasian the new emperor. Marching to Rome, he defeated and executed Vitellius, becoming emperor and ending the Year of the Four Emperors.<br/><br/> He ruled the Roman empire for 10 years, building the Flavian Amphitheatre, known nowadays as the Roman Colosseum, as well as enacting various reforms to the empire. He died in 79 CE, and his son Titus became the next Roman emperor, starting the Flavian dynasty and making Vespasian the first emperor to be directly succeeded by his own natural son.