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Saint Helena or Saint Helen ((ラテン語:Flavia Iulia Helena Augusta); – ) was the consort of the Roman emperor Constantius Chlorus and the mother of the emperor Constantine the Great. She is an important figure in the history of Christianity and the world due to her major influence on her son and her own contributions in placing Christianity at the heart of Western Civilization. She is traditionally credited with a pilgrimage to Syria Palaestina, during which she is claimed to have discovered the True Cross. She is revered as a saint by the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, the Roman Catholic, and the Anglican as well as commemorated by the Lutheran Church. == Family life == Helena's birthplace is not known with certainty. The 6th-century historian Procopius is the earliest authority for the statement that Helena was a native of Drepanum, in the province of Bithynia in Asia Minor. Her son Constantine renamed the city "Helenopolis" after her death around 330, which supports the belief that the city was her birthplace.〔Harbus, 12.〕 The Byzantinist Cyril Mango has argued that Helenopolis was refounded to strengthen the communication network around his new capital in Constantinople, and was renamed simply to honor Helena, not to mark her birthplace.〔Mango, 143–58, cited in Harbus, 13.〕 There was also a Helenopolis in Palestine 〔Günter Stemberger, ''Jews and Christians in the Holy Land: Palestine in the fourth century'', 2000, p. 9 (full text )〕 and a Helenopolis in Lydia.〔Hunt, 49, cited in Harbus, 12.〕 These cities, and the province of Helenopontus in the Diocese of Pontus, were probably both named after Constantine's mother.〔 G. K. Chesterton in his book 'A Short History of England' writes that she was considered a Briton by the British, a tradition noted by Geoffrey of Monmouth, whose 12th century ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' reports that Helena was a daughter of the British King Coel.〔Antonina Harbus ''Helena of Britain in Medieval Legend'' (2002), p. 102〕 The bishop and historian Eusebius of Caesarea states that she was about 80 on her return from Palestine.〔Eusebius, ''Vita Constantini'' 3.46.〕 Since that journey has been dated to 326–28, Helena was probably born in 248 or 250. Little is known of her early life.〔Harbus, 13.〕 Fourth-century sources, following Eutropius' ''"Breviarium,"'' record that she came from a low background. Saint Ambrose was the first to call her a ''stabularia'', a term translated as "stable-maid" or "inn-keeper". He makes this fact a virtue, calling Helena a ''bona stabularia'', a "good stable-maid".〔Ambrose, ''De obitu Theodosii'' 42; Harbus, 13.〕 Other sources, especially those written after Constantine's proclamation as emperor, gloss over or ignore her background.〔 It is unknown where she first met Constantius.〔Lieu and Montserrat, 49.〕 The historian Timothy Barnes has suggested that Constantius, while serving under Emperor Aurelian, could have met her while stationed in Asia Minor for the campaign against Zenobia. It is said that upon meeting they were wearing identical silver bracelets; Constantius saw her as his soulmate sent by God. Barnes calls attention to an epitaph at Nicomedia of one of Aurelian's protectors, which could indicate the emperor's presence in the Bithynian region soon after 270.〔''Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae'' 2776, cited in Barnes, "New Empire," 36.〕 The precise legal nature of the relationship between Helena and Constantius is also unknown. The sources are equivocal on the point, sometimes calling Helena Constantius' "wife", and sometimes, following the dismissive propaganda of Constantine's rival Maxentius,〔Paul Stephenson, ''Constantine, Roman Emperor, Christian Victor'', 2010:126f.:130.〕 calling her his "concubine".〔 Jerome, perhaps confused by the vague terminology of his own sources, manages to do both.〔Hieronymus, ''Chronica'', ''s.a.'' 292, p. 226, 4 and ''s.a.'' 306, p. 228, 23/4, cited in Lieu and Montserrat, 49.〕 Some scholars, such as the historian Jan Drijvers, assert that Constantius and Helena were joined in a common-law marriage, a cohabitation recognized in fact but not in law.〔Drijvers, ''Helena Augusta'', 17-19.〕 Others, like Timothy Barnes, assert that Constantius and Helena were joined in an official marriage, on the grounds that the sources claiming an official marriage are more reliable.〔Barnes, ''New Empire'', 36.〕 Helena gave birth to the future emperor Constantine I on 27 February of an uncertain year soon after 270〔Barnes, ''CE'', 3, 39–42; Elliott, ''Christianity of Constantine'', 17; Odahl, 15; Pohlsander, "Constantine I"; Southern, 169, 341.〕 (probably around 272).〔Barnes, ''CE'', 3; Barnes, ''New Empire'', 39–42; Elliott, "Constantine's Conversion," 425–6; Elliott, "Eusebian Frauds," 163; Elliott, ''Christianity of Constantine'', 17; Jones, 13–14; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 59; Odahl, 16; Pohlsander, ''Emperor Constantine'', 14; Rodgers, 238; Wright, 495, 507.〕 At the time, she was in Naissus (Niš, Serbia).〔Barnes, ''CE'', 3.〕 In order to obtain a wife more consonant with his rising status, Constantius divorced Helena some time before 289, when he married Theodora, Maximian's daughter under his command.〔Barnes, ''CE'', 8–9.〕 (The narrative sources date the marriage to 293, but the Latin panegyric of 289 refers to the couple as already married).〔''Origo'' 1; Victor, ''Caes''. 39.24f; Eutropius, ''Brev''. 9.22.1; ''Epitome'' 39.2; ''Pan''. ''Lat''. 10(2).11.4, cited in Barnes, ''CE'', 288 n.55.〕 Helena and her son were dispatched to the court of Diocletian at Nicomedia, where Constantine grew to be a member of the inner circle. Helena never remarried and lived for a time in obscurity, though close to her only son, who had a deep regard and affection for her. Constantine was proclaimed Augustus of the Roman Empire in 306 by Constantius' troops after the latter had died, and following his elevation his mother was brought back to the public life in 312, returning to the imperial court. She appears in the Eagle Cameo portraying Constantine's family, probably commemorating the birth of Constantine's son Constantine II in the summer of 316.〔The cameo was incorporated in the rich binding of the Ada Gospels; the date 316 is argued in Stephenson 2010:126f.〕 She received the title of ''Augusta'' in 325 and died around 330 with her son at her side. She was buried in the Mausoleum of Helena, outside Rome on the Via Labicana. Her sarcophagus is on display in the Pio-Clementine Vatican Museum, although the connection is often questioned, next to her is the sarcophagus of her granddaughter Saint Constantina (Saint Constance). Her skull is displayed in the Cathedral of Trier, in Germany. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Helena (empress)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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