Battle of Chrysopolis - Aftermath

Aftermath

Licinius, recognising that his surviving forces in Nicomedia could not stand against Constantine's victorious army, was persuaded to throw himself on the mercy of his enemy. Constantia, Constantine's half-sister and Licinius' wife, acted as intermediary. Initially, yielding to the pleas of his sister, Constantine spared the life of his brother-in-law, but some months later he ordered his execution, thereby breaking his solemn oath. A year later, Constantine's nephew the younger Licinius also fell victim to the emperor's anger or suspicions. In defeating his last foe, Licinius, Constantine became the sole emperor of the Roman empire; the first since the elevation of Maximian to the status of augustus by Diocletian in April 286. After his conquest of the eastern portion of the Roman Empire Constantine made the momentous decision to give the east its own capital, and the empire as a whole its second. He chose the city of Byzantium — renamed Constantinopolis — as the site of this new foundation.