Constantius II and the Mausoleum of Santa Costanza in Rome

Abstract: The origins of the Mausoleum of Santa Costanza in Rome remain uncertain. From the perspective of imperial ideology and relevant art history, this article expands on Eugene W. Kleinbauer’s suggestion that Santa Costanza was founded by Constantius II as a mausoleum for his sister Constantina (died 354ce). The building process could have been overseen while Constantius II was based in Italy in the 350s and the mausoleum dedicated in 357 when he paid a strategic visit to Rome. At a time when Rome was unsettled after the failed usurpation of Magnentius, Constantius II will have been conscious of the need to placate both Christians and non-Christians there, especially as regards the senatorial class, and this could account for the religious ambiguity of the interior decoration. The vintage scenes, cupids, and foliate heads used in the decorative scheme connect with triumphal messages and promises of the “return of good times” on Constantius’s coinage of the period. Further, correlations with imagery used in the Chronograph of 354 and on the sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, dated by inscription to 359, place Santa Costanza in the 350s, during Constantius II’s sole reign as emperor.