Constantine-I/Licinius’ (2nd) Civil War (324), [8/12]
In spring 324 Constantine moved to Thessalonica in northeast Greece where he joined his army and a fleet of transports ready to aid its eastward advance. Another fleet was concentrated at Piraeus on the east coast of Central Greece. Licinius advanced beyond Adrianople and took up a defensive position along the left (east) bank of the Hebrus (=Maritsa) River. Constantine forced a crossing and defeated the opposing army. Licinius fled eastwards pursued by Constantine who besieged him at Byzantium when he took refuge there.
Meanwhile, at sea the Hellespont (=Dardanelles) was held by Licinius’ navy commanded by Abantus (or Amandus), and Crispus having taken command of the fleet at Piraeus had sailed north to confront him. In the first encounter, Crispus’ lighter, faster vessels outmanoeuvred the enemy’s unwieldy ships and sank many of them. Abantus regrouped his forces at the northeastern end of the Hellespont and the two fleets met again on the following day. The second clash was fought near Thracian Chersonese (=Gallipoli Peninsula). A storm blew up that wrecked many of the Licinian vessels on the shore. All but four of them were wrecked, sunk or captured.
Now under siege by both land and sea, Licinius retreated across the Bosporus and appointed an augustus, Martianus, as he had before with Valens in 317. Martianus was sent to Lampsacus (=Lapseki, Troad, northwest Asia Minor) to block Constantine crossing to Asia but he, however, managed to ferry his men over to a point some twenty miles (32 km) north of Chalcedon. The final victory was another success for Constantine at Chrysopolis (=Uskudar, Asian Istanbul), opposite Byzantium, just across the strait. Licinius fled to Nicomedia but his wife, Constantia, persuaded him to surrender.
The terms were to cede all of his territories in return for life under house arrest. He was executed probably in 325, followed by his son the young Licinius in 326. The charge was that Licinius was conspiring against Constantine, which, given his circumstances, may have been true.
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