An original work of scholarship, rich in detail and minute researches, liberally supplied with fresh observations and new interpretations… The work is characterized by an astonishing mastery of evidence… Barnes is lucid and concise.—Classical Outlook

This remarkable and exemplary work of scholarship will be read with pleasure and profit…a gripping and complex story told in fresh and lucid prose.—History Today

Already an acknowledged expert on the history of the later Roman Empire and early Christianity, Barnes now offers a narrative account of the reigns of the two most important emperors after Augustus… The portrait of Constantine is realistic and convincing. (A main value of the book lies in its assessment of the intellectual, doctrinal, and political activities of the early Christians… Essential reading.—Choice

A book that scholars would be very ill-advised to neglect on any topic treated in it. It is marked at every turn with Barnes’ magnificent obsession with getting the record straight. Its implications for the role of Christianity in the Roman Empire are quite revolutionary.—Peter Brown