Lascaris, Constantine, d. 1501?, Greek grammarian. After the fall of Constantinople, Lascaris went to Italy and in Milan obtained the patronage of Francesco Sforza. His Greek grammar (1476) was the first book printed in Greek characters. He earned fame as a teacher of Greek and a leading proponent of the new learning of the Renaissance in Italy. His brother, Andreas Joannes Lascaris or Janus Lascaris, c.1445-1535, taught Greek in Florence, Paris, and Rome.

Caramanlis, Constantine: see Karamanlis, Constantine.

Canaris, Constantine: see Kanaris, Constantine.

Constantine (Konstantin Pavlovich), 1779-1831, Russian grand duke, second son of Czar Paul I and brother of Alexander I and Nicholas I. On the death of Alexander I (1825), Constantine was next in line for succession to the throne. However, in 1822 he had secretly renounced his claim in favor of Nicholas in return for Alexander's permission to divorce his first wife and marry a Polish countess. The arrangement was not made public and some confusion resulted concerning the succession. A group known as the Decembrists took advantage of the situation and attempted to seize power under the slogan "Constantine and Constitution." Nicholas quelled the uprising. During the entire episode Constantine remained in Poland, where he had been commander in chief and virtual governor since 1815. The severity of his administration there led to the Polish uprising of 1830. Constantine died before the rebellion was suppressed.

Constantine, d. 411, Roman general. He was proclaimed emperor by the Roman troops in Britain in 407 and led a revolt in Gaul and Spain against the Western emperor Honorius. He conquered part of Gaul and, through his son Constans, took Spain. Constantine forced recognition from Honorius as joint emperor, but his triumph was short. The counterrevolt of Gerontius halted him, and he was defeated by Honorius' general Constantius (later Emperor Constantius III). Constantine was beheaded. His withdrawal of Roman troops from Britain had greatly weakened the Roman hold on that island.

Constantine, Learie, 1902-71, West Indian cricket player and the first black man to sit in the British House of Lords, b. Trinidad. The son of a sugar plantation foreman, he became world famous as a cricket player in the 1920s and 30s. He settled in England (1929), and after World War II studied law and was called to the bar. Returning to Trinidad, he began a career in public service, first as minister of works and transport and then as Trinidad's high commissioner in London (1962-64). He was knighted in 1962 and raised to the peerage in 1969.

Constantine, ancient Cirta, city (1998 pop. 462,187), capital of Constantine dept., NE Algeria, on the gorge of the Rhumel River. A major inland city, it is the railhead of a prosperous and diverse agricultural area. Constantine is also a center of the grain trade and has flour mills, a tractor factory, and industries producing textiles and leather goods. Products made by local artisans are economically important. Founded by Carthaginians (who called it Sarim Batim), Constantine became the capital and commercial center of Numidia and was named Cirta [the city]. Under Roman rule it was a major grain-shipping point and one of the wealthiest cities of Africa. Destroyed (A.D. 311) during the war preceding the accession of Constantine I, it was rebuilt by Constantine himself and renamed in his honor. The city was pillaged by the Vandals in the 5th cent. and later became an object of contention among various Muslim dynasties. The Turks captured it in the 16th cent. and made it a provincial capital. By the time of the French conquest in 1837 the district governor of Constantine had become virtually independent of the Ottoman Empire. Modern Constantine is the seat of a Roman Catholic bishop, a university, and a Muslim school of higher education.

Constantine, Donation of, Lat. Constitutum Constantini, forged document, probably drafted in the 8th cent. It purported to be a grant by Roman Emperor Constantine I of great temporal power in Italy and the West to the papacy. Its purpose was apparently to enhance papal territorial claims in Italy by giving them greater antiquity. The document also recognized the spiritual authority of the popes, but this statement had no weight, since at no time was it argued in the Roman Catholic Church that spiritual authority could emanate from the emperor. It was not, as a matter of fact, ever of great practical value, nor was it, as is sometimes asserted, universally accepted in the Middle Ages. It owes its great fame to the fact that the scholar Lorenzo Valla demonstrated the falsity of the document by critical methods that became the model for later textual criticism and are said by some to be the beginning of modern textual criticism.

Cavafy, Constantine, pseud. of Konstantínos Pétrou Kaváfis, 1863-1933, Greek poet. Born in Alexandria, Egypt, he spent most of his life there, but lived for about five years in England. Although he published little, only about 150 poems, he is regarded as one of the foremost modern Greek poets and one of the finest poets of the 20th cent. Cavafy is particularly noted for the rueful, elegiac, and yet utterly unsentimental tone of his verse. In it, he mingles vernacular and literary language, skillfully combining the exalted with the mundane. Skeptical and nonconformist, he was critical of Christian and nationalistic morality and was one of the first to write openly about homosexual love. He also was obsessed with the ancient Greek and Byzantine past, and that history (and characters from it) frequently appear in his poetry. Among his best-known poems are "The City," "Waiting for the Barbarians," and "The God Abandons Antony." Cavafy was introduced to an English readership in 1919 by E. M. Forster, and has since become a favorite of English-language poets. His Collected Poems have been published in a number of English translations.

Brancovan, Constantine, 1654-1714, prince of Walachia (1688-1714). A skillful politician who secured domestic peace, he furthered Walachia's economic and cultural development. Under his rule, the "Brancovan" artistic style was created, an example of which can be seen in the palace at Mogoşoaia, near Bucharest. In 1709 he negotiated with Czar Peter I of Russia an alliance against his suzerain, Sultan Ahmed III, but he later withdrew. Accused of treason, he was deposed and, with his four sons, was beheaded at Constantinople.

Kanaris, Constantine, 1790-1877, Greek patriot, admiral, and politician. He distinguished himself in the Greek War of Independence, notably at Tenedos, where he destroyed (1822) the flagship of the Turkish admiral. Kanaris served several terms as minister of the navy and as premier in 1848-49, and he became increasingly active in political life. In 1862 he was a leader in the revolution that ousted King Otto and put George I on the Greek throne. Under George I, he was premier in 1864-65 and in 1877. The name also appears as Canaris.

Karamanlis, or Caramanlis, Constantine, 1907-98, president of Greece (1980-85, 1990-95), b. Turkish Macedonia. A member of parliament in 1935-36, he was reelected in 1946 and held various cabinet posts until Oct., 1955, when he became Greece's youngest premier. He held that post until June, 1963, except for brief intervals in 1958 and 1961, while his right-wing National Radical Union continued to gain majorities in the general elections. A partisan of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Karamanlis reached (1959) agreement with Great Britain and Turkey over Cyprus. In 1959 he announced a five-year plan (1960-64) for the Greek economy, emphasizing improvement of agricultural and industrial production. After his cabinet fell in 1963, Karamanlis went into exile abroad. He was a vocal opponent of the military junta that seized power in Greece in 1967. In July, 1974, the junta fell, following a disastrous military venture in Cyprus. Karamanlis returned as premier and leader of the New Democratic party, which gained a substantial majority in the elections of Nov., 1974. He began immediately to undo the work of the military government, reestablishing civil liberties and presiding over the restoration of democracy. A plebiscite in Dec., 1975, made Greece a republic and abolished the monarchy. Karamanlis served as prime minister until 1980 and as president from 1980 to 1985. He oversaw Greece's entry (1981) into the European Community (now the European Union). He held the presidency again in 1990-95, and was succeeded by Kostis Stephanopoulos.

Mitsotakis, Constantine, 1918-, Greek political leader. Active in the Cretan resistance against the Nazi occupation, he became a member of parliament for Khaniá (1946-67, 1977-90). He was arrested (1967) by the military junta but managed to escape and live in exile until his return in 1974. He became the leader of the New Democratic party in 1984 and was prime minister from 1990 to 1993.

Document concerning the supposed grant by the emperor Constantine I (the Great) to Pope Sylvester I (314–335) and later popes of temporal power over Rome and the Western Empire. The gift was said to have been motivated by Constantine's gratitude to Sylvester for miraculously healing his leprosy and converting him to Christianity. Based on legends from the 5th century concerning Sylvester and Constantine, the Donation was probably written at Rome in the mid 8th century and was related to the coronation of Pippin III, the first Carolingian king of the Franks. Proved in the 15th century by Lorenzo Valla to be a forgery, the document was already questioned by the emperor Otto III (r. 996–1002) but was often cited in the 11th–15th centuries to support papal claims in the struggle between church and state.

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Greek Constantinos

(born Aug. 2, 1868, Athens, Greece—died Jan. 11, 1923, Palermo, Italy) King of Greece (1913–17, 1920–22). Son of King George I of the Hellenes (1845–1913), he was educated in Germany and was commander in chief of Greek forces in the Balkan Wars. He succeeded his father in 1913, but his neutralist, yet essentially pro-German, attitude during World War I caused the Allies and his Greek opponents to depose him in 1917. He was restored to the throne in 1920, but, after a catastrophic war in Anatolia, he abdicated in favor of his son, George II, in 1922.

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Latin Constantinus Africanus

(born circa 1020, Carthage or Sicily—died 1087, monastery of Monte Cassino, near Cassino, Principality of Benevento) Medieval medical scholar. He was the first to translate Arabic medical works into Latin. His 37 translated books included The Total Art, a short version of the The Royal Book by the 10th-century Persian physician aynAlī ibn al-aynAbbās, introducing Islam's extensive knowledge of Greek medicine to the West. His translations of Hippocrates and Galen first gave the West a view of Greek medicine as a whole.

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Greek Constantinos

(born June 2, 1940, Psikhikó, near Athens, Greece) King of Greece (1964–74). Son of Paul I (1901–64), he succeeded his father in 1964. After a military coup in 1967, he and his family fled to Rome. The military regime appointed a regent in his place and granted him a free return if he wished. In 1973 the military regime proclaimed a republic and abolished the monarchy. In 1974 a civilian referendum officially ended the monarchy.

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orig. Konstantínos Pétrou Kaváfis

(born April 17, 1863, Alexandria—died April 29, 1933, Alexandria) Poet of Turkish-Greek ancestry. Born to Greek parents, Cavafy worked as an obscure civil servant in Alexandria his entire adult life. His small body of work, some 200 poems in an intimate, realistic, lyrical style, is written in a strange combination of classically based and modern Greek. Many deal with history, principally the Hellenistic era; many others reflect Cavafy's homosexual life. His poems became popular and influential after his death, and he is now widely regarded as one of the greatest of modern Greek poets.

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or Constantine Caramanlis

(born March 8, 1907, Próti, near Sérrai, Macedonia, Ottoman Empire—died April 23, 1998, Athens, Greece) Greek prime minister (1955–63, 1974–80) and president (1980–85, 1990–95). In various cabinet posts after World War II (1946–55), he helped rebuild Greece's war-torn economy. Chosen prime minister in 1955, he formed a government and a new conservative party, the National Radical Union. In 1960 he established an independent republic on Cyprus to ease tensions with Britain and Turkey over the island. He resigned in 1963 and lived in exile in Paris until 1974. Recalled as prime minister, he subordinated the military to civilian authority to restore democracy, averted war with Turkey over Cyprus, and oversaw the adoption of a new constitution that strengthened the presidency. In 1975 he held a referendum that resulted in the abolition of the monarchy. In 1980 he resigned as prime minister and was elected president. He helped effect Greece's entry into the European Community in 1981. He resigned in 1985, then was reelected president in 1990.

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ancient Cirta

City (pop., 2004 est.: 544,700), northeastern Algeria. A natural fortress, it is situated on a rocky height some 800 ft (250 m) above the Rhumel River valley. By the 3rd century BC it was one of Numidia's most important towns, and it reached its apex of prosperity under Micipsa in the 2nd century BC. Ruined in subsequent wars, it was restored in AD 313 and renamed for its patron, the Roman emperor Constantine the Great. Overrun by the Arabs in the 7th century, it was ruled by a series of Arab and Berber (Amazigh) dynasties and, intermittently, by the Ottoman Empire until it was captured by the French in 1837. Occupied in 1942 by U.S. troops, it was an important Allied staging area in World War II (1939–45). The city retains its medieval walls, and there are Roman ruins nearby. It is an agricultural market for the surrounding area.

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orig. Konstantínos Pétrou Kaváfis

(born April 17, 1863, Alexandria—died April 29, 1933, Alexandria) Poet of Turkish-Greek ancestry. Born to Greek parents, Cavafy worked as an obscure civil servant in Alexandria his entire adult life. His small body of work, some 200 poems in an intimate, realistic, lyrical style, is written in a strange combination of classically based and modern Greek. Many deal with history, principally the Hellenistic era; many others reflect Cavafy's homosexual life. His poems became popular and influential after his death, and he is now widely regarded as one of the greatest of modern Greek poets.

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Constantine (Latin: Cōnstantīnus, Greek: Κωνσταντῖνος) is a given name and surname derived from the Latin word constans, meaning constant or steadfast. The monotonic Greek spelling is Κωνσταντίνος, and Κωσταντίνος (Kostantinos without the first n) is historically a common variant. Κώστας (Costas) is a common contraction.

Constantine may also refer to:

People

Rulers

• Constantine I (emperor), commonly known as Constantine the Great
• Constantine II (emperor)
• Constantine III (usurper)
• Constantine III (emperor)
• Constantine IV
• Constantine V
• Constantine VI
• Constantine VII
• Constantine VIII
• Constantine IX
• Constantine X
• Constantine XI
• Constantine I of Armenia
• Constantine II of Armenia
• Constantine III of Armenia
• Constantine IV of Armenia
• Constantine V of Armenia
• Constantine VI of Armenia
• Constantine of Baberon, regent of Zabel, and father of Hetoum I of Armenia, 13th century
• Constantine I (or Kuestantinos I) of Ethiopia, also known as Zara Yaqob
• Constantine II (or Kuestantinos II) of Ethiopia, also known as Eskender
• Constantine I of Greece
• Constantine II of Greece
• Caustantín of the Picts
• Constantine I of Scotland
• Constantine II of Scotland
• Constantine III of Scotland
• Constantine I of Arborea
• Constantine I of Cagliari
• Constantine II of Cagliari
• Constantine III of Gallura
• Constantine I of Torres
• Constantine Tikh of Bulgaria
• Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia
• Constantine Phipps, 1st Marquess of Normanby
• Constantine John Phipps, 2nd Baron Mulgrave
• Constantine Dragas
• Constantine I of Georgia
• Constantine II of Georgia
• Constantine I of Imereti
• Constantine Mavrocordato
• Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia
• Constantine Ypsilanti

Constantine as a name of city

Constantine, Algeria; Constantine the Great gave his name to this city in the fourth century.

Religious leaders

• Patriarch Constantine I of Constantinople
• Patriarch Constantine II of Constantinople
• Patriarch Constantine III of Constantinople
• Patriarch Constantine IV of Constantinople
• Patriarch Constantine V of Constantinople
• Patriarch Constantine VI of Constantinople
• Pope Constantine
• Antipope Constantine II

Military leaders

• Konstantin Petrovich Von Kaufman

Politicians

• Costis Stephanopoulos
• Konstantinos Tsatsos

Other

• Angelici, the Order of Constantine, the Byzantine order of knights
• Constantine, 1st Earl of Fife
• Constantine the African
• Konstantinos (occultist), fiction writer and occultist

Constantine as a surname

• Con Constantine
• Eddie Constantine
• John Constantine
• Kevin Constantine
• Learie Constantine
• Michael Constantine
• Storm Constantine
• Susannah Constantine
• Tiberius II Constantine
• Thomas A. Constantine

Constantine as a given name

See: Allpages/Constantine

• Constantine Maroulis, American rock singer, actor and writer
• Constantine the African
• Constantine III of Britain
• Constantine of Preslav
• Prince Constantine Alexios of Greece and Denmark
• Constantine Andreou
• Constantin Brâncoveanu
• Constantine Bruno, Baron Kervyn de Lettenhove
• Constantin Carathéodory
• Constantine P. Cavafy
• Constantine Dadeshkeliani
• Constantine Ducas
• Constantine Kanaris
• Constantine Karamanlis
• Constantine Koukias, Australian classical composer
• Constantine Lascaris
• Constantine M. Los
• Constantine Manasses
• Constantine Mitsotakis
• Constantine Overton (1626/7-?1690), Quaker leader in Shrewsbury, Shropshire
• Constantine Papadakis
• Constantine Paparregopoulus
• Constantine Phaulkon
• Constantine Samuel Rafinesque
• Constantine Rhigas
• Constantine-Silvanus
• Constantine Simitis
• Konstantin Stanislavski
• Constantin Zureik