Maxentius

Maxentius was the son of former Emperor Maximian and son-in-law of Galerius, positioned by blood near the center of Roman power around 283. He took the throne in 306 and controlled Italy, North Africa, and the Senate's backing, yet his fellow emperors refused him legitimacy. The latter years narrowed to civil war: he allied with Maximinus against Licinius and Constantine, the last of whom met him at the Milvian Bridge on 28 October 312. His army broke, and Maxentius purportedly drowned in the Tiber in the rout. Before that end he had tried to remake Rome — the Temple of the Divine Romulus for…