Bread, Circuses, and the Price of Security: Constantine’s Food Program

A bread stall, from a Pompeiian wall painting.

On May 18, 332 AD, Constantine the Great introduced a food subsidy program in Constantinople, echoing a tradition that had long influenced life in Rome. This initiative, which provided free or subsidized bread and other staples to the city’s residents, was not simply an act of generosity. It was a calculated…