326
Year 326 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Constantinus and Constantinus. The denomination 326 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Events
By place
Roman Empire
- Emperor Constantine the Great travels to Rome to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his accession to power, but while en route at Pola he orders his older son, Crispus Caesar, to be executed, possibly on charges of adultery. Later, Fausta, second wife of Constantine I, is also executed by being suffocated or boiled in a hot bath.
By topic
Religion
- September 14 - Helena, mother of Constantine I, discovers the so-called True Cross and the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. On her pilgrimage, which begins about this year, she pauses on the Aegean island of Patmos, where she is said to found the church of Panagia Ekatontapiliani.
- Helena tells Constantine that he must atone for executing his son and wife by building churches, and at about this date construction begins on Old St. Peter's Basilica, the first church on the traditional site of Saint Peter's tomb in Rome, and on the basilica of Golgotha on Calvary outside Jerusalem. He also commissions construction of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
- Christianity is introduced to the Kingdom of Iberia by Saint Nino.