Knowledge about events in western provinces was not common in eastern provinces. At Athens, Praxagoras composed his “History of Constantine the Great” in two volumes, apparently soon after the emperor's death. Because Praxagoras wrote his history as a young man while only in his early twenties, he had been born after the battle at the Milvian Bridge. According to a short summary of his now-lost history, Constantine had once lived at Diocletian's court at Nicomedia, and the emperor Galerius had plotted against him. After Constantine fled to his father in Britain, he became an emperor and organized an army of “Celts and Germans.” According to Praxagoras, Constantine was upset on hearing that Maxentius was mistreating the people of Rome. In the subsequent military campaign “Constantine was victorious in battle and turned [Maxentius] to flight. While he was fleeing, Maxentius experienced a reversal in his life [and the] treachery that he had contrived for his enemies: he fell into a trench he had himself dug. Some of the Romans cut off his head, hung it on a pole, and walked around in the city.”

Praxagoras next described Constantine's victory over Licinius at Nicomedia, his consolidation of imperial rule, and his foundation of a new capital at Byzantium. He was clearly quite impressed by the emperor's “virtue, excellence, and total good fortune.” But by highlighting these activities in the East, he imposed an overall eastern perspective on the significance of Constantine's reign.