Persecution Of Pagans In The Early Byzantine Empire
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Persecution Of Pagans In The Early Byzantine Empire
The anti-paganism policies of the early Byzantine Empire ranged from 395 till 527. Anti-paganism laws were enacted by the Byzantine Emperors Arcadius, Honorius, Theodosius II, Marcian and Leo I the Thracian. They reiterated previous legal bans, especially on pagan religious rites and sacrifices and increased the penalties for their practice. The pagan religions had still many followers but they were increasingly obliged to keep under cover to formally comply with the edicts. Significant support for paganism was present among Roman nobles, senators, magistrates, imperial palace officers, and other officials. Many Christians pretended to be such while continuing pagan practices, and many converted back to paganism; numerous laws against apostasy kept being promulgated and penalties increased since the time of Gratian and Theodosius. pagans were openly voicing their resentment in historical works, like the writings of Eunapius and Olympiodorus, and books blaming the Christian hegem ...
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Decline Of The Roman Empire
The fall of the Western Roman Empire (also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Rome) was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vast territory was divided into several successor polities. The Roman Empire lost the strengths that had allowed it to exercise effective control over its Western provinces; modern historians posit factors including the effectiveness and numbers of the army, the health and numbers of the Roman population, the strength of the economy, the competence of the emperors, the internal struggles for power, the religious changes of the period, and the efficiency of the civil administration. Increasing pressure from invading barbarians outside Roman culture also contributed greatly to the collapse. Climatic changes and both endemic and epidemic disease drove many of these immediate factors. The reasons for the collapse are major subjects of the histor ...
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Religious Toleration
Religious toleration may signify "no more than forbearance and the permission given by the adherents of a dominant religion for other religions to exist, even though the latter are looked on with disapproval as inferior, mistaken, or harmful". Historically, most incidents and writings pertaining to toleration involve the status of minority and dissenting viewpoints in relation to a dominant state religion. However, religion is also sociological, and the practice of toleration has always had a political aspect as well. An overview of the history of toleration and different cultures in which toleration has been practiced, and the ways in which such a paradoxical concept has developed into a guiding one, illuminates its contemporary use as political, social, religious, and ethnic, applying to LGBT individuals and other minorities, and other connected concepts such as human rights. In Antiquity Religious toleration has been described as a "remarkable feature" of the Achaemenid E ...
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Primicerius Notariorum
The Latin term ''primicerius'', hellenized as ''primikērios'' ( el, πριμικήριος), was a title applied in the later Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire to the heads of administrative departments, and also used by the Church to denote the heads of various colleges. Etymologically the term derives from ''primus in cera'', which is to say ''in tabula cerata'', the first name in a list of a class of officials, which was usually inscribed on a waxed tablet. Civil and military From their origin in the court of the Dominate, there were several ''primicerii'' (''primikērioi'' in Greek, from the 12th century usually spelled ''primmikērioi''). In the court, there was the ''primicerius sacri cubiculi'' (in Byzantine times the ''primikērios'' of the ''kouboukleion''), in charge of the emperor's bedchamber, almost always a eunuch. The title was also given to court officials in combination with other offices connected to the imperial person, such as the special treasury (''eidi ...
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Joannes
Joannes or John ( la, Iohannes; died 425) was western Roman emperor from 423 to 425. On the death of the Emperor Honorius (15 August 423), Theodosius II, the remaining ruler of the House of Theodosius, hesitated in announcing his uncle's death. In the ''interregnum'', Honorius's patrician at the time of his death, Castinus, elevated Joannes as emperor. History Joannes was a ''primicerius notariorum'' or senior civil servant at the time of his elevation. Procopius praised him as "both gentle and well-endowed with sagacity and thoroughly capable of valorous deeds." Unlike the Theodosian emperors, he tolerated all Christian sects and even the pagans. From the beginning, his control over the empire was insecure. In Gaul, his praetorian prefect was slain at Arles in an uprising of the soldiery there. And Bonifacius, ''comes'' of the Diocese of Africa, held back the grain fleet destined to Rome. "The events of Johannes' reign are as shadowy as its origins," writes John Matthe ...
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Ramsay MacMullen
Ramsay MacMullen (March 3, 1928 – November 28, 2022) was an American historian who was Emeritus Professor of History at Yale University, where he taught from 1967 to his retirement in 1993 as Dunham Professor of History and Classics. His scholarly interests were in the social history of Rome and the replacement of paganism by Christianity. MacMullen was born in New York City on March 3, 1928. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy and summa cum laude from Harvard College. When MacMullen was honored for a lifetime of scholarly achievement at the 2001 annual meeting of the American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world. Founded in 1884, the AHA works to protect academic freedom, develop professional s ... with the Award for Scholarly Distinction, the award citation called him "the greatest historian of the Roman Empire alive tod ...
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City Of God (book)
''On the City of God Against the Pagans'' ( la, De civitate Dei contra paganos), often called ''The City of God'', is a book of Christian philosophy written in Latin by Augustine of Hippo in the early 5th century AD. The book was in response to allegations that Christianity brought about the decline of Rome and is considered one of Augustine's most important works, standing alongside '' The Confessions'', '' The Enchiridion'', '' On Christian Doctrine'', and ''On the Trinity''. As a work of one of the most influential Church Fathers, ''The City of God'' is a cornerstone of Western thought, expounding on many questions of theology, such as the suffering of the righteous, the existence of evil, the conflict between free will and divine omniscience, and the doctrine of original sin. Background The sack of Rome by the Visigoths in 410 left Romans in a deep state of shock, and many Romans saw it as punishment for abandoning traditional Roman religion in favor of Christianity. ...
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Alaric I
Alaric I (; got, 𐌰𐌻𐌰𐍂𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍃, , "ruler of all"; c. 370 – 410 AD) was the first king of the Visigoths, from 395 to 410. He rose to leadership of the Goths who came to occupy Moesia—territory acquired a couple of decades earlier by a combined force of Goths and Alans after the Battle of Adrianople. Alaric began his career under the Gothic soldier Gainas and later joined the Roman army. Once an ally of Rome under the Roman emperor Theodosius, Alaric helped defeat the Franks and other allies of a would-be Roman usurper. Despite losing many thousands of his men, he received little recognition from Rome and left the Roman army disappointed. After the death of Theodosius and the disintegration of the Roman armies in 395, he is described as king of the Visigoths. As the leader of the only effective field force remaining in the Balkans, he sought Roman legitimacy, never quite achieving a position acceptable to himself or to the Roman authorities. He operated m ...
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Priscus Attalus
Priscus Attalus (Greek: Πρίσκος Άτταλος, died after 416) was twice Roman usurper (in 409–10 and in 414–15), against Emperor Honorius, with Visigothic support. He was the last non-Christian pretender to the Roman imperial office. Biography Priscus Attalus was a Greek from the Roman province of Asia, whose father had moved to Italy under Valentinian I. Attalus was an important senator in Rome, who served as ''praefectus urbi'' in 409. He was twice proclaimed emperor by the Visigoths, in an effort to impose their terms on the ineffectual Emperor Honorius, in Ravenna. He held the title of Emperor in Rome for a few months 409–410, and later in Burdigala again for a few months in 414–415. The first reign ended when Alaric believed it was hampering his negotiations with Honorius, and the second ended after he was abandoned by the Visigoths and eventually captured by Honorius's men. Attalus was obliged to participate in the triumph Honorius celebrated in the s ...
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Nostra Aetate
(from Latin: "In our time") is the incipit of the Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions of the Second Vatican Council. Passed by a vote of 2,221 to 88 of the assembled bishops, this declaration was promulgated on 28 October 1965 by Pope Paul VI. It is the shortest of the 16 final documents of the Council and "the first in Catholic history to focus on the relationship that Catholics have with Jews." Similarly, is considered a monumental declaration in describing the Church's positive relationship with Muslims. It "reveres the work of God in all the major faith traditions." It begins by stating its purpose of reflecting on what humankind has in common in these times when people are being drawn closer together. The preparation of the document was largely under the direction of Cardinal Augustin Bea as President of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, along with his '' periti'', such as John M. Oesterreicher, Gregory Baum and Bruno Huss ...
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Dignitatis Humanae
''Dignitatis humanae'' (''Of the Dignity of the Human Person'') is the Second Vatican Council's Declaration on Religious Freedom. In the context of the council's stated intention "to develop the doctrine of recent popes on the inviolable rights of the human person and the constitutional order of society", ''Dignitatis humanae'' spells out the church's support for the protection of religious liberty. It set the ground rules by which the church would relate to secular states. The passage of this measure by a vote of 2,308 to 70 is considered by many to be one of the most significant events of the council. This declaration was promulgated by Pope Paul VI on December 7, 1965. ''Dignitatis humanae'' became one of the key points of dispute between the Vatican and traditionalist Catholic such as Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre who argued that the council document was incompatible with previous authoritatively stated Catholic teaching. Background Earlier Catholic view Historically, the ...
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St Augustine
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings influenced the development of Western philosophy and Western Christianity, and he is viewed as one of the most important Church Fathers of the Latin Church in the Patristic Period. His many important works include ''The City of God'', '' On Christian Doctrine'', and ''Confessions (Augustine), Confessions''. According to his contemporary, Jerome, Augustine "established anew the ancient Faith". In his youth he was drawn to the eclectic Manichaeism, Manichaean faith, and later to the Hellenistic philosophy of Neoplatonism. After his conversion to Christianity and baptism in 386, Augustine developed his own approach to philosophy and theology, accommodating a variety of methods and perspectives. Believing the Grace in Christ ...
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