Pagans and Christians in the Late Roman Empire: New Evidence, New Approaches 4th-8th Centuries

Description

Do the terms pagan and Christian, transition from paganism to Christianity still hold as explanatory devices to apply to the political, religious and cultural transformation experienced Empire-wise? Revisiting pagans and Christians in Late Antiquity has been a fertile site of scholarship in recent years: the paradigm shift in the interpretation of the relations between pagans and Christians replaced the old conflict model with a subtler, complex approach and triggered the upsurge of new explanatory models such as multiculturalism, cohabitation, cooperation, identity, or group cohesion. This collection of essays inscribes itself into the revisionist discussion of pagan-Christian relations over a broad territory and time-span, the Roman Empire from the fourth to the eighth century. A set of papers argues that if paganism had never been fully extirpated or denied by the multiethnic educated elite that managed the Roman Empire, Christianity came to be presented by the same elite as providing a way for a wider group of people to combine true philosophy and right religion. The speed with which this happened is just as remarkable as the long persistence of paganism after the sea-change of the fourth century that made Christianity the official religion of the State. For a long time afterwards, pagans and Christians lived in between polytheistic and monotheist traditions and disputed Classical and non-Classical legacies. List of Illustrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii Introduction: Marianne Sághy and Edward M. Schoolman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Lives Maël Goarzin The Importance of the Practical Life for Pagan and Christian Philosophers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Linda Honey Religious Profiling in the Miracles of Saint Thecla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Margarita Vallejo-Girvés Empress Verina among the Pagans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Anna Judit Tóth John Lydus, Pagan and Christian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Juana Torres Marcus of Arethusa, Heretic and Martyr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Identities Monika Pesthy Simon Imitatio Christi? Classical and Scriptural Literary Models of Martyrdom in Early Christianity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Levente Nagy Ascetic Christianity in Pannonian Martyr Stories? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Jérôme Lagouanère Uses and Meanings of ‘Paganus’ in the Works of Saint Augustine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Ecaterina Lung Religious Identity as seen by Sixth-Century Historians and Chroniclers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Cults Branka Migotti The Cult of Sol Invictus and early Christianity in Aquae Iasae . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Miriam Adan Jones Conversion as Convergence: Gregory the Great confronting Pagan and Jewish Influences in Anglo-Saxon Christianity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Edward M. Schoolman Religious Images and Contexts: “Christian” and “Pagan” Terracotta Lamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 Landscapes Hristo Preshlenov Believers in Transition: from Paganism to Christianity along the Southwestern Black Sea Coast (4th–6th centuries) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 Józef Grzywaczewski and Daniel K. Knox, Glory, Decay and Hope: Goddess Roma in Sidonius Apollinaris’ Panegyrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Luciana Gabriela Soares Santoprete Tracing the Connections between “Mainstream” Platonism and “Marginal” Platonism with Digital Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 Tombs Ivan Basić Pagan Tomb to Christian Church: The Case of Diocletian’s Mausoleum in Spalatum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 Zsolt Visy Christian Topography in Sopianae’s Late Antique Cemeteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273 Olivér Gábor and Zsuzsa Katona Győr Sopianae Revisited: Pagan or Christian Burials? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 Elizabeth O’Brien Impact beyond the Empire: Burial practices in Ireland (4th – 8th centuries) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341 List of contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357 Index of Personal Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363 Index of Geographical Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369