Worshippers of the Gods Debating Paganism in the Fourth-Century Roman West
last empire-wide persecution of Christians under the Tetrarchy to the removal of state funds from the Roman cults in the early 380s. Influential recent scholarship has seen Christian polemical literature-a crucial body of evidence for late antique polytheism-as an exercise in Christian
identity-making. In response, Worshippers of the Gods argues that Lactantius, Firmicus Maternus, Ambrosiaster, and Ambrose offered substantive critiques of traditional religion shaped to their political circumstances and to the preoccupations of contemporary polytheists. By bringing together this polemical literature with imperial laws, pagan inscriptions, and the letters and papers of the senator Symmachus, Worshippers of the Gods reveals the changing horizons of Roman thought on traditional religion in the fourth century. Through its five interlocking case
studies, it shows how key episodes in the Empire's religious history-the Tetrarchic persecution, Constantine's adoption of Christianity, the altar of Victory affair, and the 'disestablishment' of the Roman cults-shaped contemporary conceptions of polytheism. It also argues that the idea of a unified
'paganism', often seen as a capricious invention, actually arose as a Christian response to the eclectic, philosophical polytheism in vogue at Rome.
| Publisher Name | Oxford University Press USA |
|---|---|
| Author Name | Hagendorf, Col |
| Format | Audio |
| Bisac Subject Major | REL |
| Language | NG |
| Isbn 10 | 0190082445 |
| Isbn 13 | 9780190082444 |
| Target Age Group | min:NA, max:NA |
| Dimensions | 00.93" H x 00.06" L x 30.00" W |
| Page Count | 252 |
Mattias Gassman is a Latinist and Roman historian. In 2017, he completed his doctorate in Classics at the University of Cambridge. His research, which includes articles on Cyprian of Carthage, Cyril of Jerusalem, Orosius, and Augustine, focuses on late antique reception of Classical literature and
the intersection of religion, politics, and literary culture in the later Roman Empire.
