GOD AND THE GODS IN LATE ANTIQUITY – WHERE NEXT? (original) (raw)
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In the End There Was the Beginning: Pagan Cosmogonies in the Age of Justinian
Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, vol. 56-4, 2016
The conflict between the pagans and the Christian authorities of the Eastern Roman Empire has given birth to numerous polemical discussions among modern commentators, which is due to the fact that our sources on the subject were often biased. The closing of the Neo-Platonic Academy in Athens in 529 has nevertheless been cited as the end of pagan philosophy, even though its last leader, Damascius, would continue his philosophical activity around the Persian border. My paper deals with the persistent reception of one subject that was at odds with the Christian dogma, the cosmogony. Damascius is also known for his De principiis, a lengthy treaty about the One and the Ineffable that precedes it. Although the work itself is first and foremost an answer to previous Neoplatonists, it is also an extremely valuable source for other lost Pre-Socratic cosmogonies, namely the Orphic ones, which are interpreted alongside other non-Greek creation myths in the final pages of the treatise. On the other hand, John Lydus provides an intriguing adaptation of such creation myths in De ma-gistratibus reipublicae Romanae, where he combines Platonic and Aristotelian ideas in order to build an explanatory model for the contemporary decline in offices of state. His choice of sources shows, however, that he was likely a pagan himself and that he had professed the official religion in order to avoid persecution. Thus, he bases his argumentation on a pagan cosmogony as a form of resistance against recent changes in Byzantine bureaucracy.
The present contribution provides an examination of the relationship between the emperor and the divine sphere in Latin panegyric poetry of the fifth and sixth centuries. Following the path magisterially set forth by Claudian, poets like Sidonius Apollinaris and, later on, Corippus employs the same literary genre to praise the newly-come Germanic kings or the Eastern Emperor. They have, however, to face a profoundly transformed historical and political realm, not to mention a different approach towards religion. Whereas Panegyrici Latini and Claudian could make wide use of mythological similes to celebrate Rome, her grandeur and the deeds of the emperor, his successors deal with the ancient gods in quite a clear-cut or, so to say, crystallized way. They show a conservative (and, to some extent, nostalgic) attitude and still believe in the endurance of Rome, which is fated to last eternally. The sacralization of Rome (with the concurring ideas of a Christian providence and the literary cliché of pagan aeternitas) is integrated within the frame of an empire that has become totally Christianized and, especially in the East, finds in political theology a privileged terrain to establish its roots. In particular the link between Christianity and the emperor as vicar of God is well outlined by the symbolism of court ceremonial and gesture, which panegyrics describe in great detail.
Late Antique Christians were very opposed to certain practices of Greco-Roman religions such as idolatry, the practice of blood sacrifice, and divination. Christian authors perceived these practices as manifestations of demons and the worship of false gods. Therefore, the Christian emperors Constantine (306-337) and Constantius II (337-361) forbade blood sacrifices - but their successor Julian (361-363), a follower of paganism, reintroduced them. In fact, pagan texts suggest that, despite prohibitions, Greco-Roman worship practices remained active for a long time period. For Christians, especially for Greeks, the continuation of these practices was an evil that had to be fought. The return to a pagan and Hellenic culture of power under Julian accelerated the Christian urge to make a convincing case against traditional religions. Against this background, the Christians authors of the second half of the 4th and the 5th centuries attempted to demonstrate the obsolete and inefficient nature of traditional cult practices. They even invented situations of sacrifice and divination that resulted in failure due to the interventions of Christ. In this talk, I will examine the cases that Gregory Nazianzen, Socrates, Sozomen and Theodoret made against the sacrifices of the Emperor Julian. The dialectic of their stories reveals striking contradictions. Instead of proving the inefficiency of traditional sacrifices and divination, the authors argue that the communication with the gods during these practices is only possible because of the presence of Christ. This suggests that Christians simply redistributed the ceremonial roles while the actual practices remained deeply rooted in Hellenic culture. In short: Christ replaced the gods, the bishops replaced the intermediaries between Humans and God, and the Christian emperors replaced the pagan emperors.
Gods, Spirits, and Worship in Christianity and the Greco-Roman World. SSEJC 23. Edited by Craig A. Evans and Adam Z. Wright. New York: Bloomsbury., 2022
Around the year 180 CE , the satirist Lucian responded to a request from a friend that he provide an account of the life of a certain Alexander, a man who established himself as a priest/prophet for the god Asclepius. Lucian believed Alexander to be a charlatan. He tells the friend that he is embarrassed that his friend would make a request to document the life of such a scoundrel; and he was also embarrassed for himself that he had fulfi lled the request (Alex. 1-2). According to Lucian, Alexander concocted an extravagant plan to scam foolish simpletons out of their money. Th ere came a time when people began to see through the charade-primarily Epicureans (Alex. 25). 1 Alexander went on the attack by warning the citizens of Pontus that the area had become overrun by atheists and Christians spreading scandalous reports about him; he also spoke out against Epicurus (Alex. 25). He later moved to Rome. As part of an expanding menu of cultic options, Alexander introduced a set of mysteries modeled aft er those of Eleusis. On the fi rst day of the mysteries, a proclamation was read: any atheist, Epicurean, or Christian must immediately leave; then an antiphonal cry was raised: "Out with the Christians"; to which the response came: "Out with the Epicureans" (Alex. 38). My interest for this chapter is not in Lucian's characterization of Epicureans and Christians. 2 Rather, I use Lucian's text as an invitation to think about the circumstances in which educated people living in antiquity might apply the label "atheist. " I let Lucian's 1 Lucian indicates that Epicurus and Metrodorus were men with skeptical minds who had keen insight and were able to see through deceit (Alex. 17). Epicureans appear to thwart Alexander in chapters 45-7. Th e work ends with a tribute to Epicurus (Alex. 61). 2 It is fascinating to see the diff erent roles Christians play in Lucian's writing. In Th e Passing of Peregrinus , they are the foolish and gullible. In Alexander , they are among those who can see through Alexander and are placed on the same level as the Epicureans who are the ostensible heroes of the story. For a brief, recent, description of the challenges presented by Lucian and his usefulness for understanding non-Christians' perceptions of Christians in the second century, see John A.
Roman gods : a conceptual approach
2009
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