Adina Samuels
Mrs. Hatmaker
Latin 3, 6th
2.03.2011
In Ancient Rome, there was a lot of turmoil between Greek pagans and Christians and in the rest of the empire. Once Christianity was finally in charge of Rome, the Christians started persecution, which had at one time been delivered to them. A few notable incidents of persecution delivered by Christians are the execution of Hypatia, Roman Emperors in forcing laws against Roman Paganism, and the results following the Edict of Thessalonica.
Hypatia was a Greek woman who lived in Roman Egypt between the years of 370 through 415. She was taught in the ways of speaking and holding an audience by her father Theon, in order to eventually gain an interest in math, science and astronomy. Through her research, she became a respected teacher and people came from great distances to hear her words. One night, Hypatia was walking in the streets of Alexandria, when a Christian mob killed her with pieces of pottery. After she was dead, her body was torn apart and burn. This was the first notable incident of Christian aggression to non believers. What may be a reason as to why Hypatia was executed, was because some of her teachings may have questioned the church's preaching. This is because pre modern Christianity believed in the earth being in the center of the universe, and in people living their life devoted to worshiping god. When a person like Hypatia tried to find out more about the world and the universe by studying mathematics, geometry, and astrology, they were considered to be questioning god's edict and must be stopped. Another reason why the Christian mob may have killed Hypatia was because they felt threatened that she was an educated woman, which back in antiquity was intimidating and “threatening”. Not only the Christian mob had to worry about a person who is able to question god's teachings; they were also concerned about her being a woman. These two reasons together, made the Christian mob feel it was necessary for them to put a stop to Hypatia teachings, which they viewed as sacrilegious.
The second way Christians persecuted pagans was by creating laws that forbade the sacrifice of Roman gods. The laws, created by Constantine's sons were enacted so people would start to convert to Christianity, which was the state religion. The main reason the emperors wanted the people to convert to Christianity was so they could consolidate power and keep their leadership. An emperor would not be well advised to say their title is a God given right, when the people do not believe in the god in question. To fix this, the emperors started taking away people's right to sacrifice to their god. In some religions it would not be a catastrophe if people weren’t allowed to sacrifice to their deities, however, the Roman religion was based on sacrifice. This meant the implications of people not allowing sacrifice to their gods were enormous. This resulted in many people heading to the Christian Church, which gave the Emperors what they wanted.
The last act of persecution of pagans by Christians came down to the Edict of Thessalonica, which professed Nicene Christianity was the only one tolerated by the Empire. The edict came after the laws against sacrificing to Roman gods were revoked. But in 380 the Emperors decreed everyone must follow the Christian faith, or to be persecuted. After the edicts were issued, Constantinople was completely closed off to Pagan worship. Not only Pagan's were kicked out of cites and their temples were confiscated, but they also lost their right to spread their beliefs or to congregate. These laws effectively whipped out wide spread belief of Roman Paganism throughout the empire.
To conclude, the Christians that controlled the Empire in it's later years, were almost as much against Roman Paganism as the Romans were against them in the previous centuries. There is a lesson to learn from the Romans about Christianity and religious tolerance.
