Hypatia and the Persecution of the Pagans

Hypatia was born 350 AD, Egypt. She was the daughter of Theon, who was considered

to be a well-known and respected philosopher and scientist throughout Egypt. Some historians

believe that Theon wanted to raise the perfect human. It is apparent that she had developed a

passion for mathematics and sciences. Most historians are certain that Hypatia surpassed Theon’s

knowledge at a young age. Her father also taught her the fundamentals of teaching so that she

became a very enticing orator.

Hypatia studied astrology, astronomy and mathematics. She was later credited by her

students of inventing the astrolabe. However this is very unlikely because the astrolabe was

dated a few centuries earlier. Historians believe she merely promoted the astrolabe’s use. In

addition, she studied conic sections, which were introduced by Apollonius. She wrote a book

called On the Conics of Apollonius. She was credited introducing ideas of ellipses, hyperbolas,

and parabolas.

 Hypatia with Astrolabe (the astrolabe

was used by astronomers, navigators, and astrologers, to find the time, place, and

positions of constellations in the sky)

At the end of the antique period, Christianity was starting to dominate the roman religion.

Riots frequently broke out between the different religious sects. Two leaders were opposing

each other, Cyril and Orestes. Hypatia, who happened to be a good friend of Orestes, was

unfortunately involved. Cyril spread nasty rumors about her. In 415 AD, a violent mob attacked

Hypatia on her way home. They apparently stripped her and killed her with shards of pottery,

then dragged her through the streets.


At this time Hypatia was one of many persecuted by the Christians, because she was

pagan. The Christians persecuted the pagans persecuted as much as the pagans persecuted them.

However not all Christians did this. Some were ambivalent and did not care. This example shows

how the Christians behaved when the tables were turned on the pagans.

Hypatia was also known as a philosopher, but not as much as her work on conic sections

Bibliography:

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Mathematicians/Hypatia.html

http://www.agnesscott.edu/lriddle/women/hypatia.htm

http://www.astr.ua.edu/4000WS/HYPATIA.html

http://www.heretication.info/_pagans.html

Romanization of British Religion

Owen K-W

Latin 3

5/23/14

The Romanization of British Religion

When the Romans started moving into Britain, many aspects of ancient British culture were changed and merged into Roman culture as Britons became citizens or Rome. According to the British Museum, following the Roman religion was necessary to prove loyalty to Rome. However, the not all of the Britons necessarily wanted to convert to another religion. The Romans, to make the foreign religions easier to understand, associated certain British deities with their own, which as a side effect made it more simple for the British people to worship their own gods but still be loyal to Rome. An example of this is the town of Bath, there the goddess Sul was worshiped. According to AQUAE SULIS, Sul was the goddess of rivers and fertility, as well as being a mother goddess. When the Romans arrived at Bath, they associated Sul with Minerva because they were both thought to have healing powers. The British religion was greatly changed by the Romans, but it kept many significant traits, such as the importance of sources of water and the number three. There were several Romano-british trios of gods and goddesses, according Rhythms of Triplism: The Triple Figures of Romano-Celtic Sculpture. While the Romans generally had no problems with British religion, they had very serious conflicts with the druids, who the Romans were afraid would contest their leadership. Several laws were passed prohibiting their religious rituals, and emperor Augustus did not allow people to be both Roman citizens and druids at once.

As the Romans moved in to Britain, their culture became mixed with the culture of the British. Many British gods were similar enough to one of the Roman gods that the two were blended into one. Rome's religion was somewhat flexible, making it simpler for Rome to take over areas with different deities. However, when a religious group proved to be a threat, Rome did not hesitate to take it down.

Bibliography

http://www.britishmuseum.org/PDF/british_museum_roman_britain.pdf

http://faculty.vassar.edu/jolott/old_courses/crosscurrents2001/aquae_sulis/index.html

http://www.unc.edu/celtic/catalogue/triplism/

Raphael Human Sacrifice

Raphael Kahn

Latin 3, Period 7

5/26/14

Roman Sacrificing

            Roman sacrifices were held so that Romans could repay the spirits that they had invoked. For instance, in order to repay Mother Earth for harvesting crops, the Romans held the annual spring festival of the Fordicidia. In this festival, they would kill a pregnant cow and make a burnt sacrifice of her aborted calf, in order to transfer the cow’s fertility to the earth. Sacrifices could also be used to symbolize the transfer of ownership. The typical sacrifice was performed through four phases: the praefatio, the immolatio, the slaughtering, and the banquet. In the praefatio, after the purification of the participants and victims, a procession led them to the altar of sacrificing. In the immolatio, wine was poured on the victim’s face and salted flour was sprinkled on the victims back. In the slaughtering, the victim was killed, butchered, and had its corpse opened up for the inspection of its vital organs. If the quality of the organs were deemed unsatisfactory, the sacrifice was held again. In the banquet, the victim was beheaded and the vital organs were set aside and prepared for offering. The method of preparation depended on what type of animal the victim was. After the vital organs were prepared, they were offered to the deity for whom the sacrifice had been conducted for. The manner of offering depended on which deity it was. For example, the offerings were thrown into the water for an aquatic deity. After the offerings were given to the deity, the rest if the victim was prepared for human consumption. While Romans were perfectly content to sacrifice all manner of creatures, fruits, vegetables, and even inanimate objects such as necklaces and bracelets, they abhorred human sacrifice. The Roman government did not tolerate human sacrifice, and by extension, did not tolerate Gaulish Druids. In Pliny the Elder’s writing, he denounces the nature of the Druids as barbaric for their belied in human sacrificing.

            While some people may have deemed the ancient Romans as barbaric for their conquering, slavery, and sacrificing, they did hold high standards for their time. They allowed more freedom of religion then was expected for their time period, they allowed slaves to earn their freedom, and they abhorred and outlawed human sacrificing. There is even a story about a man who, in order to please the gods, sacrificed his son. To do this, he killed his son, mutilated him, made him into a soup, and served it to the gods. Jupiter, finding this disgusting, sent the man to the underworld as punishment and reanimated the son. Yes, the ancient Romans had some questionable customs, but hey-at least they were not Druids.

 

Sources:

• The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization edited by Simon Hornblower and Anthony Spawforth
• A History of the Roman People by Allen M. Ward, Fritz M. Heichelheim, and Cedric A. Yeo
• http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Journals/JRS/2/Human_Sacrifices_at_Rome*.html
• Google images

 

 

Curses

During the start of the 1^st Century A.D., there were Romans who had very unique ideas about how religion worked. They believed that people could pray to their gods, to improve their own lives, and to ruin others. Many people would wonder why others would want to cause others harm.

In recent years, archeologists have discovered several tablets where ancient Roman civilization used to dwell. Some of the tablets are made of lead, and others are made from pewter, with inscriptions carved into them, asking for a god to grant the writer's the suffering of another individual. These tablets, are called “defixiones,” or, “curse tablets.” A few hundred have been excavated in Britain alone, and approximately ninety have been dug up in the historic town of Aquae Sulis.

The procedure of creating a curse tablet could follow a couple of methods. The first step, was to identify the intended recipient of the tablet-maker's wrath, and then inscribe it on the tablet. If the owner did not know the name of the victim, than they'd write an inventory of potential names instead. The next step was to explain the crime committed against the tablet's creator. Finally, they would identify the deity they wanted to do the act, and provide a description of how to go about the punishment, which would usually be very detailed, and very gory. Upon completion, the tablet would be rolled up, and either attached to a tomb, or dropped down a well.

Sometimes the tablet might have been more elaborate than just mere words. Some people had an idea that if written backwards, the words of the curse would have greater effects. Another idea for augmenting the potency of the tablet involved nonsensical words that did not exist. These included, “bazarga; bescue; berebescue; phrix; phrox;” and even, “abracadabra.” Some even included illustrations depicting demons or other mythological figures. In today's society, there would be many people who would disagree with this belief, given that it shows such malice towards others.

It is fascinating that the Romans, “... tended to see their gods as possible allies in the struggles of life.” (Cambridge, Page 42). However, there are some people who would disagree with the way the Romans applied the boon of divine alliance to the expense of another person, there are others who would promote the belief of a higher power looking out for individuals happiness and well-being.

Bibliography:

Cambridge Latin III

Persecution of Christianity

Persecution of Christianity

The Roman Empire is remembered today for its awesome power and many innovations, but one aspect of their remembrance has become a prominent discussion in our day and age, the prosecutions of Christianity. To an extent, Romans were understanding in others’ religions and cults. One of the major parameters they did set was that these groups had to pray to their gods. After Jerusalem was captured, Jews were treated harshly by the Romans, in part by their unwillingness to recognize Roman gods and the emperor as holy. There was tension on both sides but over time and integration between Jews and Romans, Jews were allowed to practice their religion without objection. Romans understood they were passionate about their belief in a singular god and could see the reasoning behind not preying to anyone else. However when Christianity came along, the Romans did not want to make another exception for a similar religion. After all, the Old testament for Christianity is the Torah for Judaism. In 64 C.E., Emperor Nero engineered the first attack on Christianity. He blamed the Great Fire, which some had thought he ordered, on those of Christian faith. During specific negative events or times of crisis, persecutions took place to take out the Romans’ anger and to use as a distraction. It was common for emperors to order persecutions to take the focuses off their negativity. These persecutions were accomplished in different ways. One of the most common methods was burning Christians alive, but there were other methods like putting Christians in a beast-fighting ring or feeding them to dogs. Throughout the first, second, and third centuries, persecutions severely depended on how the local governments approached Christianity. Often times persecuting Christians just became scapegoating for another issue. The fact that they were Christan were attacked making other important issues in less significant. On a broad point, Christians were prosecuted to discourage further conversions and bring people back to the belief in the Roman gods. This is how the last persecution of Christianity began. Galerius, the ruler of one of the four Roman provinces, convinced another named Diocletain to start persecuting in order to restore the purity in Roman religion that was severed by the introduction of Christianity. From the year 303 to 313, Christians had to swear an oath to the Roman gods and make an offering to them or die. During this time, churches were burnt, Christians were imprisoned, tortured, and murdered in one of the largest persecutions in Roman history. The persecutions of Christianity have extreme importance for they led, in part, to the rise of the Christianly. Although Christianity had already gained a following prior to the persecutions, the persecutions drew attention to the cause. If someone demands someone can not do something, the instinct reaction is to do exactly that. The Roman persecutions of Christianity had an drastic influence in the world we see today.

Works Cited

Websites:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/christianityromanempire_article_01.shtml

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/hispania/diocletian.html

https://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Persecution_of_Christians.html

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/heritage/episode3/documents/documents_9.html

http://www.fourthcentury.com/notwppages/persecution-timeline.htm ( Supported by History Department of Wisconsin Lutheran College and by Asia Lutheran Seminary)

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/164042/Diocletian/1832/Persecution-of-Christians

Books:

http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/world_civ/worldcivreader/world_civ_reader_1/tacitus.html

Cult of Mithras

Zachary Emil

Ms. Hatmaker

Latin III/Period 7

5/21/2014

Cult of Mithras

The Cult of Mithras, otherwise known as Mithraism or the Sun religion, was a religion that most originated from Persian Zoroastrianism, but officially recognized as a cult by the Roman Empire. They worshiped Mithra, a god commonly associated with light or the sun, and a hero of lightness over darkness. Mithraism is often referred to as a "mystery cult," secrecy played a large role in the religion. No written texts from Mithraism exist, and rituals were practiced in temples, known as Mithraeum, disguised to look like natural caves. What is known of the mythology is from paintings and reliefs in these temples; two of the most common depict Mithras sacrificing a sacred bull, and Mithras being born from a rock. Sol, the personified god of the sun, is often depicted alongside Mithras. Those who joined Mithraism had to sacrifice a bull, and were baptized in its blood. There was also a class system: Corax, Nymphus, Miles, Leo, Perses, Heliodromus, and Pater. Those who gained the title of Pater, or father, were allowed to be head of the congregation. It was very popular among Roman soldiers, most likely because of Mithras reputation of a warrior for good, as well as those who weren't citizens of Rome, such as merchants. However, women could not join. Mithraism began to grow in power and in followers; at one point, there were several Roman senators were suspected to be part of the Cult of Mithras. Its eventual downfall is commonly attributed to the spread of Christianity after it was named the Roman Empires official religion by Constantine, as well as the fact that it restricted its followers more.

Bibliography:

http://www.mithraeum.eu/

A history of the Roman People, edited by Allen ward and fritz heichelheim and Cedric Yeo

http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/

http://eawc.evansville.edu/

The Battle of Milvian Bridge

During the fourth century Christianity was spreading across Rome, and it would eventually become the main religion of the empire. This might not have happened however if it wasn't for the emperor Constantine and The Battle of Milvian Bridge. This famous battle was fought between two men who both wanted to become the next emperor. They were Constantine and Maxentius. This war had started when the precious emperor, named Diocletian, had abdicated. Maxentius had previously won two battles in Italy and had occupied the city of Rome; while Constantine’s army waited outside. Rather than be sieged Maxentius went out to fight. The battle took place in front of a bridge over the Tiber called the Milvian Bridge. The two events that make this battle so important are first that Constantine won and became emperor, and second the vision that Constantine had just before the battle. Lactantius, one of Constantin’s advisers, wrote that the night before the battle Constantine had a dream where he was told to paint the sign of the cross on to his soldier’s shields. Constantine then saw the sign of the cross in the sky, and he had visions of Jesus. Constantine’s subsequent victory converted him, and later the rest of Rome, to Christianity. Later Constantine would pass the Edict of Milan and make Christianity the official religion of the empire. The roman adoption of Christianity has greatly changed the world. All of Europe would eventually change from Pagan to Christianity. If Constantine hadn't had those visions, and if he hadn't won the battle, world history would be very different.