The Final Pagan Generation

Author : Edward J. Watts
Publisher : University of California Press
ISBN 13 : 0520379225
Total Pages : 348 pages
Book Rating : 4.20/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Final Pagan Generation written by Edward J. Watts and published by University of California Press. This book was released on 2020-08-25 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A compelling history of radical transformation in the fourth-century--when Christianity decimated the practices of traditional pagan religion in the Roman Empire. The Final Pagan Generation recounts the fascinating story of the lives and fortunes of the last Romans born before the Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity. Edward J. Watts traces their experiences of living through the fourth century’s dramatic religious and political changes, when heated confrontations saw the Christian establishment legislate against pagan practices as mobs attacked pagan holy sites and temples. The emperors who issued these laws, the imperial officials charged with implementing them, and the Christian perpetrators of religious violence were almost exclusively young men whose attitudes and actions contrasted markedly with those of the earlier generation, who shared neither their juniors’ interest in creating sharply defined religious identities nor their propensity for violent conflict. Watts examines why the "final pagan generation"—born to the old ways and the old world in which it seemed to everyone that religious practices would continue as they had for the past two thousand years—proved both unable to anticipate the changes that imperially sponsored Christianity produced and unwilling to resist them. A compelling and provocative read, suitable for the general reader as well as students and scholars of the ancient world.

Author : Alan Cameron
Publisher : OUP USA
ISBN 13 : 019974727X
Total Pages : 891 pages
Book Rating : 4.76/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Last Pagans of Rome written by Alan Cameron and published by OUP USA. This book was released on 2011 with total page 891 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a detailed analysis of the visual and textual evidence, this book disputes the widely held view that the late fourth century saw a vigorous and determined "pagan reaction" to the take-over of the Roman world by Christianity, at both the political and cultural level.

Author : Edward J. Watts
Publisher : Univ of California Press
ISBN 13 : 0520294866
Total Pages : 309 pages
Book Rating : 4.68/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Riot in Alexandria written by Edward J. Watts and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2017-02-23 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This innovative study uses one well-documented moment of violence as a starting point for a wide-ranging examination of the ideas and interactions of pagan philosophers, Christian ascetics, and bishops from the fourth to the early seventh century. Edward J. Watts reconstructs a riot that erupted in Alexandria in 486 when a group of students attacked a Christian adolescent who had publicly insulted the students' teachers. Pagan students, Christians affiliated with a local monastery, and the Alexandrian ecclesiastical leaders all cast the incident in a different light, and each group tried with that interpretation to influence subsequent events. Watts, drawing on Greek, Latin, Coptic, and Syriac sources, shows how historical traditions and notions of a shared past shaped the interactions and behavior of these high-profile communities. Connecting oral and written texts to the personal relationships that gave them meaning and to the actions that gave them form, Riot in Alexandria draws new attention to the understudied social and cultural history of the later fifth-century Roman world and at the same time opens a new window on late antique intellectual life.

Author : Edward J. Watts
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0197691951
Total Pages : 321 pages
Book Rating : 4.53/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Eternal Decline and Fall of Rome written by Edward J. Watts and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2023-10-11 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Eternal Decline and Fall of Rome tells the story of 2200 years of the use and misuse of the idea of Roman decline by ambitious politicians, authors, and autocrats as well as the people scapegoated and victimized in the name of Roman renewal. It focuses on the long history of a way of describing change that might seem innocuous, but which has cost countless people their lives, liberty, or property across two millennia.

Author : James J. O'Donnell
Publisher : Harper Collins
ISBN 13 : 0062370715
Total Pages : 211 pages
Book Rating : 4.16/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Pagans written by James J. O'Donnell and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2015-03-17 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Trenchantly interprets how an oddball religious cult became the official faith of Rome. . . . It makes for a thoughtful tour of Rome.” —New York Times Book Review Pagans explores the rise of Christianity from a surprising and unique viewpoint: that of the people who witnessed their ways of life destroyed by what seemed then a powerful religious cult. These “pagans” were actually pious Greeks, Romans, Syrians, and Gauls who observed the traditions of their ancestors. Religious scholar James J. O’Donnell takes us on a lively tour of the Ancient Roman world through the fourth century CE, when Romans of every nationality, social class, and religious preference found their world suddenly constrained by rulers who preferred a strange new god. Some joined this new cult, while others denied its power, erroneously believing it was little more than a passing fad. In Pagans, O’Donnell brings to life Roman religion and life, offers fresh portraits of iconic historical figures, including Constantine, Julian, and Augustine, and explores important themes—Rome versus the east, civilization versus barbarism, plurality versus unity, rich versus poor, and tradition versus innovation—in this startling account. “Mr. O’Donnell tells the familiar story of Christianity’s heroic age of expansion, from Constantine to Theodosius, with verve and wit.” —Wall Street Journal “Multilayered, erudite and dense.” —Cleveland Plain-Dealer “An engaging view of antiquity few of us have seen. —Booklist “O'Donnell offers an iconoclastic history of religion that tells an exciting new story that is deeply relevant to the way we think about religion in our own time.” —Washington Book Review

Author : Edward J. Watts
Publisher : Hachette UK
ISBN 13 : 0465093825
Total Pages : 351 pages
Book Rating : 4.23/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Mortal Republic written by Edward J. Watts and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2018-11-06 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Learn why the Roman Republic collapsed -- and how it could have continued to thrive -- with this insightful history from an award-winning author. In Mortal Republic, prize-winning historian Edward J. Watts offers a new history of the fall of the Roman Republic that explains why Rome exchanged freedom for autocracy. For centuries, even as Rome grew into the Mediterranean's premier military and political power, its governing institutions, parliamentary rules, and political customs successfully fostered negotiation and compromise. By the 130s BC, however, Rome's leaders increasingly used these same tools to cynically pursue individual gain and obstruct their opponents. As the center decayed and dysfunction grew, arguments between politicians gave way to political violence in the streets. The stage was set for destructive civil wars -- and ultimately the imperial reign of Augustus. The death of Rome's Republic was not inevitable. In Mortal Republic, Watts shows it died because it was allowed to, from thousands of small wounds inflicted by Romans who assumed that it would last forever.

Author : Philip West
Publisher : John Hunt Publishing
ISBN 13 : 178099172X
Total Pages : 155 pages
Book Rating : 4.26/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Old Ones in the Old Book written by Philip West and published by John Hunt Publishing. This book was released on 2012-06-29 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Hebrew Old Testament, which contains some of the world s most ancient religious texts, was written and repeatedly re-edited over the course of several centuries from about 1000 BCE. It reached its final form at the hands of editors who were monotheists. They believed that their god Yahweh was the only true God, and that he had been worshipped exclusively by their ancestors from the time of Abraham. They edited their sources to reflect this belief. However, we can strip away this veneer of later monotheism to view the ancient stories themselves. These bear witness to Israelite religion as practised before 600 BCE. Far from being monotheistic, this religion was a fascinating polytheistic paganism, close to the religion of the surrounding Canaanites. In this religion, Yahweh, far from being God as understood by modern western monotheism, was a distinctive tribal deity. This book will be of particular interest to the large numbers of western people who come from a broadly Christian or Jewish background but have left those faiths behind to explore paganism or New Age spirituality. ,

Author : Richard Fletcher
Publisher : HarperCollins
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 682 pages
Book Rating : 4.08/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Conversion of Europe (TEXT ONLY) written by Richard Fletcher and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 1917 with total page 682 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of how Europe was converted to Christianity from 300AD until the barbarian Lithuanians finally capitulated at the astonishingly late date of 1386. It is an epic tale from one of the most gifted historians of today. This remarkable book examines the conversion of Europe to the Christian faith in the period following the collapse of the Roman Empire to approximately 1300 when the hegemony of the Holy Roman Empire was firmly established. One of the book’s great strengths is the degree to which it shows how little was inevitable about this process, how surrounded by uncertainties. What was the origin of the missionary impulse? Who were the activists who engaged in this work – the toilsome, often unrewarding, sometimes dangerous work of evangelisation, and how did they set about putting over this faith? How did a structure of ecclesiastical government come into being? Above all, at what point can one say that an individual or a society has become Christian? Fletcher’s range, lucidity and mastery of his sources brings the answers to these and many other questions as far within our grasp as they probably ever can be. Like Alan Bullock and Simon Schama, Fletcher is a historian with the true gift of a storyteller and a wide general readership ahead of him. Fletcher’s previous book, The Quest for El Cid won both the Wolfson History Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Award for History. This book is even better – the most impressive achievement so far of this strikingly gifted historian.

Author : Josef Lössl
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1118968107
Total Pages : 711 pages
Book Rating : 4.09/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A Companion to Religion in Late Antiquity written by Josef Lössl and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2018-05-22 with total page 711 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive review of the development, geographic spread, and cultural influence of religion in Late Antiquity A Companion to Religion in Late Antiquity offers an authoritative and comprehensive survey of religion in Late Antiquity. This historical era spanned from the second century to the eighth century of the Common Era. With contributions from leading scholars in the field, the Companion explores the evolution and development of religion and the role various religions played in the cultural, political, and social transformations of the late antique period. The authors examine the theories and methods used in the study of religion during this period, consider the most notable historical developments, and reveal how religions spread geographically. The authors also review the major religious traditions that emerged in Late Antiquity and include reflections on the interaction of these religions within their particular societies and cultures. This important Companion: Brings together in one volume the work of a notable team of international scholars Explores the principal geographical divisions of the late antique world Offers a deep examination of the predominant religions of Late Antiquity Examines established views in the scholarly assessment of the religions of Late Antiquity Includes information on the current trends in late-antique scholarship on religion Written for scholars and students of religion, A Companion to Religion in Late Antiquity offers a comprehensive survey of religion and the influence religion played in the culture, politics, and social change during the late antique period.

Author : Paula Fredriksen
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 0300240740
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.40/5 ( download)

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Download or read book When Christians Were Jews written by Paula Fredriksen and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2018-10-23 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A compelling account of Christianity’s Jewish beginnings, from one of the world’s leading scholars of ancient religion How did a group of charismatic, apocalyptic Jewish missionaries, working to prepare their world for the impending realization of God's promises to Israel, end up inaugurating a movement that would grow into the gentile church? Committed to Jesus’s prophecy—“The Kingdom of God is at hand!”—they were, in their own eyes, history's last generation. But in history's eyes, they became the first Christians. In this electrifying social and intellectual history, Paula Fredriksen answers this question by reconstructing the life of the earliest Jerusalem community. As her account arcs from this group’s hopeful celebration of Passover with Jesus, through their bitter controversies that fragmented the movement’s midcentury missions, to the city’s fiery end in the Roman destruction of Jerusalem, she brings this vibrant apostolic community to life. Fredriksen offers a vivid portrait both of this temple-centered messianic movement and of the bedrock convictions that animated and sustained it.