Pagan City and Christian Capital

Pagan City and Christian Capital PDF Author: John Curran
Publisher: Clarendon Press
ISBN: 0191581976
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 412

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Book Description
The critical century between the arrival of Constantine and the advance of Alaric in the early fifth century witnessed dramatic changes in the city of Rome. In this book Dr Curran has broken away from the usual notions of religious conflict between Christians and pagans, to focus on a number of approaches to the Christianization of Rome. He surveys the laws and political considerations which governed the building policy of Constantine and his successors, the effect of papal building and commemorative constructions on Roman topography, the continuing ambivalence of the Roman festal calendar, and the conflict between Christians over asceticism and 'real' Christianity. Thus using analytical, literary, and legal evidence Dr Curran explains the way in which the landscape, civic life, and moral values of Rome were transformed by complex and sometimes paradoxical forces, laying the foundation for the capital of medieval Christendom. Through a study of Rome as a city Dr Curran explores the rise of Christianity and the decline of paganism in the later Roman empire.

Pagan City and Christian Capital

Pagan City and Christian Capital PDF Author: John Curran
Publisher: Clarendon Press
ISBN: 0191581976
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 412

Get Book

Book Description
The critical century between the arrival of Constantine and the advance of Alaric in the early fifth century witnessed dramatic changes in the city of Rome. In this book Dr Curran has broken away from the usual notions of religious conflict between Christians and pagans, to focus on a number of approaches to the Christianization of Rome. He surveys the laws and political considerations which governed the building policy of Constantine and his successors, the effect of papal building and commemorative constructions on Roman topography, the continuing ambivalence of the Roman festal calendar, and the conflict between Christians over asceticism and 'real' Christianity. Thus using analytical, literary, and legal evidence Dr Curran explains the way in which the landscape, civic life, and moral values of Rome were transformed by complex and sometimes paradoxical forces, laying the foundation for the capital of medieval Christendom. Through a study of Rome as a city Dr Curran explores the rise of Christianity and the decline of paganism in the later Roman empire.

Pagan City and Christian Capital

Pagan City and Christian Capital PDF Author: John R. Curran
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780199254200
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 389

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Book Description
'a welcome addition to this distinguished series... the author has new insights to offer in every chapter... an impressive achievement, a work of great learning and meticulous documentation yet never dull and always readable.' -Fred S. Kleiner, Bryn Mawr Classical ReviewAn original and lively study of the transformation of the landscape, civic life, and moral values of the pagan city of Rome following the conversion of the emperor Constantine in the early fourth century. It examines the effects of the rise of Christianity and the decline of paganism in the later Roman empire, which laid the foundation for the capital of medieval Christendom.

Three Christian Capitals

Three Christian Capitals PDF Author: Richard Krautheimer
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520312848
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 303

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Book Description


Between Pagan and Christian

Between Pagan and Christian PDF Author: Christopher P. Jones
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674369521
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 223

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Book Description
Who and what was pagan depended on the outlook of the observer, as Christopher Jones shows in this fresh and penetrating analysis. Treating paganism as a historical construct rather than a fixed entity, Between Christian and Pagan uncovers the fluid ideas, rituals, and beliefs that Christians and pagans shared in Late Antiquity.

The Final Pagan Generation

The Final Pagan Generation PDF Author: Edward J. Watts
Publisher: University of California Press
ISBN: 0520379225
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 348

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Book Description
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.

Pagan and Christian Rome

Pagan and Christian Rome PDF Author: Rodolfo Amedeo Lanciani
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Art, Roman
Languages : en
Pages : 480

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City of God

City of God PDF Author: St Augustine
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1625583540
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 996

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Book Description
Saint Augustine of Hippo is one of the central figures in the history of Christianity, and this book is one of his greatest theological works. Written as an eloquent defense of the faith at a time when the Roman Empire was on the brink of collapse, it examines the ancient pagan religions of Rome, the arguments of the Greek philosophers, and the revelations of the Bible. Pointing the way forward to a citizenship that transcends worldly politics and will last for eternity, this book is one of the most influential documents in the development of Christianity. One of the great cornerstones in the history of Christian thought, The City of God is vital to an understanding of modern Western society and how it came into being. Begun in A.D. 413, the book's initial purpose was to refute the charge that Christianity was to blame for the fall of Rome (which had occurred just three years earlier). Indeed, Augustine produced a wealth of evidence to prove that paganism bore within itself the seeds of its own destruction. However, over the next thirteen years that it took to complete the work, the brilliant ecclesiastic proceeded to his larger theme: a cosmic interpretation of history in terms of the struggle between good and evil. By means of his contrast of the earthly and heavenly cities-- the one pagan, self-centered, and contemptuous of God and the other devout, God-centered, and in search of grace-- Augustine explored and interpreted human history in relation to eternity.

The Christians as the Romans Saw Them

The Christians as the Romans Saw Them PDF Author: Robert Louis Wilken
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300098396
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
This book offers an engrossing portrayal of the early years of the Christian movement from the perspective of the Romans.

Constantinople

Constantinople PDF Author: Rebecca Stephens Falcasantos
Publisher: University of California Press
ISBN: 0520304551
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
As Christian spaces and agents assumed prominent positions in civic life, the end of the long span of the fourth century was marked by large-scale religious change. Churches had overtaken once-thriving pagan temples, old civic priesthoods were replaced by prominent bishops, and the rituals of the city were directed toward the Christian God. Such changes were particularly pronounced in the newly established city of Constantinople, where elites from various groups contended to control civic and imperial religion. Rebecca Stephens Falcasantos argues that imperial Christianity was in fact a manifestation of traditional Roman religious structures. In particular, she explores how deeply established habits of ritual engagement in shared social spaces—ones that resonated with imperial ideology and appealed to the memories of previous generations—constructed meaning to create a new imperial religious identity. By examining three dynamics—ritual performance, rhetoric around violence, and the preservation and curation of civic memory—she distinguishes the role of Christian practice in transforming the civic and cultic landscapes of the late antique polis.

The History of Christianity from the Birth of Christ to the Abolition of Paganism in the Roman Empire

The History of Christianity from the Birth of Christ to the Abolition of Paganism in the Roman Empire PDF Author: Henry Hart Milman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Church history
Languages : en
Pages : 522

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Book Description