Browsing by Subject "5th century Rome"

My master’s thesis discusses the last waves of resistance to of the traditional pagan Roman aristocracy and the new, now already quite established Christian aristocratic class in the beginning of the fifth century. Paganism had lost ground in Rome and had begun to merge into the growing wave of Christianity. My primary source is the case of a Roman pagan senator, Volusianus, and the correspondence he had with Bishop Augustine, with the aid of their mutual friend Marcellinus. Volusianus will represent in this thesis the side of the pagan aristocrat that comes from tradition and long ancestory, and even though born in a Christian Empire, he is brought up as a pagan and more importantly, a future senator of Rome. Volusianus shares the same concern pagan members of his class have felt ever since the removal of the pagan Altar of Victory from the Senate House, a symbolic sign from the imperial rule what religion is preferred: The Rome of his fathers is not the Rome he lives in. I will be using as additional sources the Third Relatio from senator Symmachus on behalf of re-instating the Altar, and also Saturnalia by Macrobius, a text written after Volusianus’s correspondence. As the Third Relatio will show the state of shock among the senators for this attack on their way of life, Saturnalia is a nostalgic view on a lost cultural heritage and an homage to the men who were seen as upholding all that is glorious about Rome, including Volusianus’s father. I will mostly focus on the reactions of the pagans. The Church could not succeed without the Roman super elite, and the Christian Emperor needed the Senate, as did the Senate need the Emperor. Why then, in a time that would seem to encourage conversion to Christianity was paganism and upholding it a matter of such devotion to these men who were, after all, imperial officials in a Christian Empire? Senators like Volusianus seems to show no great enthusiasm for Christianity, in fact he seems to look down on it slighty. But at the same time he is not zealous against it, and lives and works among his Christian family members and collegues. The concern Volusianus has is that of a Roman official; He is not sure Christianity is rational and not just tales of magicians and strange moral codes, a foreign religion that is simply not fitting for the educated citizen. He fears that Christ’s teachings are a way for foreign powers to take advantage of Rome and they would ruin her reputation as a formidable enemy. For him, Christianity does not seem to be anything terribly evil to avoid, but certainly not the best choice for the Empire. By looking at his social, cultural and philosophical background we can have a clearer insight into how Christianity in the beginning of the fifth century was seen by the very members it needed to impress