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One - Myth a Casualty of Christianity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 January 2023

Mont Allen
Affiliation:
Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
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Summary

Was the demythologization of Roman sarcophagus reliefs driven by a burgeoning Christian faith? To put it more succinctly, was myth a casualty of Christianity? This long-standing theory proposes that sarcophagi featuring mythless imagery – seasons, shepherds, philosophers, and hunters – gained in popularity because such imagery was religiously neutral and thus capable of appealing to both traditional “pagan” and new Christian clientele alike, a flexibility that the old mythological sarcophagi did not have. Testing this hypothesis requires that we consider Christian numbers and purchasing power in the city of Rome in the third century, as well as the question of who, exactly, was carving early Christian sarcophagi.

Type
Chapter
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The Death of Myth on Roman Sarcophagi
Allegory and Visual Narrative in the Late Empire
, pp. 50 - 73
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • Myth a Casualty of Christianity
  • Mont Allen, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
  • Book: The Death of Myth on Roman Sarcophagi
  • Online publication: 13 January 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009039031.002
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  • Myth a Casualty of Christianity
  • Mont Allen, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
  • Book: The Death of Myth on Roman Sarcophagi
  • Online publication: 13 January 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009039031.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Myth a Casualty of Christianity
  • Mont Allen, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
  • Book: The Death of Myth on Roman Sarcophagi
  • Online publication: 13 January 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009039031.002
Available formats
×