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15 results

  • Chapter 12 - Crowd Behaviour and the Destruction of the Serapeum at Alexandria in 391/392 ce

  • from Part III - Religious Violence in Late Antiquity
  • Edited by Jitse H. F. Dijkstra, University of Ottawa, Christian R. Raschle, Université de Montréal
  • Book:
    Religious Violence in the Ancient World
    Published online:
    18 September 2020
    Print publication:
    01 October 2020, pp 286-305

  • Summary

    The riotous behaviour by crowds towards other crowds, individuals, buildings or objects is considered in many studies to be a main component of ‘religious violence’ in Late Antiquity.2 Yet these studies often fail sufficiently to take into account three, interrelated points. The first is that the, mostly Christian, sources typically describe the incidents in stark antithetical terms depending on the author’s agenda (‘pagan’–Christian, Arian–‘orthodox’, miaphysite–Chalcedonian and so on). The resulting black-and-white picture tends towards exaggeration and overemphasises the religious antithesis.3 A second point is that despite the focus in the sources on religious differences in reality – as with religious violence in general – almost always other factors were in play.

  • General Introduction

  • Edited by Jitse H. F. Dijkstra, University of Ottawa, Christian R. Raschle, Université de Montréal
  • Book:
    Religious Violence in the Ancient World
    Published online:
    18 September 2020
    Print publication:
    01 October 2020, pp 1-14

  • Summary

    Having described the rapid triumph of Christianity under Constantine in chapter 20, and the short revival of traditional religion by Julian in chapter 23, according to Gibbon the final reckoning with the Graeco-Roman religious tradition took place by the removal of the altar of Victory from the Senate house under Gratian and the subsequent imperial legislation under Theodosius I. The latter incited an empire-wide attack by Christian fanatics on temples, statues and other objects of worship, resulting, for example, in the famous destruction of the Serapeum at Alexandria in 391/92 ce. The success of this systematic campaign aimed at the ‘fall of Paganism’ was so complete, says Gibbon, that by 423 Theodosius’ grandson (Theodosius II) hardly noticed that there were any traces of the old religion left.2

Religious Violence in the Ancient World
  • From Classical Athens to Late Antiquity
  • Edited by Jitse H. F. Dijkstra, Christian R. Raschle
  • Published online:
    18 September 2020
    Print publication:
    01 October 2020
  • Much like our world today, Late Antiquity (fourth-seventh centuries CE) is often seen as a period rife with religious violence, not least because the literary sources are full of stories of Christians attacking temples, statues and 'pagans'. However, using insights from Religious Studies, recent studies have demonstrated that the Late Antique sources disguise a much more intricate reality. The present volume builds on this recent cutting-edge scholarship on religious violence in Late Antiquity in order to come to more nuanced judgments about the nature of the violence. At the same time, the focus on Late Antiquity has taken away from the fact that the phenomenon was no less prevalent in the earlier Graeco-Roman world. This book is therefore the first to bring together scholars with expertise ranging from classical Athens to Late Antiquity to examine the phenomenon in all its complexity and diversity throughout Antiquity.