Religion

Mystery cults spread

Empire grew too vast & impersonal: state religion & imperial cult didn't meet individual emotional needs. Common people turned to exotic eastern cultures while upper class to philosophy

Mystery cults offered

Purification, monotheism, communion & life after death with secret rites & levels of initiation

Demeter

Greek grain goddess

Bacchus

Wine God ‘ fertility & freedom banned in 186 BCE for immorality

Cybele

Asian mother goddess of fertility & protection with lion imagery, priests castrated themselves, festivals included taurobolium: popular with woman, reached Rome during the 2nd Punic war later patronized by Claudius

Taurobolium

Bathing in bulls blood

Isis

Egyptian Savion goddess resembled husband Osiris, mother imagery popular with women major temple @Alexandria

Serapis

Related to Isis. Sky & healing god

,

Mithras

Persian god of light & truth reached Rome in late 1st Œ, 7 degrees of initiation temples look like caves ‘ imagery: touroctory pop with soldiers

Tauroctory

Imagery of Mithras slaying a bull, symbolizing rebirth

Sol Invictus

Eastern Sun cult. Patron of soldiers, black conical- cult stone; rites resemble Mithraism (baptism, ceremonial meal)

3 popular religions in Rome

By late 3rd century СЕ : Mithras, sol Invictus, christiamily

Imperial cult

Roman state religion where emperors & families worshipped as Gods

West imperial cult

Worshipped the dead deified

East imperial cult

Living rulers worshipped cold god-king tradition from Persia (Egypt)

Augustus

Organized imperial cult for Divus Julius Caesar. in 29BCE build temples for divine Julius spreads empire-vide as a unifying force

Genius

Only the living emperors genius (spirit) is worshipped while alive not the man

Demanded worship alive

Caligula, Domitian, commodus

Apotheosis

Transformation into a god at death

Claudius & Hadrian

Deified because their successors insisted

Apocolocyntosis

Pumpkinification of Claudius

Tiberius & Nero

Not deified

Domitian & commodus

Were damned

Damnatio memoriae

Erasure of memory

Christianity

Jesus of Nazareth claimed to be son of Yahweh crucified 30 Ce by Pontius Pilate under Tiberius

Christianity message

Love, forgiveness, equality, ever lasting love & open to everyone•uppopular with mainsteam Judaism attracting Te poor, slaves women & outcasts

Persecution rationale

Denying the emperors divinity = treason, secret riles misread as murder, cannibalism & incest

Christians

Made as scapegoats for plagues, famine & military defeat

Persecution begin

64 СЕ under Neo, martyr dan won more converts

312 CE battle of million bridge

Constantine wins after a vision gave him the chi-rho symbol & the words in HOC signo vincas puts this on shields

313 Ce edict of Milan

Constantine legalizes Christianity

321 СЕ

Sunday made a legal holiday ( sabbath of mithras/sol invichus worshippers)

325 Ce council of Nicaea

Constantine gathers bishops/scholars to define Christian doctrine - organizing the church

380 СЕ

Emperor theodosius the great makes Christianity the official state religion, bans paganism (Christians persecute pagans)

Christianity absorbs strength of 3 religions

Roman administration, Greek philosophy & Jewish monotheism

Greek philosophy

Aristotles concept of the soul

Roman administration

Priest hoods, pontifex Maximus → pope, basilicas, festivals, minor gods replaced by Saints

Jewish monotheism

Religion as a total way of life