A picture can often say a thousand words, it is said. Alexamenos is seen worshipping a crucified man with the head of a donkey.(1a) Scratched into a wall, near the palatine hill in Rome it casts a clue as to the confrontation that existed between Romans and the rising number of the Christians. What ran through the mind of that Roman as he scratched that image into the wall? How was this new upcoming religion of Christianity challenging devotees to Jupiter, Apollo and Venus. How did Christianity effectively destroy a way of life for millions within a matter of two centuries? Here I will try to step back in time and get a glimpse to answer the question of the ultimate triumph of Jesus over Jupiter.
Roman Daily Living :
Dionysius our graffiti artist above, after his artwork would have decided to head to the temple of Jupiter. Upon entering he would have seen a massive statue of Jupiter, flanked by Juno and Minerva on either side. Ancient Romans would always note the 'manifest presence' of the gods in their lives. Gods existed in the everyday lives of Romans, they involved themselves, and for those pious they would often appear to help their devotees. A popular story comes to mind from the mythology of Aesop, where a wagon driver having gotten his wagon stuck in the mud, appeals to Hercules, while sitting in the wagon. Hercules appears and reminds him : O Wagon Rider! Have you not stepped out of your wagon and made any effort? The Gods help those who help themselves! (1b)
For those that were pious, there are numerous stories and sightings of the Gods presenting to help and advise them.
One may read the thoughts of Marcus Aurelius, acknowledge his reverence for the gods and ponder on the greatness of his work.(2) Many lines capture the same, for a example :
VII 6 : All things are implicated with one another, and the bond is holy; and there is hardly anything unconnected with any other things. For things have been coordinated, and they combine to make up the same universe. For there is one universe made up of all things, and one god who pervades all things, and one substance, and one law, and one reason.
All could worship of their own accord as long as they remained good citizens and occasionally offered sacrifice to the gods. Offering sacrifice often meant taking an animal of value and giving to the god of your choice, which could be a bloody affair. Most times though, cheese, wine or milk would have sufficed. As a good roman citizen, you would ensure health to the empire,Caesar and yourself thorough sacrifice.
Into this world was born Christ and his teachings would say that there is only one father in heaven and no one can reach him except through him.(3) In fact most could only be saved by hearing the good news of the gospel. Without such good news, you were damned to a eternity of hell. With his death, a few stalwart missionaries spread out to "save" as many as they could. Christians could not accept any other God then God in heaven as described by Jesus and the spirit of God descended into Jesus himself. Christians could not partake anymore in the rituals of their ancestors, breaking even family traditions, feeling to live out their lives as instructed by Jesus for a better life in the hereafter. Not just the promise of a better life, but the promise that if such teachings were denied, the hellfire would be theirs for the hereafter.
Armageddon here and now :
Early Christianity would preach extensively that Armageddon or the day of judgement was just around the corner, and would whip up fervor in town centers to accept the word of Christ before it was too late. For those that did not accept, a life of hellfire awaited thee. Many would think that natural disasters and the coming plagues were a initial start to the coming Armageddon.
Indeed when the great plague of Cyprian struck in 250 AD many Romans would blame the plague on the anger of the Gods.(4)
Indeed when the great plague of Cyprian struck in 250 AD many Romans would blame the plague on the anger of the Gods.(4)
Millions caught the plague and many millions died. Millions suffered great pain daily in the pestilence and horrors felt within and seen around them. Trying to appease the Gods with sacrifices would have had little benefit in the massive human crisis they faced and done little to assuage the fear in light of thousands dying daily in the plague.
Into this vacuum stepped a more organised Christian community. Christians were much more organised then many central services including the army which was taking it's own casualties. They were often the first responders to help plague affected victims as their crucified messiah often did through his life. However the message was two fold, Armageddon had arrived and only in the belief of Jesus may you be saved in this life and from the hellfire in the hereafter. In view of desperate salvation from pain now and the hereafter, many Romans placed their faith and service to Christ. Through fear and coercion Christians managed to turn large numbers of the populace to their cause. Christians may be commended for their social service, but service with the agenda to convert, takes the shine from service to help the needy.
Martyrdom :
We do not know why Perpetua or her companions were taken to prison.(5) What we are given is a glimpse into the thought process of her mind, through her diaries. For whatever crime she did against the Roman empire, she refused to act as any Roman might. Christian accounts paint a heart wrenching story of her refusing beseeching pleas from her father to offer sacrifice to the gods and the health of the roman empire. The Empire did not care if you were Christian or not as long as you did your civic duty to the empire in Sacrifice, showing that you wished well for the health of the empire and were proud to be Roman. Her father would come and beseech her to conform, to live and perform the duties of a daughter and a mother to her new born. She however would often think of him as demented in his "old age". Instead she only thought to die suffering as her God had done to provide her direct access to heaven, as was promised to all martyrs dying in the service of Christ.
We read of a gruesome story of her facing a enraged bull and when broken by his horns, standing in front of a quivering gladiator, she plunged his Gladius into her throat. Romans could not understand the multitudes of Christians trying to commit martyrdom as their suffering God did. Supposedly however, such suffering did convince a significant number of Romans to appreciate their faith and investigate more.
Glorification of martyrdom became a backbone of of the faith, a spiritual path to follow for those walking in the footsteps left behind by no less than than the Messiah himself.
A women's touch?
What is impressive is the emphasis of personal communication in the Christian community. Stories are abound of solitary Christians acting as individual missionaries to spread the faith. Paul himself gives thanks to numerous women in the early church who gave considerable support to the movement.
Lydia of Phillipi was a wealthy lady and owner of a flourishing business in purple cloth who converted and then converted her whole household on hearing the apostle Paul.(6) She would often hold many congregations in her house. Paul again speaks of Priscilla and Aquilla multiple times and says at least on one occasion, they saved his neck. It seems that women in the 1st century seemed to be attracted to Christianity as it gave them a more prominent space in society.
Women are often given mention as to greatly influencing their male consorts such as Clotilde who managed to convert her husband, the great Frankish King Clovis.(7) Marcia the concubine to Roman emperor Commodus, is said to have spared many Christians from hard labor by her favors.(8)
Christ himself is said to have spent a great deal of personal time with one of his disciples, Mary Magdalena even going so far as to give her special secret teaching and in one broken line in the gospel of Phillip kissing her on the (.......) (9)
Many have filled in the blanks as to mean the mouth. She stands tall amongst the gathering of disciples revealing such teaching to the frustration of Peter who is upset that a woman should have had such instruction.
Women during the early Christian years seems to have offered much to the growth of the fledgling movement, before slowly being removed from authority and firmly pushed to the sideline.
Constantine :
What seems to have really led the surge of Christianity and the death of the Roman Gods however is the conversion of the great emperor Constantine. In trying to reconquer Rome from his rival Maxentius he was influenced by a fire and light show from the heavens, what many now regard as a meteorite that slammed into the earth creating a dust storm. (10) Through the haze, Constantine thought he saw the sign of the Chi Rho the first two letters of Christs name and a booming sound that exclaimed 'By this sign conquer!' Constantine went on to defeat his rival Maxentius to take Rome and then kill his brother in law Licentius to take command of the whole roman empire.
What follows is state sponsored campaign to provide toleration to the Christians and a massive funding campaign to build churches with no funding to the temples. He convened the first Christian council at Nicaea, where the man Jesus was declared to be a God. His newly converted mother Helena went off to the Holy land where she identified the place of Jesus Crucifixion and had a temple to Jupiter torn down to build the Church of the holy sepulchre.(11)
This spells the beginning of the end for the gods of old. Constantine seems to have fully engaged his new religion by demonizing the old. He would call any offering or sacrifice to the gods as 'foul pollution'. Emboldened by their new protected status given by the emperor, Christians would go on the offensive, breaking idols and destroying temples. In a span of 30 years, Christian torture of unbelieving Romans, destruction and conversion of their religious sites led to the death of the old roman religion.(12)
Dionysius our character may have been living through this time. He might have seen veneration to the gods at the great temples decline. He may have even seen destruction of a few temples firsthand. While carving the head of the donkey on the body of a man being crucified, we may even understand his plight, if he was being terrorized.
Roman religion was exceedingly tolerant and for that reason, it seems to have paid the price. By trying to accept all religions into it's fold and allowing a foot hold for Christianity to grow, it sowed a seed where Christians first loyalty would never be to family, nation or tradition. It tore at the very heart of unity in the empire and created a schism in the very same people. This seems to be the threat of the Abrahamic religions as a whole, and one would heed the voices from the past to see the threat to nations today where many of the above are unfolding.
Proceeding to today's age and one may see multiple parallels to what is happening in India today against Hindus. In Part II I would follow the same theme today as to how Christianity has surged ahead in India using many of the same themes. If such a surge is not stopped, we may see the relics of Hindus scattered and collected in museums. Our temples destroyed and converted to Churches or Mosques, with a few scratchings on the wall to remember us by.
2) Meditations
7) Clovis_I
8) pg 281 Pagans and Christians : Robin Lane Fox.
11) Helena_(Empress)
12) Pg 664 - 672 Pagans and Christians : Robin Lane Fox
Very interesting
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