{"id":73921,"date":"2024-01-12T09:30:35","date_gmt":"2024-01-12T14:30:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/?p=73921"},"modified":"2024-01-14T21:09:33","modified_gmt":"2024-01-15T02:09:33","slug":"paganism-under-constantine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/daily\/ancient-cultures\/ancient-rome\/paganism-under-constantine\/","title":{"rendered":"Paganism Under Constantine"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"paganism<\/a>

Aerial view of an excavated wall of the Spello temple. Courtesy Luca Primavesi, Spello Project. <\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

While Constantine the Great (r. 306\u2013337 CE) is remembered as the first Christian emperor, it is sometimes forgotten that it was only around 70 years after his reign that pagan belief was banned and Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Indeed, a newly excavated temple<\/a> in Spello, Italy, shows that traditional Roman religion remained strong and even received formal imperial support under Emperor Constantine.<\/p>\n

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Constantine\u2019s Imperial Cult<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Although scholars have long known that it took decades for paganism to recede from everyday Roman life, many questions have remained about exactly when and how traditional beliefs and practices began to be phased out. The excavations of Spello\u2019s Roman temple may demonstrate that the process was much slower and less drastic than many had assumed, all because of one intriguing letter written by Emperor Constantine himself.<\/p>\n

Written to the townspeople of ancient Spello, about 100 miles north of Rome, the letter permits them to celebrate a traditional religious festival in their town rather than having to travel outside. In return, Constantine instructs them to erect a temple to his deified ancestors, the Flavians, and worship them. The archaeological team believes this may be the very temple that was discovered in Spello. Although only a portion of the temple has been excavated, the team believes it will be the \u201clargest evidence ever of the imperial cult in both fourth-century Italy and the late Roman Empire.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a remarkable religious continuity between the Roman world and the early Christian world,\u201d said archaeologist Douglas Boin of Saint Louis University. \u201cThings didn\u2019t change overnight. Before our find, we never began to imagine the size of the actual physical, religious sites that could be associated with this late imperial cult practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

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