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The persecution of pagans under Theodosius I began in 381, after the first couple of years of his reign as co-emperor in the eastern part of the Roman Empire.In the 380s, Theodosius I reiterated the ban of Constantine the Great on animal sacrifices, prohibited haruspicy on animal sacrifice, pioneered the criminalization of magistrates who did not enforce anti-pagan laws, broke up some pagan ...
Whilst "paganism, with Theodosius dies, never to rise again", according to a Christian historian [34] committed pagans continued, wherever possible, to practice their faith discreetly or under cloak of common festivals and by keeping within the letter of the law if not its spirit, [12] more commonly in the countryside, hence they are called "rustics - the pagani".
Theodosius I (Ancient Greek: Θεοδόσιος Theodosios; 11 January 347 – 17 January 395), also known as Theodosius the Great, was a Roman emperor from 379 to 395. He won two civil wars and was instrumental in establishing the Nicene Creed as the orthodox doctrine for Nicene Christianity.
Anti-pagan laws were established and continued on after Theodosius I until the fall of the Roman Empire in the West. Arcadius, Honorius, Theodosius II, Marcian and Leo I reiterated the bans on pagan sacrifices and divination and increased the penalties. The necessity to do so indicates that the old religion still had many followers.
[1] [2] Theodosius dissolved the order of the Vestal Virgins in Rome, banned the pagan rituals of the Olympics in Ancient Greece and did nor punish nor prevent the destruction of antique Hellenistic temples, such as the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. With the death of Theodosius in 395, the Roman Empire was divided once more between his two sons.
Maternus Cynegius (died 388) was a Roman bureaucrat and close confidant of the emperor Theodosius I.He held the offices of praetorian prefect of the East (384–388) and consul (388), and has been widely blamed by historians for instigating the widespread destruction of pagan temples and shrines throughout the eastern Roman provinces.
Serapis continued to increase in popularity during the Roman Empire, often replacing Osiris as the consort of Isis in temples outside Egypt. Alongside his Egyptian roots he gained attributes from other deities, such as chthonic powers linked to the Greek Hades and Demeter , and benevolence derived from associations with Dionysus .
He renovated the pagan Temple of Venus and Roma and restored the Altar of Victory after continued petitions from the Roman Senate. Eugenius replaced Theodosius' administrators with men loyal to him. This included pagans, reviving the pagan cause. His army fought the army of Theodosius at the Battle of the Frigidus, where he was captured and ...