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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 ...
During the reigns of Gratian, Valentinian II and Theodosius I anti-pagan policies and their penalties increased. By the end of the period of Antiquity and the institution of the Law Codes of Justinian, there was a shift from the generalized legislation which characterized the Theodosian Code to actions which targeted individual centers of paganism.
Theodosius II enacted two anti-pagan laws in the year 425. The first of these stipulated that all pagan superstition was to be rooted out. [9] The second law barred pagans from pleading a case in court and also disqualified them from serving as soldiers. [10] Theodosius II then left Valentinian III to rule the west and returned to Constantinople.
They were interested in the relationships between Roman pagan cults and early Christianity. [11] Johann Christoph von Aretin [ de ] published a Greek text based on the two manuscripts in Munich in 1804 along with a Latin translation, which was later used as a basis for a translation into English in Ante-Nicene Fathers .
Bans on pagan sacrifices were regularly repeated in the 5th century, indicating that they were ineffectual. [147] Festivities were the most lasting elements of pagan cults. Augustine of Hippo writes of pagan dancers marching by Christian churches and stoning them as a reprisal for the Christian clergy's attempt to hinder the pagan celebration.
Theodosius I demands the destruction of pagan temples, holy sites, and ancient objects throughout the Roman Empire. Theodosius I abolishes the Greek Olympic Games , ending a thousand years of festivals, as part of the general Christian policy to establish universal Christian worship in accordance with the doctrines set forth in the Nicene Creed ...
The attempt of Emperor Julian the Apostate (reigned in 361—363) to restore pagan worship in the empire, while ultimately a policy failure, restored security to pagans. His immediate successors (from 363 until 375), under the reigns of Jovian , Valens and Valentinian I , had a policy of relative religious toleration towards paganism.
In response, Theodosius authorized his Gothic soldiers to punish the people of the city resulting in the killing of a large number of citizens when they were assembled in the city's hippodrome. Modern historians have had difficulty discerning the details of the massacre and its aftermath, as there are no contemporaneous accounts of the event.