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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 ...
In the later part of the 4th century there were clearly a significant number of pagan sympathizers and crypto-pagans still in positions of power in all levels of the administrative system including positions close to the emperor; even by the 6th century, pagans can still be found in prominent positions of office both locally and in the imperial ...
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.
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.
[128] [129] During the reign of Theodosius, pagans were continuously appointed to prominent positions, and pagan aristocrats remained in high offices. [114] During his first official tour of Italy (389–391), the emperor won over the influential pagan lobby in the Roman Senate by appointing its foremost members to important administrative ...
Theodosius was born in Hispania [15] [16] [17] on 11 January, probably in the year 347. [18] His father of the same name, Count Theodosius, was a successful and high-ranking general (magister equitum) under the western Roman emperor Valentinian I, and his mother was called Thermantia. [19]
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.
[2]: 79 Olympiodorus was addressing a Christian court, but there was a certain amount of tolerance for pagan ideas: both Theodosius II and the Empress Eudocia were patrons of Hellenistic learning. [ 8 ] : 16 He felt able to assert that pagan cult objects could help the empire if they were respected (and hinder it if they were not).