Epilogue

Abstract

THE CHRISTIANIZING OF the ancient Mediterranean came at a tremendous cost to many persons. It entailed the suppression and eradication of all traditional Mediterranean religious practice except that of Jews, Samaritans, and of course, Christians themselves. Temples and other cult sites were closed. Entering them for religious purposes was criminalized, and the penalties (threatened) for such acts were dire: banishment, deprivation of the right to bequeath property to one’s heirs, confiscation of property to state coffers, and even death. That such strategies may not have been entirely effective is immaterial; traditional Mediterranean religions were sufficiently decimated by the alliance of Christian bishops and Roman emperors that they would never recover. Theodosios I may have been optimistically premature in his perception that there were no more “pagani” in the late fourth century, but this would ultimately prove true enough. According to the Pew Research Center, in the twenty-first century, there are over 2 billion Christians, if of varying persuasions; there are no functioning temples to the ancient Mediterranean gods....