Historia Augusta contra Christianos II. Nouvelles considérations sur la παιδεία païenne et sur l'ambiance antichrétienne dans l'Histoire Auguste

Abstract

The present essay furthers the research on the Paganism and covert anti-Christian polemics of the Historia Augusta whose first, programmatic instalment co-authored with S. Ratti appeared in the penultimate issue of this journal. Eleven enigmatic passages come under detailed scrutiny here; they are culled from the Lives of Hadrian (14. 2; 25. 5-7; 25. 9), Aelius (5. 7), Antoninus (9. 2; 12. 4), Macrinus (12. 5), Diadumenianus (5. 6), Heliogabalus (27. 2), and Alexander Severus (37. 7; 41. 6-7). The main result is that, while our anonymous writer deploys, often with ill-intent, topics, motives and actual, one-word quotes from the Septuagint, the New Testament and Pauline hagiography, he cleverly juggles allusions to Paganism that showcase both his classical learning and his peculiar sense of humour. The conclusion provisionally contends that the disinclination of the HA from the very start to be accurate on historical matters was modelled on the falsehood-ridden Lives of the saints so widespread in the late...