Thémistios et la cohabitation compétitive dans l’Empire romain des années 360 : une course des religions

Abstract

The article proposes to analyze the notion of “religious competition” through the Oration V of the senator and philosopher Themistius, addressed to celebrate the beginning of the consulship of the new emperor Jovian on January 1st 364 in Ancyra (Galatia). To illustrate the religious world of the Roman Empire in the 360s ad, the author uses a vocabulary and images drawn from the agonistic realm. The analysis aims to show that this text is not a pagan attempt to plead for “religious tolerance” in an empire that had now taken the irrevocable path of Christian intolerance, as critics have often claimed. By addressing a new emperor, Themistius is rather claiming the tradition of the Roman Empire as a multi-religious and multicultural space.