Editing Religion in ancient Rome (section)

=== Roman Empire ===

==== Eastern Influence ====
[[File:Bellerophon, Pegasus, and Athena.jpg|thumb|[[Bellerophon]], [[Pegasus]], and [[Athena]] ([[Minerva]]), fresco of the 3rd style from Pompeii, first half of the 1st century]]
Under the rule of Augustus, there existed a deliberate campaign to reinstate previously held belief systems amongst the Roman population. These once held ideals had been eroded and met with cynicism by this time.<ref>{{Cite book|last=McLaughlin, Raoul|title=Rome and the distant East : trade routes to the ancient lands of Arabia, India and China|date=2010|publisher=Continuum|isbn=978-1-4411-6223-6|location=London|oclc=667274301}}</ref> The imperial order emphasized commemoration of great men and events which led to the concept and practice of divine kingship. Emperors postceding Augustus subsequently held the office of Chief Priest (pontifex maximus) combining both political and religious supremacy under one title.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Roberts |first=J. M. (John Morris) |title=History of the world|date=1993|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-521043-9|location=New York|oclc=28378422}}</ref>

==== Absorption of Cults ====
[[File:Fresque Mithraeum Marino.jpg|thumb|left|[[Mithras]] in a Roman wall painting]]
The Roman Empire expanded to include different peoples and cultures; in principle, Rome followed the same inclusionist policies that had recognised Latin, Etruscan and other Italian peoples, cults and deities as Roman. Those who acknowledged Rome's hegemony retained their own cult and religious calendars, independent of Roman religious law.<ref>Pliny the Younger, Epistles, 10.50.</ref> Newly municipal [[Sabratha]] built a Capitolium near its existing temple to [[Liber Pater]] and [[Serapis]]. Autonomy and concord were official policy, but new foundations by Roman citizens or their Romanised allies were likely to follow Roman cultic models.<ref>As at Narbonne and Salona. See Andringa, in Rüpke (ed.), 89.</ref> Romanisation offered distinct political and practical advantages, especially to local elites. All the known effigies from the 2nd century AD forum at [[Cuicul]] are of emperors or [[Concordia (mythology)|Concordia]]. By the middle of the 1st century AD, Gaulish [[Vertault]] seems to have abandoned its native cultic sacrifice of horses and dogs in favour of a newly established, Romanised cult nearby: by the end of that century, Sabratha's so-called [[tophet]] was no longer in use.<ref>Van Andringa, in Rüpke (ed.), 89.</ref> Colonial and later Imperial provincial dedications to Rome's Capitoline Triad were a logical choice, not a centralised legal requirement.<ref>Beard et al. 1998</ref> Major cult centres to "non-Roman" deities continued to prosper: notable examples include the magnificent Alexandrian [[Serapium]], the temple of Aesculapeus at Pergamum and Apollo's sacred wood at Antioch.<ref>Van Andringa, in Rüpke (ed.), 88.</ref>

The overall scarcity of evidence for smaller or local cults does not always imply their neglect; votive inscriptions are inconsistently scattered throughout Rome's geography and history. Inscribed dedications were an expensive public declaration, one to be expected within the Graeco-Roman cultural ambit but by no means universal. Innumerable smaller, personal or more secretive cults would have persisted and left no trace.<ref>Haensch, in Rüpke (ed.), 180–3.</ref>

Military settlement within the empire and at its borders broadened the context of ''Romanitas''. Rome's citizen-soldiers set up altars to multiple deities, including their traditional gods, the Imperial genius and local deities – sometimes with the usefully open-ended dedication to the ''diis deabusque omnibus'' (all the gods and goddesses). They also brought Roman "domestic" deities and cult practices with them.<ref>Kaufmann-Heinimann, in Rüpke (ed.), 200.</ref> By the same token, the later granting of citizenship to provincials and their conscription into the legions brought their new cults into the Roman military.<ref>Haensch, in Rüpke (ed.), 184.</ref>

Traders, legions and other travellers brought home cults originating from Egypt, Greece, Iberia, India and Persia. The cults of [[Cybele]], [[Isis]], [[Mithras]], and [[Sol Invictus]] were particularly important. Some of those were initiatory religions of intense personal significance, similar to Christianity in those respects.

==== Imperial cult ====
{{Main|Imperial cult (Ancient Rome)|l1=Imperial cult of ancient Rome}}
[[File:Maison Carree in Nimes (16).jpg|right|thumb|The [[Maison Carrée]] in [[Nîmes]], one of the best-preserved [[Roman temple]]s.  It is a mid-sized [[Augustus|Augustan]] provincial temple of the Imperial cult.]]

In the early Imperial era, the [[princeps]] ({{lit|first among citizens|foremost among citizens}}) was offered ''genius''-cult as the symbolic ''paterfamilias'' of Rome. His cult had further precedents: popular, unofficial cult offered to powerful benefactors in Rome: the kingly, god-like honours granted a Roman general on the day of his [[Roman triumph|triumph]]; and in the divine honours paid to Roman magnates in the Greek East from at least 195 BC.<ref>Gradel, 32-52.</ref><ref>Beard, 272-5.</ref>

The deification of deceased emperors had precedent in Roman domestic cult to the ''dii parentes'' (deified ancestors) and the mythic [[apotheosis]] of Rome's founders. A deceased emperor granted apotheosis by his successor and the Senate became an official State ''divus'' (divinity). Members of the Imperial family could be granted similar honours and cult; an Emperor's deceased wife, sister or daughter could be promoted to ''diva'' (female divinity).

The first and last Roman known as a living ''divus'' was [[Julius Caesar]], who seems to have aspired to divine monarchy; he was murdered soon after. Greek allies had their own traditional cults to rulers as divine benefactors, and offered similar cult to Caesar's successor, Augustus, who accepted with the cautious proviso that expatriate Roman citizens refrain from such worship; it might prove fatal.<ref>Fishwick, Vol 3, part 1, 3: citing Cassius Dio, 51, 20, 6-7</ref> By the end of his reign, Augustus had appropriated Rome's political apparatus – and most of its religious cults – within his "reformed" and thoroughly integrated system of government. Towards the end of his life, he cautiously allowed cult to his ''numen''. By then the Imperial cult apparatus was fully developed, first in the Eastern Provinces, then in the West.<ref>Fishwick, Vol 1, book 1, 77 & 126-30.</ref> Provincial Cult centres offered the amenities and opportunities of a major Roman town within a local context; bathhouses, shrines and temples to Roman and local deities, amphitheatres and festivals. In the early Imperial period, the promotion of local elites to Imperial priesthood gave them Roman citizenship.<ref>Fishwick, Vol 1, book 1, 97-149.</ref>

In an empire of great religious and cultural diversity, the Imperial cult offered a common Roman identity and dynastic stability. In Rome, the framework of government was recognisably Republican. In the Provinces, this would not have mattered; in Greece, the emperor was "not only endowed with special, super-human abilities, but... he was indeed a visible god" and the little Greek town of [[Akraiphia]] could offer official cult to "liberating Zeus Nero for all eternity".<ref>Hertz, in Rüpke (ed.), 309.</ref>

In Rome, state cult to a living emperor acknowledged his rule as divinely approved and constitutional. As [[princeps]] (first citizen) he must respect traditional Republican mores; given virtually monarchic powers, he must restrain them. He was not a living ''divus'' but father of his country (''pater patriae''), its pontifex maximus (greatest priest) and at least notionally, its leading Republican. When he died, his ascent to heaven, or his descent to join the ''dii manes'' was decided by a vote in the Senate. As a ''divus'', he could receive much the same honours as any other state deity – libations of wine, garlands, incense, hymns and sacrificial oxen at games and festivals. What he did in return for these favours is unknown, but literary hints and the later adoption of ''divus'' as a title for Christian Saints suggest him as a heavenly intercessor.<ref>Gradel, 263–8, 199.</ref> In Rome, official cult to a living emperor was directed to his ''genius''; a small number refused this honour and there is no evidence of any emperor receiving more than that. In the crises leading up to the Dominate, Imperial titles and honours multiplied, reaching a peak under Diocletian. Emperors before him had attempted to guarantee traditional cults as the core of Roman identity and well-being; refusal of cult undermined the state and was treasonous.<ref>Rees, 46–56, 73–4.</ref>

==== Jews and Roman religion ====
{{See also|Fiscus Judaicus|Religio licita|History of the Jews in the Roman Empire}}
[[File:2nd century Rome gold goblet shows Jewish ritual objects.jpg|thumb|left|Jewish ritual objects in 2nd-century [[gold glass]] from Rome]]

For at least a century before the establishment of the Augustan principate, Jews and Judaism were tolerated in Rome by diplomatic treaty with Judaea's Hellenised elite. [[Jewish diaspora|Diaspora Jews]] had much in common with the overwhelmingly Hellenic or Hellenised communities that surrounded them. Early Italian synagogues have left few traces; but one was dedicated in Ostia around the mid-1st century BC and several more are attested during the Imperial period. Judaea's enrollment as a client kingdom in 63 BC increased the Jewish diaspora; in Rome, this led to closer official scrutiny of their religion. Their synagogues were recognised as legitimate ''collegia'' by Julius Caesar. By the Augustan era, the city of Rome was home to several thousand Jews.<ref>Beard et al., Vol. 1, 266–7, 270.</ref><ref>Smallwood, 2-3, 4-6: the presence of practicing Jews in Rome is attested "at least a century" before 63 BC. Smallwood describes the preamble to Judaea's clientage as the Hellenising of ruling Jewish dynasties, their claims to kingly messianism and their popular, traditionalist rejection in the Maccabaean revolt. In Rome, the more "characteristically Jewish" beliefs and customs were subjects of scorn and mockery.[https://books.google.com/books?id=jSYbpitEjggC&dq=Jews+smallwood+actium+Parthia&pg=PA2 Books.Google.co.uk] ''Ibid'', 120-143 for early Roman responses to Judaistic practice; but see also Tessa Rajack, "Was there a Roman Charter for the Jews?" ''Journal of Roman Studies,'' 74, (1984) 107-23; no "Roman charter" for Judaism should be inferred from local, ''ad hoc'' attempts to suppress anti-Jewish acts (as in Josephus' account); Judaism as ''religio licita'' is only found later, in Tertullian. Cicero, ''pro Flacco, 66'', refers to Judaism as ''superstitio''.</ref> In some periods under Roman rule, Jews were legally exempt from official sacrifice, under certain conditions. Judaism was a ''superstitio'' to Cicero, but the [[Church Father]] [[Tertullian]] described it as ''[[religio licita]]'' (an officially permitted religion) in contrast to Christianity.<ref>Smallwood, 2-3, 4-6:  ''superstitio'' in Cicero, ''pro Flacco'', 66, but legislation by Julius Caesar recognised the synagogues in Rome as legitimate ''collegia'' and Augustus maintained their status. Josephus infers an early "charter" offering protection to Jews, but Tessa Rajack, "Was there a Roman Charter for the Jews?" Journal of Roman Studies, 74, (1984) 107-23, finds evidence only for Rome's official suppression of anti-Jewish activities. ''Religio licita'' is first found much later than this, in Tertullian.</ref>

====Christianity in the Roman Empire==== <!--linked-->
{{See also|Pentarchy|History of Christianity|Persecution of religion in ancient Rome|State church of the Roman Empire}}
[[File:Jean-Léon Gérôme - The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer - Walters 37113.jpg|thumb|303px|''The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer'', by [[Jean-Léon Gérôme]] (1883)]]
Roman investigations into early Christianity found it an irreligious, novel, disobedient, even atheistic sub-sect of Judaism: it appeared to deny all forms of religion and was therefore ''superstitio''. By the end of the Imperial era, Nicene Christianity was the one permitted Roman ''religio''; all other cults were heretical or pagan ''superstitiones''.<ref>Beard et al., vol. 1, 225: citing Pliny the Younger, ''Letters'', 10.96.8, & Beard et al., Vol. 2, 11.11a: citing Tacitus, ''Annals'', 15.44.5.</ref>

After the [[Great Fire of Rome]] in 64 AD, Emperor [[Nero]] accused the Christians as convenient scapegoats, who were later [[Persecution of Christians#Persecution of early Christians by Romans|persecuted]] and killed. From that point on, Roman official policy towards Christianity tended towards persecution. <!-- Fix preceding. Interpreted and cited from here, apart from final section -->During the various Imperial crises of the 3rd century, "contemporaries were predisposed to decode any crisis in religious terms", regardless of their allegiance to particular practices or belief systems. Christianity drew its traditional base of support from the powerless, who seemed to have no religious stake in the well-being of the Roman State, and therefore threatened its existence.<ref>Leppin, in Rüpke (ed.), 98.</ref> The majority of Rome's elite continued to observe various forms of inclusive Hellenistic monism; Neoplatonism in particular accommodated the miraculous and the ascetic within a traditional Graeco-Roman cultic framework. Christians saw these practices as ungodly, and a primary cause of economic and political crisis.

In the wake of religious riots in Egypt, the emperor [[Decius]] decreed that all subjects of the Empire must actively seek to benefit the state through witnessed and certified sacrifice to "ancestral gods" or suffer a penalty: only Jews were exempt.<ref>Potter, 241-3: see 242 for Decian "libellus" (certificate) of oath and sacrifice on papyrus, dated to 250 AD.</ref> Decius' edict appealed to whatever common ''mos maiores'' (ancestors' customs) might reunite a politically and socially fractured Empire and its multitude of cults; no ancestral gods were specified by name. The fulfillment of sacrificial obligation by loyal subjects would define them and their gods as Roman.<ref>Beard et al., Vol. 1, 241.</ref><ref>Roman oaths of loyalty were traditionally collective; the Decian oath has been interpreted as a design to root out individual subversives and suppress their cults: see Leppin, in Rüpke, (ed.), 100.</ref> [[Apostasy]] was sought, rather than capital punishment.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=8EgCRHxfouQC&dq=Diocletian+Imperial+cult&pg=PA55 Books.Google.co.uk], Rees, 60. Limited preview available at Google Books</ref> A year after its due deadline, the edict expired.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=MNSyT_PuYVMC&dq=Jews+Decius+exemption&pg=PA627 Bowman et al., 622-33. Books.Google.co.uk], Limited preview available at Google Books</ref>
[[File:Siemiradski Fackeln.jpg|thumb|left|303px|''[[Nero's Torches]]'', by [[Henryk Siemiradzki]] (1876). According to Tacitus, Nero used Christians as human torches]]

[[Valerian (emperor)|Valerian]] singled out Christianity as a particularly self-interested and subversive foreign cult, outlawed its assemblies and urged Christians to sacrifice to Rome's traditional gods.<ref name="Rees, 60">Rees, 60.</ref><ref>Beard et al., 241.</ref> In another edict, he described Christianity as a threat to Empire – not yet at its heart but close to it, among Rome's equites and Senators. Christian apologists interpreted his eventual fate – a disgraceful capture and death – as divine judgement. The next forty years were peaceful; the Christian church grew stronger and its literature and theology gained a higher social and intellectual profile, due in part to its own search for political toleration and theological coherence. [[Origen]] discussed theological issues with traditionalist elites in a common Neoplatonist frame of reference – he had written to Decius' predecessor [[Philip the Arab]] in similar vein – and Hippolytus recognised a "pagan" basis in Christian heresies.<ref>See Leppin, in Rüpke (ed.), 98–99; citing Eusebius, ''Historia ecclesiastica'' 6.19.15; 21.3–4; 36.3</ref> The Christian churches were disunited; [[Paul of Samosata]], [[Bishop of Antioch]] was deposed by a synod of 268 both for his doctrines, and for his unworthy, indulgent, elite lifestyle.<ref>Leppin, in Rüpke (ed.), 99; citing Eusebius, ''Historia ecclesiastica'', 7.29–30: Paul actually remained in office until "Aurelian's victory over Palmyra in 272, when he was forced to leave the 'building of the church'...&nbsp;Political conflicts, local rivalry, and theological debates converged in this quarrel."</ref> Meanwhile, [[Aurelian]] (270–75) appealed for harmony among his soldiers (''concordia militum''), stabilised the Empire and its borders and successfully established an official, Hellenic form of unitary cult to the [[Palmyra|Palmyrene]] ''[[Sol Invictus]]'' in Rome's [[Campus Martius]].<ref>Cascio, in Bowman et al. (eds), 171.</ref>
[[File:George Hare - Victory of Faith.jpg|thumb|303px|''[[The Victory of Faith (painting)|The Victory of Faith]]'', by [[Saint George Hare]], depicts two Christians in the eve of their [[damnatio ad bestias]]]]

In 295, [[Maximilian of Tebessa]] refused military service; in 298 [[Marcellus of Tangier|Marcellus]] renounced his military oath. Both were executed for treason; both were Christians.<ref name="Rees, 60" /> At some time around 302, a report of ominous [[haruspicy]] in [[Diocletian]]'s ''domus'' and a subsequent (but undated) dictat of placatory sacrifice by the entire military triggered [[Diocletianic Persecution|a series of edicts]] against Christianity.<ref>Lactantius, II.6.10.1-4. A date of 302 is regarded as likely. [[Eusebius]] also says the persecutions of Christians began in the army; see Eusebius, II.8.1.8.</ref> The first (303 AD) "ordered the destruction of church buildings and Christian texts, forbade services to be held, degraded officials who were Christians, re-enslaved imperial freedmen who were Christians, and reduced the legal rights of all Christians... [Physical] or capital punishments were not imposed on them" but soon after, several Christians suspected of attempted arson in the palace were executed.<ref>Leppin, in Rüpke (ed.), 103: citing Lactantius, ''De mortibus persecutorum'', 14.2; Eusebius, ''Historia ecclesiastica'', 8.6.6.</ref> The second edict threatened Christian priests with imprisonment and the third offered them freedom if they performed sacrifice.<ref>Eusebius, ''Historia ecclesiastica'' 8.2.5, 8.6.10.</ref> An edict of 304 enjoined universal sacrifice to traditional gods, in terms that recall the Decian edict.

In some cases and in some places the edicts were strictly enforced: some Christians resisted and were imprisoned or martyred. Others complied. Some local communities were not only pre-dominantly Christian, but powerful and influential; and some provincial authorities were lenient, notably the Caesar in Gaul, [[Constantius Chlorus]], the father of [[Constantine I]]. Diocletian's successor Galerius maintained anti-Christian policy until his deathbed revocation in 311, when he asked Christians to pray for him. "This meant an official recognition of their importance in the religious world of the Roman empire, although one of the tetrarchs, Maximinus Daia, still oppressed Christians in his part of the empire up to 313."<ref>Leppin, in Rüpke (ed.), 103: citing Lactantius, ''De mortibus persecutorum'', 34 & 13 &; Eusebius, ''Historia ecclesiastica'' 8.17.3–10 & 8.2.3–4.</ref>

==== Emperor Constantine and Christianity ====
[[File:Trier - Aula Palatina.JPG|thumb|left|The [[Aula Palatina]] of [[Trier]], [[Germany]] (then part of the [[Roman province]] of [[Gallia Belgica]]), built during the reign of [[Constantine I]] (r. 306-337 AD)]]
The conversion of [[Constantine I]] ended the Christian persecutions. Constantine successfully balanced his own role as an instrument of the ''[[pax deorum]]'' with the power of the Christian priesthoods in determining what was (in traditional Roman terms) auspicious – or in Christian terms, what was orthodox. The edict of Milan (313) redefined Imperial ideology as one of mutual toleration. Constantine had triumphed under the ''signum'' (sign) of the Christ: Christianity was therefore officially embraced along with traditional religions and from his new [[Constantinople|Eastern capital]], Constantine could be seen to embody both Christian and Hellenic religious interests. He passed laws to protect Christians from persecution;<ref>{{cite book
| last      = Kelly
| first     = Christopher
| title     = The Roman Empire: A Very Short Introduction
| year      = 2006
| publisher = Oxford UP
| location  = New York
}}</ref> he also funded the building of churches, including [[Old St. Peter's Basilica|Saint Peter's basilica]].  He may have officially ended – or attempted to end – blood sacrifices to the ''genius'' of living emperors, though his Imperial iconography and court ceremonial outstripped Diocletian's in their elevation of the emperor as somehow more than human.<ref>Constantine's permission for a new cult temple to himself and his family in Umbria is extant: the terms are vague – cult "should not be polluted by the deception of any contagious superstition". See Momigliano, 104.</ref>

Constantine promoted orthodoxy in Christian doctrine, so that Christianity might become a unitary force, rather than divisive. He summoned Christian bishops to a meeting, later known as the [[First Council of Nicaea]], at which some 318 bishops (mostly easterners) debated and decided what was orthodox, and what was [[heresy in Christianity|heresy]]. The meeting reached consensus on the [[Nicene Creed]].<ref>{{cite book
| last     = Morgan
| first    = Julian
| title    = Constantine Ruler of Christian Rome
| url     = https://archive.org/details/constantineruler00morg
| url-access = registration
| year     = 2003
| location = New York: Rosen Central
| isbn = 978-0-8239-3592-5
}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia
| title      = Roman Emperor Constantine I
| url        = http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/39053452
| encyclopedia       = Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia
| access-date = 3 February 2013
}}</ref> At Constantine's death, he was honored as a Christian and as an Imperial "[[divus]]".<ref>{{cite book
| last      = Bunson
| first     = Matthew
| title     = Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire
| url      = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780816045624
| url-access = registration
| year      = 2002
| publisher = Facts on File
| isbn = 978-0-8160-4562-4
| edition   = revised
}}</ref> Later, [[Philostorgius]] would criticize those Christians who offered sacrifice at statues of the ''divus'' Constantine.<ref>Momigliano, 104.</ref>

==== Transition to Christian hegemony ====
{{Main|Christianization of the late Roman empire}}
{{See also|Persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire|Theodosius I}}
[[File:Chrisme Colosseum Rome Italy.jpg|thumb|Monogramme of Christ (the [[Chi Rho]]) on a plaque of a marble [[sarcophagus]], 4th century CE (Musei Vaticani, here in a temporary exhibition at the Colosseum in Rome, Italy)]]

<!--This summary was moved from above: Imperial cult became a focus of theological and political debate during the ascendancy of Christianity under [[Constantine I]]. The emperor [[Julian the Apostate|Julian]] failed to reverse the declining support for Rome's traditional cults: [[Theodosius I]] adopted Christianity as the Imperial State religion. Officially, the "Imperial cult" was abandoned, along with all cults other than Imperially sanctioned forms of Christianity.<ref>Momigliano, 142-158.</ref>-->
Christianity and traditional Roman religion proved incompatible. From the 2nd century onward, the [[Church Fathers]] had condemned the diverse non-Christian religions practiced throughout the Empire as "pagan".<ref>See Peter Brown, in Bowersock et al., ''Late antiquity: a guide to the postclassical world'', Harvard University Press, (1999), for "pagan" as a mark of socio-religious inferiority in Latin Christian polemic: [https://books.google.com/books?id=c788wWR_bLwC&dq=pagus+paganus&pg=PA625]</ref> Constantine's actions have been regarded by some scholars as causing the rapid growth of Christianity,<ref>Ramsay MacMullen, Christianizing the Roman empire. A.D.100-400. Yale University Press. p. 51</ref> though many modern scholars disagree.<ref>Paul Stephenson, Constantine: Unconquered emperor, Christian victor (2009) p. 5</ref><ref>Rodney Stark, ''The Triumph of Christianity: How the Jesus Movement Became the World's Largest Religion'' (HarperCollins 2011) pp. 169-182</ref> Constantine's unique form of Imperial orthodoxy did not outlast him. After his death in 337, two of his sons, [[Constantius II]] and [[Constans]], took over the leadership of the empire and re-divided their Imperial inheritance. Constantius was an [[Arianism|Arian]] and his brothers were Nicene Christians.

Constantine's nephew [[Julian the Apostate|Julian]] rejected the "Galilean madness" of his upbringing for an idiosyncratic synthesis of [[neo-Platonism]], Stoic asceticism and universal solar cult. Julian became Augustus in 361 and actively fostered a religious and cultural pluralism, attempting a restitution of non-Christian practices and rights.<ref>A summary of relevant legislation is available online at the Wisconsin Lutheran College website – [http://www.fourthcentury.com/index.php/imperial-laws-chart FourthCentury.com] (accessed 30 August 2009)</ref> He proposed the rebuilding of Jerusalem's temple as an Imperial project and argued against the "irrational impieties" of Christian doctrine.<ref>See Julian's ''Against the Galilaeans'' (trans. Wright, from Cyril of Alexandria's later refutation, ''Contra Julianum'') at [http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/julian_apostate_galileans_1_text.htm Tertullian.org] (accessed 30 August 2009). Julian admired the work of the Platonist (or neo-Platonist) [[Iamblichus]].</ref> His attempt to restore an Augustan form of principate, with himself as ''[[primus inter pares]]'' ended with his death in 363 in Persia, after which his reforms were reversed or abandoned. The empire once again fell under Christian control, this time permanently.

In 380, under [[Theodosius I]], [[Nicene Christianity]] became the official [[state church of the Roman Empire|state religion of the Roman Empire]]. [[Christian heresy|Christian heretics]] as well as non-Christians were subject to exclusion from public life or persecution, though Rome's original religious hierarchy and many aspects of its ritual influenced Christian forms,<ref name="Stefan Heid 2007 pp. 406">Stefan Heid, "The Romanness of Roman Christianity", in ''A Companion to Roman Religion'' (Blackwell, 2007), pp. 406–426; on vocabulary in particular, Robert Schilling, "The Decline and Survival of Roman Religion", ''Roman and European Mythologies'' (University of Chicago Press, 1992, from the French edition of 1981), p. 110.</ref> and many pre-Christian beliefs and practices survived in Christian festivals and local traditions.

The Western emperor [[Gratian]] refused the office of ''pontifex maximus'', and against the protests of the Senate, removed the [[altar of Victory]] from the Senate house and began the disestablishment of the Vestals. [[Theodosius I]] briefly re-united the Empire: in 391 he officially adopted Nicene Christianity as the Imperial religion and ended official support for all other creeds and cults. He not only refused to restore Victory to the senate-house, but extinguished the Sacred fire of the Vestals and vacated their temple: the senatorial protest was expressed in a letter by [[Quintus Aurelius Symmachus]] to the Western and Eastern emperors. [[Ambrose]], the influential [[Bishop of Milan]] and future saint, wrote urging the rejection of Symmachus's request for tolerance.<ref>The correspondence is available online at Internet Medieval Sourcebook: Letter of St. Ambrose, trans. H. De Romestin, 1896., [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/ambrose-sym.html Fordham.edu] (accessed 29 August 2009)</ref> Yet Theodosius accepted comparison with Hercules and Jupiter as a living divinity in the panegyric of [[Pacatus Drepanius|Pacatus]], and despite his active dismantling of Rome's traditional cults and priesthoods could commend his heirs to its overwhelmingly Hellenic Senate in traditional Hellenic terms.{{Clarify|date=April 2011}} He was the last emperor of both East and West.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=JNIOAAAAQAAJ&dq=pacatus+theodosius&pg=PA66 Books.Google.co.uk], Williams & Friell, 65-67. Limited preview at googlebooks</ref><ref>Nixon & Rodgers, 437-48: Full text of [[Pacatus Drepanius|Latinus Pacata Drepanius]], ''Panegyric of Theodosius'' (389) with commentary and context.</ref>