The Road to Monotheism

[Gaius Julius Camillus]

Ok, every once in a while I come from the shadows to make a post, and today is that day. (For those who forgot, I started the 'Was Jesus Caesar' threads.)

 

As I have looked deeper into monotheism in Rome, I came across this passage, which I am embarassed to say is from wikipedia.

 

Aurelian strengthened the position of the Sun god, Sol (invictus) or Oriens, as the main divinity of the Roman pantheon. His intention was to give to all the peoples of the Empire, civilian or soldiers, easterners or westerners, a single god they could believe in without betraying their own gods. The center of the cult was a new temple, built in 271 in Campus Agrippae in Rome, with great decorations financed by the spoils of the Palmyrene Empire. Aurelian did not persecute other religions. However, during his short rule, he seemed to follow the principle of "one god, one empire", that was later adopted to a full extent by Constantine.

 

This is, give or take, 15 or so Emperors before Constantine. My question is, were there any more instances of trying to introduce a single God after Aurelian, and was Rome inevitably on the path to a Monotheistic religion, whether that be Mithraism or Christianity.

 

Thanks for your time as always guys.

 

GJC

[Kosmo]

Religious change was a trend that started earlier with the introduction of this sun cult from Syria by Septimus Sever's wife. The sun god was a supreme deity rather then the only one. This sun religion was very important for 100 years before being displaced by christianity that at that time had some similar features.

[sylla]

As I have looked deeper into monotheism in Rome, I came across this passage, which I am embarassed to say is from wikipedia.

Any information is as good as its original source. There's nothing embarassing in using Wikipedia and allied sources; after all, the material of some UNRV staff members is already there, sometimes even edited by themselves. It's the uncritical use of any sources what we should try to avoid; as far as I'm able to remember, a lot of the "Caesar/Jesus" material would have qualified.

 

This is, give or take, 15 or so Emperors before Constantine. My question is, were there any more instances of trying to introduce a single God after Aurelian, and was Rome inevitably on the path to a Monotheistic religion, whether that be Mithraism or Christianity.

Religious change was a trend that started earlier with the introduction of this sun cult from Syria by Septimus Sever's wife. The sun god was a supreme deity rather then the only one. This sun religion was very important for 100 years before being displaced by christianity that at that time had some similar features.

An excellent point. There was (and still is) a gradual continuity between poly- and monotheism; arguably, a monotheist God or Goddess is just a polytheist deity with an attitude.

 

This trend might have come from far earlier; from the official Roman standpoint, the Road to Monotheism probably was essentially the natural extension of the Imperial Cult.

Roman rulers were regularly worshipped in the provinces (either Hellenic and non-Hellenic) while still alive at least since Flaminius in the II century BC; the peregrini subjects frequently displaced such ruler cult to overlap long-standing regular divinities, including solar Olympic deities.

 

After the strong Roman popular rejection of the divine pretensions of the Dictator Caesar, that practice became the regular official policy; for example, Apollo was the favorite model and companion for the Augustan cult.

 

In spite of the purported quasi-monotheistic personal pretensions of Caius Minor (aka Caligula) and the reported introduction of alien cults by some Caesars (usually reported as evidence of impiety, most notoriously Elegabalus), it seems that the Emperor in turn and his dynasty were still seen as just some additional deities among many more until the Crisis of the Third Millennium.

 

The social and political instability would have then favored a more intimate identification of the progressively more divine rulers with their own patron deities.

The impact of the emergence of the intensely Zoroastrian Sassanid Empire probably also had a major role in the Roman Road to Monotheism.

In fact, some sources suggested that some earlier rulers may have turned their attention to Christianity itself, eg. Alexander Severus and Philip the Arab.

 

After the impact of the Reforms by Aurelian, the Tetrachy took this issue quite seriously and all their members seem to have been identified with some prominent traditional divinities, especially Jupiter and Hercules; the latter was the original patron of Constantine.

In his search of power, he reportedly recurred to multiple deities, and Jesus seems to have been initially just one among many, actually selected in accordance with Licinius against Maxentius

[Ursus]

The only thing Aurelian did was to take a deity to whom he felt a personal liking and give it a favored state cult, without ignoring the other deities in existence. Augustus had done something similar with Apollo about 300 years earlier. If Aurelian did want the god to become a focal point of empire wide worship, it's still a far cry from saying it was the only god allowed by the state.

 

Same thing with Mithraism. Mithraists undoubtedly felt that Mithras was the most important god for them (their savior), but they never denied the existence of the other gods. They participated in the other cults of the empire, including other savior cults.

 

 

If you want the first stirrings of monotheism I think the philosophies of the time practiced by some of the higher classes might be a good place to start. Look at this pantheistic hymn to Zeus: http://www.utexas.edu/courses/citylife/rea...nthes_hymn.html Reads like a church sermon to me. ;-)

 

 

 

 

Ok, every once in a while I come from the shadows to make a post, and today is that day. (For those who forgot, I started the 'Was Jesus Caesar' threads.)

 

As I have looked deeper into monotheism in Rome, I came across this passage, which I am embarassed to say is from wikipedia.

 

Aurelian strengthened the position of the Sun god, Sol (invictus) or Oriens, as the main divinity of the Roman pantheon. His intention was to give to all the peoples of the Empire, civilian or soldiers, easterners or westerners, a single god they could believe in without betraying their own gods. The center of the cult was a new temple, built in 271 in Campus Agrippae in Rome, with great decorations financed by the spoils of the Palmyrene Empire. Aurelian did not persecute other religions. However, during his short rule, he seemed to follow the principle of "one god, one empire", that was later adopted to a full extent by Constantine.

 

This is, give or take, 15 or so Emperors before Constantine. My question is, were there any more instances of trying to introduce a single God after Aurelian, and was Rome inevitably on the path to a Monotheistic religion, whether that be Mithraism or Christianity.

 

Thanks for your time as always guys.

 

GJC

[sylla]

The only thing Aurelian did was to take a deity to whom he felt a personal liking and give it a favored state cult, without ignoring the other deities in existence. Augustus had done something similar with Apollo about 300 years earlier. If Aurelian did want the god to become a focal point of empire wide worship, it's still a far cry from saying it was the only god allowed by the state.

This Coin shows Aurelian with Hercules, one of his favorite Gods.

 

Among other deities that also appeared in coins with Aurelian or the empress Severina were Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Apollo, Aesculapius, Minerva, Juno, Venus, Victory, Aeternitas and of course Sol, a not so well defined solar divinity (different from Apollo).

Edited September 1, 2009 by sylla

[Ursus]

Indeed, in Alaric Watson's Aurelian biography he shows how Sol Invictus was simply the last divine patron in what had been a long series of them for the solder-emperor.