It is also in the Roman belief that these gods played important roles in their daily lives so they put great effort in appeasing them. One of methods early worshipers did was to build large spectacular temples for individual divinities. These temples would be adorned with majestic statues and other sculptures of the respective divinity. These temples were also built to provide a place where Romans can worship similar to Christian churches. Many rituals were performed by priests and priestesses for different reasons and occasions.
Another point is that ancient pagans also worshipped in the comfort of their own homes. Although there were large temples for great gods and goddesses, religion was still considered a private matter. So, ancient pagans worshipped other lesser gods as a family in their homes. A notable divinity worshipped in the home was Vesta. This particular goddess was believed to rule over the home and hearth.
Furthermore, paganism may not have been as organized as Christianity but it had its own hierarchy of officers. Although unlike Christian practices, being a priest or priestess was a vocation that could be done alongside other fields. Being a priest today means that you are devoted to and into propagation of the teachings of the church, maybe as a church pastor and a school teacher of Christianity. But being a priest in a pagan community meant that you managed rituals and other religious duties but you were not deprived of other duties. Priesthood was like a part time job. A priest would still be eligible to obtain public offices, businesses and other non religious tasks.
Another characteristic of paganism is its tolerance. The variation of paganism would be a result of this tolerance. Before the appearance of Christianity and Christian emperors, pagans were quite loose with their belief. First of all, paganism did not have a central doctrine to limit its practice. So believers were allowed a level of variation from community to community. Also, this gave rise to sects and cults that deviated from the common pagan practice. Although, it is to be noted that this tolerance did not eradicate the need and the desire to persecute non-pagans.
Paganism under Julian the Apostate
Century after century, the rulers of Rome were pagans and so the rest of the empire was also pagan, until that is the time of Constantine the Great. Due to the imminent decline and destruction of the Roman Empire, he opted to divide the territory and ruled the eastern sphere where the people were mostly Christians. He transferred the centre of the Roman Empire from Italy to Constantinople. There were many speculations as to why he converted to Christianity but what matters was that he converted and it is this allowed Christianity to rise as the new state religion instead of paganism.
Paganism did not completely die out with the rise of Christianity, since there remained a few pagan communities. In general, paganism lost its allure to the public. Christianity was introduced as the new state religion and this was followed with the placement of Christians in public offices and also the conversion of some temples into churches ‘in some cases existing buildings were turned into churches, and, in general, Christians used the secular architectural styles that already existed.’ Funds and privileges were provided for Christian purposes. All of these came to a halt when Flavius Claudius Julianus, more popularly known as Julian the Apostate, succeeded the throne.
Julian was born and raised as a Christian, yet he turned away from the religion of his birth and it was this action which earned him the name of Julian the apostate from the Christians. He was taught Christian values and traditions yet he persistently studied paganism. When he finally succeeded the throne, Julian aimed to reinstate paganism as the state religion and remove Christianity instead of following in the footsteps of Constantine and his Christian successors.
Because a large part of the population was Christian, Julian could not simply remove Christianity and replace it with paganism. This would have resulted in uprisings and the further division of the Roman Empire. So, Julian and his advisers devised strategies to reinstate paganism which basically involved two steps. The first was to remove Christianity and Christian institutions or at least weaken its hold on the people and the second was to revive paganism.
The first part of his plan was accomplished by removing the rights and privileges given to the Christian church. Julian released edicts and decrees removing the earnings received by priests and bishops from the government, the subsidy for constructions and many more advantages of the Christian church were removed. To justify his acts, Julian declared that he wished for both Christianity and paganism to be on equal footing in terms of expanding its influences. In addition to that, Julian removed Christians who taught philosophy and literature from educational institutions. ‘Julian argued that the philosophical and literary works of antiquity could not be taught by men who did not believe in the basic premise they contained, men who not only did not believe in the existence of the Pagan gods, but who would come to condemn such beliefs.’
Julian’s actions began to make him unpopular with the almost completely Christian population. His previous military achievements were slowly being overshadowed by his political interference with religion but Julian moved onto the next part of his plan.
After weakening the hold of Christianity on the public, Julian then needed a similar institution that would be as strong as Christianity to replace it. He needed an institution that could provide all the needs of the people that Christianity was able to satisfy. However, Julian believed that the current state of paganism would not do. The practices and beliefs of paganism before the time of Constantine would not be sufficient for the needs which were not present until the time of Christianity. This led him to the conclusion that paganism must be revised. Its structure, its practices, its beliefs and almost everything else about it must be improved to answer the needs of the people.
Rebuilding pagan institutions was Julian’s first task on his movement to revive paganism. Providing temples would have meant that pagans had a place where they could openly gather in numbers to worship and perform rituals. So, the churches taken by the Christians and unused abandoned temples were reclaimed. These were renovated to become temples once more. Most of these temples however, were not welcomed with open arms. They were vandalized by Christians and riots took place. The temples were supposedly watched over and rituals would always be presided over by officials, but during the time of Julian, there were few pagan religious officials.
The next step was the reorganization of the pagan priesthood. This started the big changes to the ancient form of paganism. He formed a structured hierarchy of bishops and priests mimicking that of the Christian clergy. In this order, Julian became the head of the ‘pagan church’ as Pontifex Maximus, the highest official for religious affairs, as well as being in charge of the government. Moreover, the essential functions and powers of the priesthood that existed before Christianity were changed. ‘Julian in his letters exhorted his Priesthood to engage in such community acts as providing charity for the poor, encouraging people to convert back to the ancient traditions, and to be champions of resistance toward those attacking the worship of the ancient Gods.’ The priests were no longer mere officiators of rituals and celebrations; they were promoted to having active participation in the lives of the pagans. Priests were also told that they could no longer tell rude jokes, read old comedies or behave in an inappropriate manner, in other words they were to act just as the Christian Priests did.
Learning from the Christian church, Julian wished to form a standard doctrine for paganism. As earlier said, paganism was not based on a central governing writing but it came from a variety of sources. Julian wanted to change that to make paganism easier to propagate and be understood by the common people. Generalizing the teachings and practices of paganism would have enabled the people to be able to relate to one another easily in terms of religious affairs. In effect, everyone would know what celebration, what ritual, and which god or goddess to worship on a certain date. There would be no variations and the people would be speaking and knowing the same things.
The lack of a central doctrine in paganism allowed communities to fit their religion to their necessities. Although some details would vary from every community, the essential principles of paganism remained. It remained that all the citizens were practicing the same basic religion. The conception of a doctrine meant that paganism was being defined and thereby being limited. Not observing the limitation set by the governing doctrine would entail punishment and this was something that did not sit well with the people.
Along with pagan philosophers and scholars Julian made interpretations of pagan belief as if it was something similar to Christian theology. The removal of Christian teachers was part of this movement. In an attempt to present paganism in a new light to the public, Julian commissioned pagan philosophers and scholars to be the ones to educate the citizens. His intention was to create a clear and better image of the ancient tradition of paganism to the minds of the public. Although, he constantly stressed that the true understanding of paganism cannot be grasped by the common person.
Basically, Julian wanted to create a pagan religion that could match Christianity. And this resulted in successive erroneous actions. The paganism Julian formed matched Christianity down to the very last detail. This new paganism turned away from its original principles and became a polytheistic version of Christianity. Sticking to the original principles of paganism, Julian should have allowed for religious tolerance. Depriving the rights and privileges lawfully granted to Christians was a major violation of this and was the beginning of his failure.
Throughout his rule which lasted for roughly around twenty months, Julian was able to successfully manipulate the law and the government to his advantage and turn against Christianity. He accomplished his first task too quickly for the likes of the Roman people. His actions may have been better justified if he did it gradually. On top of that, it would have had better appeal to the public if his actions were not attacks directed mostly and almost solely to Christianity. At the very least, the government should try to appear neutral and fair to all such affairs so as not to offend the public and draw a negative response.
Lastly, the biggest error in Julian’s methods would be his mimicking of the Christian church. Using Christianity as an example or guide for the revival of paganism was not a bad idea. Christianity had a clear organizational structure of its clergy, it presented a central writing which justified its teachings and powers and it was also supported by the authorities and other people with power. What made his decision catastrophic was his excessive citation of Christianity. The goal was to transform paganism into a religion fitting to the public’s spiritual needs and was a worthy competitor of Christianity. What came out instead was a polytheistic Christianity. This led the people to confusion because he was trying to remove Christianity and replace it with something like Christianity.
The paganism that Julian tried to reinstate drifted so far away from what paganism essentially was Pre-Constantinian and yielded too closely to Christianity. His legal actions were pushing Christianity and Christians into a corner hoping that they would have nowhere else to turn but to paganism. However, the empire was nearly overrun by Christians who could just as easily revolt against his rule.
Religion was and still is considered a private matter. The people would of course have their doubts and disagreements. Pushing the people to yield emits an air of dictatorship and oppression. As history has always shown, the public does not respond well to this. Therefore, the government, Church and its leaders have the task to work around the disputes and find a way for all parties to be satisfied. The best would be for the government to stay out of religious matters and religion to stay out of government matters.
It is not up to one person to dictate the changes on a whole empire and expect it to change exactly according to his or her prescriptions. No ruler can sway the whole world according to his or her whim especially not in a span of twenty months as Julian the apostate tried to do. It would take gradual but efficient changes and constant trials and errors to get the support of the majority.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bowder, D., (1978) The Age of Constantine and Julian: London
Bowersock, R., (1978) Julian the Apostate: London
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Cameron, Averil, (2000 ed) The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity: London
Macmullen, R., (1984) Christianizing the Roman Empire: New Haven
Smith, R.B.E., Julian’s gods: Religion and Philosophy in the Thought and Action of Julian the Apostate: London: New York, Routledge
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Julian Society (2008) Goals of Julian Society [online] available from [27 October 2008]
Martindale, C.C. (1911). Paganism In The Catholic Encyclopaedia [online] New York: Robert Appleton Company. Available from:
[27October 2008]
Martindale, C.C. (1911). ‘Paganism In The Catholic Encyclopaedia’
Cameron, Averil (2000 ed) ‘The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity’ pg 58
All Empires Online History Community (2002) ‘Julian the Apostate – Christianity and Paganism in the 4th Century’
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