Timeline
of Christian destruction of ³Pagan² culture circa AD 300s
* 314 Immediately after its full
legalisation, the Christian Church attacks the gentiles (non-Christians). The
Council of Ancyra denounces the worship of Goddess Artemis.
* 324 The emperor Constantine
declares Christianity as the only official religion of the Roman empire. In
Dydima, Minor Asia, he sacks the Oracle of the god Apollo and tortures the
pagan priests to death. He also evicts all non-Christian peoples from Mount
Athos and destroys all the local Hellenic temples.
* 326 Constantine, following the
instructions of his mother Helen, destroys the temple of the god Asclepius in
Aigeai of Cilicia and many temples of the goddess Aphrodite in Jerusalem,
Aphaca, Mambre, Phoenice, Baalbek, etc.
* 330 Constantine steals the
treasures and statues of the pagan temples of Greece to decorate Nova Roma
(Constantinople), the new capital of his Empire.
* 335 Constantine sacks many pagan
temples of Minor Asia and Palestine and orders the execution by crucifixion of
"all magicians and soothsayers." Martyrdom of the neoplatonist
philosopher Sopatrus.
* 341 Flavius Julius Constantius persecutes
"all the soothsayers and the Hellenists." Many gentile Hellenes are
either imprisoned or executed.
* 346 New large scale persecutions
against non-Christian peoples in Constantinople. Banishment of the famous
orator Libanius accused as a "magician".
* 353 An edict of Constantius
orders the death penalty for all kind of worship through sacrifices and
"idols".
* 354 A new edict orders the
closing of all the pagan temples. Some of them are profaned and turned into
brothels or gambling rooms. Executions of pagan priests.
* 354 A new edict of Constantius
orders the destruction of the pagan temples and the execution of all
"idolaters". First burning of libraries in various cities of the
empire. The first lime factories are being organised next to the closed pagan
temples. A major part of the holy architecture of the pagans turns to lime.
* 357 Constantius outlaws all
methods of divination (astrology not excluded).
* 359 In Skythopolis, Syria, the
Christians organise the first death camps for the torture and executions of the
arrested non-Christians from all around the empire.
* 361 to 363 Religious tolerance and
restoration of the pagan cults declared in Constantinople (11th December 361)
by the pagan emperor Flavius Claudius Julianus.
* 363 Assassination of Julianus
(26th June).
* 364 Emperor Flavius Jovianus
orders the burning of the Library of Antioch.
* 364 An Imperial edict (11th
September) orders the death penalty for all those that worship their ancestral
gods or practice divination ("sileat omnibus perpetuo divinandi
curiositas"). Three different edicts (4th February, 9th September, 23rd
December) order the confiscation of all properties of the pagan temples and the
death penalty for participation in pagan rituals, even private ones.
* 365 An Imperial edict (17th
November) forbids the gentile (pagan) officers of the army to command Christian
soldiers.
* 370 Valens orders a tremendous
persecution of non-Christian peoples in all the Eastern Empire. In Antioch,
among many other non-Christians, the ex-governor Fidustius and the priests
Hilarius and Patricius are executed. Tons of books are burnt in the squares of
the cities of the Eastern Empire. All the friends of Julianus are persecuted
(Orebasius, Sallustius, Pegasius etc.), the philosopher Simonides is burned
alive and the philosopher Maximus is decapitated.
* 372 Valens orders the governor of
Minor Asia to exterminate all the Hellenes and all documents of their wisdom.
* 373 New prohibition of all
divination methods. The term "pagan" (pagani, villagers, equivalent
to the modern insult, "peasants") is introduced by the Christians to
demean non-believers.
* 375 The temple of god Asclepius
in Epidaurus, Greece, is closed down by the Christians.
* 380 On 27th February,
Christianism becomes the exclusive religion of the Roman empire by an edict of
the emperor Flavius Theodosius, requiring that:
All the
various nations which are subject to our clemency and moderation should
continue in the profession of that religion which was delivered to the Romans
by the divine Apostle Peter.
Source: Demolish
Them! ISBN 960-85311-3-6.