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Here is a quote from Chester G. Starr, A History of the Ancient World:
A major element in the spread of Christianity was the fact that the pagan world was already moving, though blindly, in the direction that Christian thought was to take more consciously. Neither a Roman poet like Virgil nor a Greek philosopher like Epictetus would have understood the statement thathe was a forerunner of Christianity, yet it is true that many thinkers and artists of the Empire reflect the contemporary spiritual uneasiness andthe search for meaning in a vast, materialistic world.
I thought this was an interesting quote, and I would like to talk about how true this really was. What developments (independent of Christianity) can you see in the days of the late empire which suggest Roman society was moving toward a more existentially-meaningful world?
Interesting quote and question. I would say the latter emperors moved away from self-deification and towards a more standard, monarch type of governance.
I deal with this in my article on the front page of Writers of History.
That's where I got the quote from. But I didn't read more from your paper to see that you answered this question directly.
Interesting quote and question. I would say the latter emperors moved away from self-deification and towards a more standard, monarch type of governance.
I don't know that Constantine technically had himself thought of as a deity, but I sort of recall an article in which one of his colossal statues made him look like a deity. I'll have to look that one up.
