CHAPTER EIGHT
Old Religions Transformed:
Religions and Religious Policy
from Decius to Constantine
Hartmut Leppin
The epoch from the death of Alexander Severus (235) until the acclamation of
Diocletian (284) has often been deemed as being a time of imperial crisis. In recent
times, however, the concept of a general third-century crisis has been differentiated
and modified (Strobel 1993; Witschel 1999). But one should not go too far: there
were a lot of symptoms of crisis and the corresponding feeling was widely spread
among the population. One of the most visible was the fact that most emperors only
remained on the throne for a few years, if not months, often being deposed (and
killed) by usurpers or in action. Even some inner regions of the empire experienced
barbarian incursions. In many provinces prosperity declined, and the economy
became less stable.
Contemporaries were predisposed to decode any crisis in religious terms. The mercy
of the gods (or God) had to be regained somehow. Some people strove to practice
the old cults with more care; others sought a more personal contact with the gods;
many went both ways. These developments obviously had an immediate impact on
the history of Christianity and paganism in the third century.
The religious history of those years seems to be marked by a clear and simple devel-
opment: the Christian religion, which had been oppressed and persecuted in the
beginning, namely by Decius, Valerian, and Diocletian, triumphs over paganism;
Constantine’s conversion brings about the adoption of Christianity as the religion
of the Roman empire. If we follow this line, we fall victim to the Christian inter-
pretation of history with its antagonistic concept of “true” and “false” religions. But
history is more complex.
Paganism is a Judeo-Christian notion, which subsumes a lot of religious manifes-
tations and ideas under one name: the monotheistic philosophy of some intellectuals