CHAPTER NINE
Religious Koine and Religious
Dissent in the Fourth Century
Michele Renee Salzman
In a justly famous passage, the historian Ammianus Marcellinus described the visit
to Rome of Constantine’s heir, the emperor Constantius II, in 357 ce(Amm. 16.10).
Constantius had come to Rome to celebrate his vicennaliaand the return of peace
after the defeat of the usurper Magnentius. After entering the city, the emperor admired
its monuments and stood in awe, as Ammianus observes, also of its religious shrines
- the sanctuary of Tarpeian Jove, the Pantheon, and the Temple of Urbs Roma (Amm.
16.10.14). This respect for Rome’s pagan monuments is much in keeping with what
we hear about Constantius II from the late fourth-century Roman senator
Symmachus: Constantius “with no anger on his face, viewed the holy shrines, read
the names of the gods inscribed on the pediments; he inquired about the origins
of the temples, expressed admiration for their founders and preserved these as part
of the rites of the empire, even though he followed a different religion himself ”
(Symmachus, Relatio 3.7). In addition, Constantius filled the pagan priesthoods with
men of noble rank and spent monies on the pagan ceremonies and games (ibid.).
This pious Christian emperor found much that was of value in the religious tradi-
tions attached to the state cults at Rome, and so he maintained them.
The willingness of Christian emperors to find common ground with pagans in their
religious and civic traditions is a result of the political reality of the mid-fourth cen-
tury; large numbers of pagans and Christians were living together still in the empire.
To persecute pagans outright would not work, as Diocletian’s failed persecution
of Christians had shown. But at a deeper level, Constantius’ support for pagan cults
is tacit acknowledgment of a truth that tends to escape modern historians, namely
that Christians and pagans did, indeed, share certain beliefs, attitudes, and practices.
As Robert Markus noted: “There just is not a different culture to distinguish Chris-
tians from their pagan peers” (1990: 12). Markus went on to claim that “only religion
distinguished the Christian from the pagan” (1990: 12). What I will argue here,